Ypres (1)
(Level: Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate / B1 to B2 / ** to ***)

Here is first a short film (partly in Dutch with English subtitles) (*) in three parts that is really worth watching before any visit to Ypres! 

In this programme you can get to know more about Ypres such as: 

• its strategic position on the Front Line (hence its complete destuction);
• the incredible number of unexploded bombs, mortars, grenades... which are still being collected today in the fields around by the Belgian explosives disposal service;
• the chemical weapons which were used there for the first time;
• the Menin Gate, the military cemeteries and the Last Post;
• ...

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

(*) It was originally a programme by VPRO Televisie which you can also watch by clicking HERE

Here is now an interesting short film comparing war-torn Ypres to a now fully reconstructed city (*) 

(*) Ypres: Now and Then (from the University of Oxford's First World War Poetry Digital Archive)