“Liberation Offensive
in the Lys region:
from Ypres to the Gaverbeek”
(EXTENDED) BOOK REISSUE
from 10 NOVEMBER 2025!
Please order using the form
e-mail: gil.bossuyt@skynet.be
phone : +32.479.29.29.08
Click here to preview some book pages.
A must for anyone interested in the (often forgotten) final chapters of the Great War and the stories from Flemish civilians under the 4-year German occupation.
After three years of research and writing, the first edition of the book was published on Friday 19 October 2018.
A symbolic date: the day on which the 36th (Ulster) Division crossed the Lys near Beveren-Leie and Desselgem in 1918.
Using the military diaries, I created a clear overview of the events from British, French, Belgian and German sides, focusing on Desselgem, Beveren-Leie and Waregem.
The book also includes an analysis of the war diary of the Desselgem priest Father Coussement, in which I compared his notes with the military facts.
In doing so, I came across many interesting discoveries: with traces that led into Bordeaux and Canada… where I found relatives of soldiers who fought or died here during that period...
Based on Father Coussement's notes on field graves around his parish in 1919, I also found many existing soldiers' graves, with the accompanying stories. Even in my own street, 9 soldiers from the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers had their field grave for almost 2 years…
Finally, there was also a moving testimony from Elisa “Jeanneke” Coorevits, who was four years old in 1918 and lost two sisters in this liberation offensive when a shell ravaged their Desselgem family home.
I interviewed her at the age of almost 101, and it is incredible how much she still remembered and how clearly she was able to recount it...
The book was already sold out by the end of 2018, but on 10 November 2025, a new edition will be published with two additional chapters:
... the “War Record” of Captain Densmore Walker (Machine Gun Corps), which describes how he experienced the tumultuous liberation of Desselgem and literally walked through the fighting on Straate on Sunday morning, 20 October 1918... “it smelled of freshly exploded grenades”...
... the thoroughly researched story of the aeroplane crashes in Wielsbeke on Saturday 28 July 1917: the story of the pilots and a moving correspondence in the 1920s between a witness from Wielsbeke and a Canadian airman who survived the crash…
In addition, there is also an account of some interesting encounters I have had since the first publishing in 2018... with new stories and side notes.
In short: 40 extra pages in the new edition!
The considerable interest from English-speaking countries – particularly Northern Ireland as the 36th (Ulster) Division has some prominent chapters – prompted me to publish an English version.
The book has 261 pages, is in full colour,
format 188x258, with numerous photos (then and now)
and selfmade overview maps.
Price for the book : 30 euros (or 26 pounds).
options & prices for shipping from Belgium to UK:
(08.11.2025)
‘Economy’ : 14 GBP
total : book 26 GBP + 14 GBP postage = 40 GBP
(No proof of delivery or Track & Trace)
(No basic compensation in the event of loss or damage)
‘Standard’ : 32.5 GBP
total : book 26 GBP + 32.5 GBP postage = 58.5 GBP
(with Track & Trace)
(with Basic compensation in the event of loss or damage)
Additional customs charges may apply, for which I cannot be held responsible.
