Langemark-Poelkapelle suffered a lot during the First World War. For four years it was right in the middle of the battlefield. It was completely destroyed and wiped off the map. During the First Battle of Ypres in October-November 1914, the Langemarck myth became a big item in Germany after reporting of heroic battles by young volunteers and students. The fighting had previously taken place in Bikschote, but Langemark was chosen because it sounded more German. The German Military Cemetery in Langemark-Poelkapelle is also known as the ‘Student Friedhof’. On the 22nd of April 1915, during the Second battle of Ypres, a large-scale chemical attack was carried out for the first time in world history. The Germans used chlorine gas that drifted with the wind in the direction of the Allied troops. French Territorial and Canadian troops came as first in contact with this weapon of mass destruction. The Canadians were able to limit the damage in the days that followed. The Brooding Soldier in St. Julian is a permanent memorial to it. At the Third battle of Ypres, which started on the 31th of July 1917, Langemark-Poelkapelle once again formed a large part of the scenery. Prior to the battle the villages were continuously bombarded with shells which completely wiped them off the map. What remained was a landscape of craters filled with water and scrap metal. 100 days later the Allies reached Passchendaele. In that Third battle the French pilot Georges Guynemer disappeared above Poelkapelle and the Tanks' stranded one by one in their battle between Sint-Juliaan and Poelkapelle. The final offensive of the Belgian troops on the 28th of September 1918 started for a large part on the territory of Langemark.