Battle of Ypres The Battle of Ypres has become linked forever with World War One .The land surrounding Ypres to the north is flat and canals and rivers link it to the coast. The major centre in this part of Flanders was Ypres. Control of the town gave control of the surrounding countryside and all the major roads converged on the town. Fierce fighting took place around the town and neither the British nor the Germans could claim to control the area. Each day Ypres was shelled and civilian casualties were high.The Germans used deadly chlorine gas against the French troops. To the south of Ypres lies Mesen. On June 7th, 1915, nineteen of the mines were detonated. The noise of the explosions was heard in London. Over 1,700,000 soldiers on both sides were killed or wounded and an uncounted number of civilians