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Welcome to the Ypres Salient
This site presents the story of the First World War in the West Flanders region. The various categories provide a wealth of information about a range of subjects.
The Roll of Honour category is where you will find the details of all the men from Falkirk District who are buried or commemorated in the Immortal Salient.
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Shot at Dawn
In the First World War between 4 August 1914 and 31 March 1920, 3,080 men had been sentenced to death under the British Army Act, with 302, which was one in ten of those condemned to death at Military court martials, executed for offences under the British Army Act while on active service on the Western Front. 76 men who were executed in the Ypres Salient and are buried or commemorated in twenty eight cemeteries and memorials across the Ypres Salient.
Apr 26, 20226 min read
The Scottish Soldier, Ypres Salient
Scots enlisted, not just in the well known Scottish regiments, but also in the six Scottish infantry divisions formed during the war, 9th, 15th, 51st (Highland), 52nd (Lowland), 64th (2nd Highland), and the 65th (Lowland). They also served in every branch of the Army and they could be found in English divisions, the 15th and 16th Royal Scots being part of the 34th Division. They could also be found in the Scottish Territorial battalions from English cities such as the Tynesi
Oct 10, 20216 min read
Campaign Medals - First World War
For the First World War, each person who served in a defined theatre of war against Germany or her allies was entitled to one or more campaign medals. Where the recipient had been killed, the medals were sent to the next of kin.
Mar 6, 20213 min read
Gas and Chemical Warfare
Had gas warfare in the First World War been as effective and devastating as the myth states then the war would have been over after its first use. Gas warfare was anything but as reliable and effective as the myths suggest, indeed, gas was never decisive and the casualties from gas have always been overstated. This fact does not lessen the agonies of the victims.
Mar 6, 202111 min read
Remembering the Dead
Every town and village in Falkirk District has a war memorial. The Town of Falkirk had 1,100 war dead, Blackness village, in the east, lost eight and in the west, little Longcroft had 87 war dead. In all, 2,400 men from Falkirk District died in the First World War from over 10,000 who enlisted, with 521 men from Falkirk District either buried or commemorated in the Ypres Salient.
Mar 4, 20215 min read
Armistice and the Aftermath
The Armistice was signed at 0510am on the 11 November 1918, and the fighting officially ended at 11am on all fronts. After 1,564 days the war had come to an end. The war left a psychological affect both on those who had served in the armed forces and seen front line action and the civilians at home. The war left a psychological affect both on those who had served in the armed forces and seen front line action and the civilians at home.
Mar 4, 202110 min read
Recording the Dead. How it Began. Recovering, Identifying and Burying the Dead
The problem of recovering, identifying and burying the dead was apparent from the beginning of the war. As the fighting went back and forth the dead often lay around and many could not be recovered with many more buried only for their grave to be churned over by the artillery fire their bodies to join the thousands of the missing. Graves and cemeteries sprang up in a random fashion and the recording of the dead by the various units was on an ad hoc basis. Fabian Ware
Mar 3, 202112 min read
He Is Not Missing. He is Here! The Menin Gate
The Imperial War Graves Commission (now Commonwealth War Graves Commission) decided that four memorials would be established in the Salient to commemorate those with no known grave, the missing. These numbered some 90,000. The most iconic memorial to the missing, is the Menin Gate which lists 54,896 names of the missing of which 168 are from Falkirk District. In 1919, Churchill convinced the Cabinet that Britain should pay for and erect memorials to the Army on the principle
Mar 3, 20215 min read
Evacuation Chain and Treatment of the Wounded.
Evacuation Chain and the Treatment of the Wounded, By 1917, the Royal Army Medical Corps had an established evacuation pathway for the wounded from the frontline all the way back to the base hospitals on the French coast, and onward to establishments in Britain such as the hospitals in Falkirk. Getting to these aid stations after being wounded was a different story. When troops went forward into the attack the wounded would be left to be collected by the stretcher bearers and
Mar 1, 202113 min read
War Widows-WW1 Widows Pension An Overview
By 1919 there were 200,000 WW1 War Widows and a third of a million children receiving a pension. The provision of a pension was of great importance to First World War widows. The pension dictated the War Widows everyday lives and decision making. There was no attempt by the state to provide the wife with an allowance or pension in line with her husbands civilian earnings.
Mar 1, 20219 min read
'Better meddle wi’ the Deil than The Bairn 'O’ Falkirk’, - Fundraising to support the war effort
The tank was a symbol of the new warfare and in Falkirk a great wooden model was mounted on a fire engine chassis and rolled round the district collecting money for new tanks. The ‘Bairn’, as it was called travelled under the slogan ‘Better meddle wi’ the Deil than THE BAIRN O’ FALKIRK’, and it was a huge attraction which helped to raise thousands of pounds. It was not just the ‘Bairn’ that was used to raise funds, during tank week in Larbert in October 1918, the tank ‘Julian
Mar 1, 20214 min read
VADS AND HOSPITALS IN FALKIRK DISTRICT
Voluntary Aid Detachments in Falkirk District, Voluntary Aid Detachments (known as VADs) were set up by the British Red Cross across Britain following an appeal from the government in 1909 in anticipation of future warfare at home. By 1911 there were six women's and one mans VAD detachment in Falkirk District. The main purpose of the VADs was to provide volunteers who would be available for the formation of clearing hospitals and ambulance trains in the event of invasion.....
Mar 1, 20217 min read
Munitions Work & the Munitionettes
Nobel Explosives Works at Redding. The work could be dangerous, especially for those employed at the Nobel began to manufacture detonators at his chemical plant at Westquarter. The wages for munitions work was at first liveable and later very lucrative, munitions work offered women an opportunity to escape the drudgery of domestic service. For those women employed at the Carron Company their wages were lower than their male co-workers however, they were more than in the more
Mar 1, 20216 min read
Ypres Salient The Rest Camps
Poperinghe could not cope with billeting the vast numbers of troops in the town. There developed a suburbia of camps around Poperinghe and the surrounding villages. These were either tented or had wooden huts to accommodate the troops. Both the tents and the huts leaked and were draughty. The names of the camps tended to reflect the nationality of the units that had originally established them. Between April 1915 and June 1916, the Canadian 1st and 3rd Divisions established c
Feb 20, 202117 min read
Life Behind the Lines
Poperinghe, today it is Poperinge, is located within 50 miles of the channel ports of Calais and Dunkirk and only a short distance from...
Feb 19, 20218 min read
25 April 1915 - Catastrophe at St Julien: The 7th Argyll's
What unfolded was slaughter and carnage. In the space of twenty minutes of intense and accurate German fire 10th Brigade lost seventy-three officers and 2,346 other ranks
Feb 9, 202111 min read
Flanders Fields and Falkirk District
Was their motivation purely part of the patriotic rush or was it earlier and driven by economic reasons.
Feb 4, 202110 min read
Women on the Land
The Germans had identified that targeting this reliance on imported food and materials and sinking the ships that supplied them would...
Feb 4, 20215 min read
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