Langemark
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Langemark is a town in the Belgian province of West Flanders, part of the municipality of Langemark-Poelkapelle.
Written as Langemarck on French and British maps, the village is known in military history. During the First Battle of Ypres (1914) in World War I, green German infantry, most of them young volunteer students, suffered severe casualties when they frontally attacked British Army positions near Langemark and were shot down by experienced British riflemen. The event became known in Germany - at times known as the Kindermord von Ypern (Murder of Children at Ypres) - because German propaganda soon singled out the 'Langemarck attack' as an example for heroic self sacrifice. Legend has it that the German infantry sang the first stanza of what later (1919) became their national anthem "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles," as they charged. It can be also seen as symptomatic for the helpless German military leadership in fall of 1914. Valuable personnel reserves were ruthlessly wasted when defense prevailed and any offensive movements tanked. In April 1915 Langemark was the scene of the first gas attacks by the German army, which marked the beginning of the Second Battle of Ypres. There is now a German graveyard in this location, as seen in the picture.de:Langemark nl:Langemark
