Langemark is a village in the Belgian province of

West Flanders West Flanders is the westernmost province of the Flemish Region, in Belgium. It is the only coastal Belgian province, facing the North Sea to the northwest. It has land borders with the Dutch province of Zeeland to the northeast, the Flemis ...

, and a

subdivision Subdivision may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Subdivision (metre), in music * ''Subdivision'' (film), 2009 * "Subdivision", an episode of ''Prison Break'' (season 2) * ''Subdivisions'' (EP), by Sinch, 2005 * "Subdivisions" (song), by Rush ...

of the municipality of

Langemark-Poelkapelle Langemark-Poelkapelle () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. Geography Other places in the municipality include Bikschote, Langemark and Poelkapelle. On January 1, 2006, Langemark-Poelkapelle had a total popula ...

. The village has about 5,000 inhabitants. Besides the village center, there are also three smaller hamlets on the territory, , Bikschote and Saint-Julien/ Sint-Juliaan. Written as Langemarck on French, British and German maps, the village is known in military history as the scene
see trench map
of the first gas attacks by the German army in the western front, which marked the beginning of the

Second Battle of Ypres The Second Battle of Ypres was fought from 22 April – 25 May 1915, during the First World War, for control of the tactically-important high ground to the east and the south of the Flanders, Flemish town of Ypres, in western Belgium. The ...

in April 1915. Before and during the

First Battle of Ypres The First Battle of Ypres (, , – was a battle of the First World War, fought on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front around Ypres, in West Flanders, Belgium. The battle was part of the First Battle of Flanders, in which German A ...

, the German reserve corps suffered enormous losses: over 10,000 young soldiers (some only 15 years old), led by young officers without practical experience, died without achieving any objective. On 10 November 1914, about 2,000 soldiers died during an attempted breakthrough. One day later, the German Command (

Oberste Heeresleitung The ''Oberste Heeresleitung'' (, "Supreme Army Command", OHL) was the highest echelon of command of the army (''Heer'') of the German Empire. In the latter part of World War I, the Third OHL assumed dictatorial powers and became the ''de facto'' ...

) published the following communiqué: :''Westlich Langemarck brachen junge Regimenter unter dem Gesange‚

Deutschland, Deutschland über alles The "", officially titled "", is a German poem written by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben . A popular song which was made for the cause of creating a unified German state, it was adopted in its entirety in 1922 by the Weimar Republi ...

‘ gegen die erste Linie der feindlichen Stellungen vor und nahmen sie. Etwa 2.000 Mann französischer Linieninfanterie wurden gefangengenommen und sechs Maschinengewehre erbeutet.'' :In west Langemarck, youth regiments singing ''Germany, Germany Above All'' advanced on front line enemy positions, broke and took them. Approximately 2,000 French line infantry and six machine guns were captured. A popular and enduring myth of heroic self-sacrifice for the nation (known as the ") arose from the propagandistic story. For this reason, the Flemish division of the

Waffen-SS The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...

was named 27th SS Volunteer Division ''Langemarck''. The village was destroyed during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. There is now a major German war cemetery, the

Langemark German war cemetery The German war cemetery of Langemark (formerly spelt 'Langemarck') is near the village of Langemark, part of the municipality of Langemark-Poelkapelle, in the Belgian province of West Flanders. More than 44,000 soldiers are buried here. The villag ...

, (''Soldatenfriedhof'') in this location, which has about 40,000 burials.

Gallery

File:Area at Langemark-Poelkapelle German War Cemetery1.jpg, Farm at Langemark File:Flanders fields at Langemark-Poelkapelle 2.JPG, Fields at Langemark File:Langemark_German_War_Cemetery_BCE1-0000.JPG File:The-Brooding-Soldier.JPG, Monument for the

soldiers from Canada. The

Brooding Soldier The St. Julien Memorial, also known as The Brooding Soldier, is a Canadian war memorial and small commemorative park located in the village of Saint-Julien, Langemark (), Belgium. The memorial commemorates the Canadian First Division's participat ...

in Langemark File:LangemarkChurch.jpg, The church in Langemark File:LJB9 - Langemarck B.jpg, Sacred hour at the monument of Langemarck (10 July 1932) {{Authority control Populated places in West Flanders

See also

Gallery