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Due to the historic context of much of the work on this site there is the possibilty of some confusion over Flemish place names. Historical texts dealing with the First World War conventionally use French place names for locations in Belgian Flanders. This was principally due to the upper and middle classes using French as their principal language leaving Flemish to the 'poorer' and more rural classes. The British Army thus adopted the French names. The situation was even more confusing in the Belgian Army with the officer class and the other ranks literally speaking different languages. The resulting situation led to the establishment of a Free Flanders movement and the eventual establishing of the Flemish language as the official tongue of the Flemish areas of Belgium. French remains common in Brussels, although it is nominally Flanders, and in Wallonia, the South East corner of Belgium. Ieper, or Ypres, is in West Flanders and most of the Belgian Western Front is in this province thus modern maps use the Flemish place names. On the next page I list the principal place names in both forms, where differences occur, Flemish first then French. |