"The Cloth Hall at Ypres by moonlight." [DND Photo o.2164]. Also attached is the media for Photo o.2165 and Photo o.2164 The first damage to the the Cloth Hall and the Belfry occurred as the First Battle of Ypres drew to a close in mid November 1914. The British defence was holding east of the city of Ypres and it became clear to the German Army that it was not going to be able to capture Ypres after all. A German artillery bombardment of the city then began to grow in intensity. The Cloth Hall was slightly damaged by two German artillery shells on 5th November. On 21st November an artillery shell hit the Nieuwerck and some of the gable collapsed. The next day, on 22nd November, German incendiary devices hit the Cloth Hall and it was set on fire. Unfortunately a wooden scaffold on the belfry intensified the flames and the wooden beamed roofs of the halls on the upper floors were burnt out. The reason there was scaffolding on the belfry was because a local stonemason called Alphonse Angillis was restoring the belfry tower of the Cloth Hall. Tragically he had just about finished the work when the war came to Ypres. Alphonse was a big man who was nicknamed “the Bear”. He was well-known in Ypres and was one of the last civilians to leave the city when the military finally evacuated the local population in April 1915. The destruction of the Cloth Hall by the German Army began from this time when a German armoured train and long range gun was brought up the line to Houthem. Observation balloons directed the firing of incendiary and explosive shells onto the city. By December 1914 the Cloth Hall had been seriously damaged. The Cloth Hall (Lakenhalle) was damaged by German artillery shells from early November 1914. A few months later, from mid April 1915, Ypres began to be shelled by long range German heavy howitzers from positions several kilometres east of the city. This was specifically to draw Allied attention away from secret preparations being made by the German Army to carry out a trial of a new weapon, poisonous gas. On Monday 19th April one of the German Army's two huge German 42cm guns “Big Bertha” joined in. It had been brought to the Houthulst Forest by rail. With the destructive capabilities of this huge gun the Germans began a systematic demolition of the medieval city. All the unique works of art in the upper halls were destroyed. The buildings making up the complex of the Cloth Hall were completely destroyed by 1918. Only a small part of the belfry tower walls remained standing, becoming an iconic image of the devastated city.