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kips 4:01 Wed Jul 26
100 year anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele

Next Monday sees the 100th anniversary of this truly dreadful World War One battle.

The Battle of Passchendaele was fought July 31 to November 6, 1917

At 3:50 AM on July 31, Allied forces began advancing behind a creeping barrage. The focus of the offensive was General Sir Hubert Gough's Fifth Army which was supported to the south by Plumer's Second Army.

To the south, attempts to drive east on the Menin Road were met with heavy resistance and gains were limited.

Any further advance was then quickly hampered by heavy rains which descended on the region. It turned the scarred landscape into deep mud, a situation that was worsened by the preliminary bombardment that had destroyed much of the area's drainage systems.

Within a few days, the heaviest rain for 30 years had turned the soil into a quagmire, producing thick mud that clogged up rifles and immobilised tanks. It eventually became so deep that men and horses drowned in it.

An improvement in the weather prompted another attack on 20 September. The Battle of Menin Road Ridge, along with the Battle of Polygon Wood on 26 September and the Battle of Broodseinde on 4 October, established British possession of the ridge east of Ypres.

Further attacks in October failed to make much progress. The eventual capture of what little remained of Passchendaele village by British and Canadian forces on 6 November finally gave Haig an excuse to call off the offensive and claim success.

A controversial topic, the Battle of Passchendaele has come to represent the bloody, attritional warfare that developed on the Western Front. In the years after the war, Haig was severely criticized by David Lloyd George and others for the small territorial gains that were made in exchange for massive troop losses.

No definitive record of casualty figures exist, most war experts put the casualty figures at approximately 16,000 Canadian Troops, 280,000 British and other commonwealth troops,10,000 French and 220,000 German troops.

Athough the Somme took a greater toll of British and German soldiers, the appalling conditions which faced the troops at Passchendaele remains unsurpassed in British military history in this respect. Probably only the Battle of Stalingrad compares in modern times.

Lest we forget

joe blob 1:13 Tue Aug 1
Re: 100 year anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele

The Stoat 11:48 Mon Jul 31

Err...thanks for that.

SurfaceAgentX2Zero 12:13 Tue Aug 1
Re: 100 year anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele

ironsofcanada 11:15 Mon Jul 31

'One correction in that.

The Newfoundland Regiment was not a Canadian regiment in WWI (or WWII) as its homeland only became a province, rather than a Dominion directly under British rule, in 1949. Hence its Royal designation.'

Nobody gives a shit mate. It's as tedious as someone from Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man arguing they aren't really British.

The Stoat 11:48 Mon Jul 31
Re: 100 year anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele

joe blob 10:14 Mon Jul 31

Wipers is what the Tommys called Ypres

BRANDED 11:25 Mon Jul 31
Re: 100 year anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele

Yet, some people on this site think you should fight for your country. I guess these men had some sense of a positive when they set out.

ironsofcanada 11:15 Mon Jul 31
Re: 100 year anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele

BRANDED 10:58 Mon Jul 31

Very true among a lot of outlying areas of both Britain and the Commonwealth.

One of the seven units they don't name were Calgary Highlanders, with whom my grandfather served (WWII) and, who earlier, were critical in the Battle of Ypres with the first gas attacks.

One correction in that.

The Newfoundland Regiment was not a Canadian regiment in WWI (or WWII) as its homeland only became a province, rather than a Dominion directly under British rule, in 1949. Hence its Royal designation.

BRANDED 10:58 Mon Jul 31
Re: 100 year anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele

Lions lead by Donkeys: Scotland's Holocaust.
Today is the centenary of the beginning of the Battle of Passchendaele in the First World War. This was another venture by the British Army in which Scottish soldiers suffered disproportionately, and came almost straight after the Battle of Arras.
The Battle of Arras began on 9 April 1917, preceded by a four day bombardment, and lasted until 16 May. There were an estimated 53,000 Scottish casualties in this encounter alone... think about that, that was 3% of the male population of Scotland wiped out before Passchendaele had even got going.
Over the entirety of the 1st World war, an estimated 200,000 Scotsmen died... 10% of the male population. The British Army had basically finished off what the Highland Clearances started... the ethnic cleansing of the Scottish Highlands.
Today, anyone can take a car trip around the Highlands and look at all the empty space and empty villages where once there was an enormous population.

"While Scottish battalions had more than played their part at Loos, in 1915, and on the Somme, in 1916, Arras saw the greatest concentration of Scottish battalions in any of the set-piece battles of the war. With the 9th and 15th (Scottish) Divisions and the 51st (Highland) Division, together with a number of Scottish battalions in other Divisions involved, there were a total of 44 Scottish battalions committed to the battle including eight from The Royal Scots, the 2nd, 8th, 9th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th and 16th. One-third of the 159,000 casualties were Scottish. As well as the Scottish battalions there were seven Canadian battalions with Scottish heritage, including The Canadian Scottish, and The Newfoundland Regiment (the Royal Newfoundland Regiment from 28 September 1917 – the only Regiment to be so honoured during the 1st World War), both of whom were later allied to The Royal Scots."

http://www.theroyalscots.co.uk/823-2/

joe blob 10:14 Mon Jul 31
Re: 100 year anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele

I was told by my granny that her brother was killed at Wipers but I can't find Wipers on the map.

joe blob 10:13 Mon Jul 31
Re: 100 year anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele

I was told by my granny that her brother was killed at Wipers but I can't find Wipers on the map.

cholo 10:08 Mon Jul 31
Re: 100 year anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele

Talk about family feud that got out of hand.

Far Cough 9:42 Mon Jul 31
Re: 100 year anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele

It was worse than I remembered:


Captain Blackadder: If you mean, "Are we all going to get killed?" Yes. Clearly, Field Marshal Haig is about to make yet another gargantuan effort to move his drinks cabinet six inches closer to Berlin.

Far Cough 9:38 Mon Jul 31
Re: 100 year anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele

Yes and Blackadder makes a humorous yet salient point and I paraphrase:

All those men killed and for what, just to move General Haig's drinks cabinet, 20 yards nearer to Berlin

ironsofcanada 9:34 Mon Jul 31
Re: 100 year anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele

There were a bunch of battles at Ypres across the War. (The horrible nature of trench warfare, where years and lives went by with very little movement.)

I know one of them included the first poison gas attack by Germans, which I remember learning as the Battle of Ypres but that was pretty early and Passchendaele was near the end. So the latter is probably just a more specific name to avoid confusion.

Brussels Sprout 9:27 Mon Jul 31
Re: 100 year anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele

Yes, it's the third battle of Ypres to be precise.

Far Cough 8:40 Mon Jul 31
Re: 100 year anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele

Isn't Passchendaele also called the Battle of Wipers (Ypres)?

DaveT 3:49 Thu Jul 27
Re: 100 year anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele

That's good NS. Our neighbours daughter went a while ago and was amazed how they rebuilt Ypres

Northern Sold 12:25 Thu Jul 27
Re: 100 year anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele

`Think it should be compulsory for school kids to go over there`.

My Daughters year did last year…. Give her due the only WW1 reference she had ever seen before was the film and the Book War Horse… but give the kids their due it sounded like they found it all a humbling experience

DaveT 12:16 Thu Jul 27
Re: 100 year anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele

TWe.
Those tours are excellent. Can't remember the one I did but was ran by an English lady. Amazed how the farmers are still digging up bombs and just leave them by the roadside to be collected. Went to so many was graves even the German one. And I, defy anyone not to have a tear in their eye when the last post is played at the Menin Gate.
Think it should be compulsory for school kids to go over there.

Northern Sold 11:51 Thu Jul 27
Re: 100 year anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele

Cheers Surface I'll have a look at that later....

Aalborg Hammer 11:45 Thu Jul 27
Re: 100 year anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele

Did the family tree and found two first cousins (once removed) on the Menin Gate and one in a cemetery near Bologne...got a real lump in the throat and regret not going earlier RIP

TWe 11:44 Thu Jul 27
Re: 100 year anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele

My Great Grandad managed to survive Passchendaele but was killed in the trenches by accident a month after the battle. Got a copy of his regiments war diary which says he was killed accidentally by rifle fire. He's buried in Ypres and have been over a few times. Thoroughly recommend Flanders Battle Field Tours.

https://www.ypres-fbt.com/

SurfaceAgentX2Zero 11:34 Thu Jul 27
Re: 100 year anniversary of The Battle of Passchendaele

Here's a link to the search page. I presume he was your maternal Grandfather and you know his name...

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/british-army-medal-index-cards-1914-1920/

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