#Ypres1940: Today in 1940 the fighting at Ypres was reaching its crescendo. A delaying action as the BEF pulled back to #Dunkirk, it was where #WW2 met #WW1 on the old battlefields of the Great War. Here are some private photos from this battle. Below Germans on the Menin Road.

#Ypres1940: Damage to the centre of Ypres from German shell fire in 1940. Many buildings in the city still show signs of 1940 battle damage today.

#Ypres1940: People of Ypres fleeing the German Blitzkrieg in May 1940.

#Ypres1940: The BEF blew the canal bridge (the old Bridge No 10 in #WW1) on the Ypres-Poperinghe road. This was taken after the German took Ypres in May 1940.

#Ypres1940: The caption on these is 'near Poperinghe' and they show a Wehrmacht artillery unit in action in May 1940.

#Ypres1940: Karl Salhof was one of those killed in the fighting in Flanders in May 1940. I rescued his papers and letters from a junk shop many years ago. He'd previously fought in Poland and was awarded a EK2.

#Ypres1940: On the Ypres-Comines Railway line the Belgians helped the BEF by blocking the line with trains. These photos near Hollebeke show the aftermath of this.

#Ypres1940: There was heavy fighting close to the Messiness Ridge. This British 15cwt was abandoned near the old US Memorial from 1918.

#Ypres1940: And cemeteries from the Great War found themselves in the midst of the fighting, and then were visited by the German occupying forces.

#Ypres1940: The Menin Gate was damaged in the fighting of May 1940, the 'forgotten Battle of Ypres' - and these grainy photos were taken by a German soldier some days later. Eighty years ago the Gate would remain silent for more than four years until liberated by the Poles.