"But every man who had endured Passchendaele would
never be the same again, was more or less a stranger to
himself."
~Will Bird, Ghosts Have Warm Hands
The Battle of Passchendaele
on the Fields of Flanders
The Horrors of War
Ninety years ago, the battle of
Passchendaele claimed the
lives of around half a million
soldiers on both sides, and
came to symbolise the full
horror of warfare on an
industrial scale.
The battle of Passchendaele
was in fact a series of battles,
fought across fields that had
become a potentially deadly
quagmire of liquid mud.
A massive bombardment of
German lines combined with
heavy rain created appalling
conditions.
War correspondent Philip Gibbs, writing in 1923,
described the battles fought here as
"the most awful, the most bloody... the most hellish
heavy rains fell, and made one great bog in which
every crater was a deep pool...they were like lakes
in some places, filled with slimy water and dead
bodies."
Between October 26 and November 7, 1917,
the Canadian Corps suffered some 16,000
casualties in taking the village - 12,000
wounded, 3,000 dead, and 1,000 missing.
A British commander, upon touring the
aftermath of the battle site, groaned, "Good
God! Did we really send soldiers to fight in
that?"
Nine Victoria Crosses, the Empire's highest
military decoration, were awarded to
Canadians. Their sacrifice was all for the gain
of a mere seven kilometres of land, which the
Germans soon got back.
Weeks after the Passchendaele victory, the
British Expeditionary Force abandoned the
area as it was useless to them in terms of the
original plan. On Nov. 10, Passchendaele and
the Battle of Third Ypres officially ended, and
on Nov. 20, the Flanders Campaign, having
"served its purpose", was closed down.
Passchendaele (The Third Battle of Ypres)
The battle was fought for control
of the village of Passchendaele
near the town of Ypres in West
Flanders, Belgium.
Passchendaele is in the region
made famous by Canadian
doctor, Lieutenant Colonel John
McCrae's poem "In Flanders
Fields" - called "the most
popular poem" produced
during that period.
Click on the poppy to see the poem.
How did it start?
In the spring of 1917, the British
decided that the shipping losses due
to German U-boat activity were so bad
that the British might not be able to
wage war into 1918.
They decided they need to put
German bases out of action by
capturing the region of Ypres, also
known as Flanders.
Why did so many soldiers die?
The British Field Marshal in charge of the offensive, Sir Douglas Haig, had been trained as a
cavalryman, and he firmly believed that cavalry had a place in modern war.
A stubborn,
unimaginative leader,
he disregarded the
effects of barbed wire,
machine guns and
shelling on horses. He
believed an attack in
Flanders would hold
down the Germans.
Why was it so muddy and swampy?
Passchendaele Ridge
was the only high
ground in a flat,
featureless pasture. The
low lying area between
Ypres and
Passchendaele was
reclaimed marshland,
and had once been
beneath the North Sea.
Constant shelling had
destroyed the drainage
ditches. Once the
August rains came, the
area was transformed
into an unbelievable
quagmire of mud and
muck.
What was the Battle of Passchendaele?
Universally
known as
Passchendaele, it
was a series of
smaller battles
and
engagements to
take
Passchendaele
village and its
ridge.
New technology in modern warfare
The first attacks were slowed by heavy rains, that meant that the promised tank support
could not be used. Besides the terrible conditions and the exhaustion of the soldiers,
Canadian troops also had to face chemical warfare. The Germans had a new secret
weapon - mustard gas delivered by shellfire. This was a liquid that caused blistering of
the skin if touched. The effect on the eyes was disastrous. If inhaled in the air, it could
cause oedema or bleeding in the lungs. No antidote was found.
The first attacks were slowed by heavy rains, that meant that the promised tank support
could not be used. Besides the terrible conditions and the exhaustion of the soldiers,
Canadian troops also had to face chemical warfare. The Germans had a new secret
weapon - mustard gas delivered by shellfire. This was a liquid that caused blistering of
the skin if touched. The effect on the eyes was disastrous. If inhaled in the air, it could
cause oedema or bleeding in the lungs. No antidote was found.
What did Passchendaele mean to the war?
The name of Passchendaele has
come to symbolize all that is
loathsome in war. In three months
of fighting, almost a million shells
and grenades were fired, and over
half a million soldiers were killed or
wounded. The British lost 300,000
men, of whom 36,500 were
Australian. Many had been blown
to bits or had fallen off the
duckboards into the glutinous mud,
sinking deeper to their deaths as
they struggled; 90,000 British or
Australian bodies were never
identified, 42,000 bodies were
never recovered from the mud. The
Germans suffered equally, taking
over 250,000 casualties.
The final Battle of Passchendaele
Haig was still obsessed
with capturing
Passchendaele, and
turned to LieutenantGeneral Arthur Currie
and the Canadians to
take over the battle.
For the first time in
World War One,
Canadian troops were
now completely under
the command of one of
their own, largely
because of the artillery
skill of the Canadians
and the crucial role
they had played at
Battle of Vimy Ridge.
Canada Stood Alone
Between October 26 and November 6, 1917, Canadian troops were ordered to capture the
village of Passchendaele. 20,000 Canadians under heavy fire made the first of several
advances, inching their way from shell-crater to shell-crater, wading across an 8 km morass
of sticky mud.
This assault was
unusual in that the
Canadian Corps
alone formed the
offensive.
• The 27th
Battalion from
Winnipeg
• the 31st Battalion
from Alberta
• the 28th Battalion
from
Saskatchewan
The Victory at Passchendaele
Often waist-deep in mud and exposed to a
hail of jagged shrapnel from German shellfire,
the Canadians began their assault, and
reached the ruined outskirts of the village in a
heavy rainstorm and gale. Just before dawn at
six a.m. on 6th November, 1917 the final
assault began under a cold, dull but unusually
rainless sky. The flashes from thousands of
cannons and guns spewed their murderous
fire onto the German defenders sheltering in
their trenches and fortified positions.
In spite of heavy casualties inflicted by the
grimly determined enemy, Canadian soldiers
had crossed the final 500 yards, overran the
German trenches, captured the village, and
took hundreds of exhausted prisoners.
The Price of Victory
It was a costly victory. General
Currie accurately estimated 16, 000
Canadian casualties.
Some of these soldiers, who could not move
forward in the mud, were caught between the
Canadian artillery barrage and the actions of the
heavy German rear guard.
What is legacy of Passchendaele?
World War I will be
remembered as one of the
bloodiest wars in human
history. the Battle of
Passchendaele, fought
from July to November of
1917, has come to be
synonymous with the
grinding and bloody misery
of trench warfare during
World War I. Also known
as the Third Battle of Ypres,
the aim of the battle was
to breakthrough at the
village of Passchendaele in
West Flanders, Belgium
and outflank and beat back
the German Army.
The conditions during the battle were miserable; both sides suffered horrific
casualties, with the British gaining only slender territorial gains for their efforts.
Mud was a constant feature of the shot up landscape, bogging down tanks and
even drowning men. The British Prime Minister of the time, David Lloyd George,
used the battle as an example of senseless waste and bad generalship.