The

The The

The Hey folks, this is Mike with Battles of the First World War podcast.

So joining us today are Roger Stewart,

who I'm going to point up because he's currently above me, and Dr. Dominic Dandovin,

currently gentlemen below, founders of the new Iper League who will give us more details on the

demarcation stone fundraising drive I mentioned some time ago.

Both Roger and Dominic live and work in the Epirsalian,

and between them have published several books and articles with regards to the Great War,

with Roger having appeared on this podcast with Professor Mark Connolly about a year or so ago.

Again, if you're new to the story of the First World War, then we'll start with just a few basics here.

IPRA, Y-P-R-E-S, is named I-E-P-E-R today.

I-E-P-E-E-P-E-E-P-Eipers, as it was called by the millions of British Tommies who served there

throughout the Great War, was the site of at least three massive battles during the

Great War.

Speaking as an American here, Iper today is practically a British town, and that is not meant in a negative way.

It is easy to see because the city, as well as its fields and hills and nearby villages outside

its gates, are wholly ground to the United Kingdom and to the British military.

Some 200,000 members of the BEF, British Expeditionary Force, fell in battle here, and tens of

thousands remain unrecovered from the Flanders fields all around them.

Ipra holds a special place in the heart of British remembrance of the Great War, symbolized

every evening by the playing of the last post at Menning Gate.

...