battle of ypres Meaning, Definition & Usage

1. noun battle in World War I (1917); an Allied offensive which eventually failed because tanks bogged down in the waterlogged soil of Flanders; Germans introduced mustard gas which interfered with the Allied artillery
   Ypres; third battle of Ypres.
   
2. noun battle in World War I (1915); Germans wanted to try chlorine (a toxic yellow gas) as a weapon and succeeded in taking considerable territory from the Allied salient
   Ypres; second battle of Ypres.
   
3. noun battle in World War I (1914); heavy but indecisive fighting as the Allies and the Germans both tried to break through the lines of the others
   Ypres; first battle of Ypres.
   

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