[59] The advance further north in the XVIII Corps area retook and held the north end of St Julien and the area south-east of Langemarck, while XIV Corps captured Langemarck and the Wilhelmstellung north of the Ypres–Staden railway, near the Kortebeek stream. Passchendaele became synonymous with the Third Battle of Ypres. Gough planned an offensive based on the GHQ 1917 plan and the instructions he had received from Haig. After a pause of about three weeks, Plumer intended to capture the plateau in four steps, with six-day intervals to bring forward artillery and supplies. The station at Roulers was on the main supply route of the German 4th Army. From July 1917, the area east of Ypres was defended by the front position, the Albrechtstellung (second position), Wilhelmstellung (third position), Flandern I Stellung (fourth position), Flandern II Stellung (fifth position) and Flandern III Stellung, the sixth position (incomplete). [106] On the night of 3/4 October, the German commanders had doubts about the attack but decided to proceed with the Gegenangriff, warning the artillery to be ready to commence defensive bombardments. The II Corps had begun to withdraw its artillery at the same time as VIII Corps on the night of 11/12 April and ordered the 36th and 30th divisions to conform to the VIII Corps retirement, which were completed by 13 April, without German interference. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Divided into two ten-day and an eleven-day period, there were 53.6, 32.4 and 41.3 mm (2, 1 and 2 in) of rain; in the 61 hours before 6:00 p.m. on 31 July, 12.5 mm (0 in) fell. The Canadian operation was to be three limited attacks, on 26 October, 30 October and 6 November. In Haig's defence, the rationale for an offensive was clear and many agreed that the Germans could afford the casualties less than the Allies, who were being reinforced by America's entry into the war. Ultimately the result of this battle was not beneficial as planned and did not contribute majorly to the end result of World War One. [153] In 1959, Cyril Falls estimated 240,000 British, 8,525 French and 260,000 German casualties.   The Battle of Passchendaele, also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, has become known as one of New Zealand's greatest military disasters. The British replied with small-arms fire and bombs, forcing the Germans to retreat in confusion but a post was lost south of the Menin road, then retaken by an immediate counter-attack. Attacking from Ypres in Belgium, he planned to drive the Germans from the surrounding dominant ridges and even hoped to reach the Belgian coast. The infantry advance succeeded but German artillery-fire and infantry counter-attacks isolated the infantry of the 18th (Eastern) Division in Glencorse Wood. [78] The tactical changes ensured that more infantry attacked on narrower fronts, to a shallower depth than on 31 July, like the Fifth Army attacks in August. The 5th Australian Division advance the next day began with uncertainty as to the security of its right flank; the attack of the depleted 98th Brigade was delayed and only managed to reach Black Watch Corner, 1,000 yd (910 m) short of its objectives. [92] The Germans made many hasty counter-attacks (Gegenstoße), beginning around 3:00 p.m. until early evening, all of which failed to gain ground or made only a temporary penetration of the new British positions. Passchendaele was the third and longest battle to take place at Ypres, Belgium. Haig had long wanted a British offensive in Flanders and, following a warning that the German blockade would soon cripple the British war effort, wanted to reach the Belgian coast to destroy the German submarine bases there. [102] North of the covert near Polygon Wood, deep mud smothered German shells before they exploded but they still caused many casualties. 11 July 1917 - 10 November 1917 The Battle of Passchendaele lasted around four months. The Canadian Corps fought four divisions of the German 6th Army in the operation. British naval leaders urged their government to force the Germans from occupied ports on the Belgian coast, which were being used … The left wing of the attack achieved its objectives but the right wing failed completely. Yet Haig's decision to continue into November remains deeply controversial and the arguments, like the battle, seem destined to go on and on. On the Baltic coast from 1 to 5 September 1917, the Germans attacked with their strategic reserve of six divisions and captured Riga. [97] Each of the three German ground-holding divisions attacked on 26 September, had an Eingreif division in support, twice the ratio of 20 September. The British front line was cut off and German infantry attacked in three waves at 5:30 a.m.[101] Two determined German attacks were repulsed south of Cameron Covert, then at 7:00 p.m. German troops massed near the Menin road. Having fought bloody battles earlier that year at ... T he commemorations will be preceded on the night before by the traditional Last … The attack was delayed, partly due to mutinies in the French army after the failure of the Nivelle Offensive and because of a German attack at Verdun from 28 to 29 June, which captured some of the French jumping-off points. People often refer to it as the “Hell of Passchendaele”. Wytschaete is about 150 ft (46 m) above the plain; on the Ypres–Menin road at Hooge, the elevation is about 100 ft (30 m) and 70 ft (21 m) at Passchendaele. [155] In 1997, Heinz Hagenlücke gave c. 217,000 German casualties. Read more. The rises are slight, apart from the vicinity of Zonnebeke, which has a gradient of 1:33. The 35th Division reached the fringe of Houthulst Forest but was outflanked and pushed back in places. [166], One of the newest monuments to be dedicated to the fighting contribution of a group is the Celtic Cross memorial, commemorating the Scottish contribution to the fighting in Flanders during the Great War. After a short bombardment on 20 and 21 January 1916, the 7th Division charged the Ottoman lines. [65], In Field Marshal Earl Haig (1929), Brigadier-General John Charteris, the BEF Chief of Intelligence from 1915 to 1918, wrote that. [133], In a German General Staff publication, it was written that "Germany had been brought near to certain destruction (sicheren Untergang) by the Flanders battle of 1917". [81] In August, German front-line divisions had two regiments deployed in the front line, with the third regiment in reserve. From 1901 to 1916, records from a weather station at Cap Gris Nez showed that 65 percent of August days were dry and that from 1913 to 1916, there were 26, 23, 23 and 21 rainless days and monthly rainfall of 17, 28, 22 and 96 mm (0.67, 1.10, 0.87 and 3.78 in); ...during the summers preceding the Flanders campaign August days were more often dry than wet. [90] Aircraft were to be used for systematic air observation of German troop movements to avoid the failures of previous battles, where too few aircrews had been burdened with too many duties and had flown in bad weather, which multiplied their difficulties. Sporadic fighting continued into October, adding to the German difficulties on the Western Front and elsewhere. [44] The attack removed the Germans from the dominating ground on the southern face of the Ypres salient, which the 4th Army had held since the First Battle of Ypres in 1914. [125] The Germans lost 38,000 men killed or missing and 12,000 prisoners, along with 200 guns and 720 machine-guns, against 14,000 French casualties, fewer than a third of the German total. We start the day in the heart of the ‘Third Battle of Ypres’ or ‘Battle of Passchendaele’ as it is more commonly known. The British were further encouraged by the success of the attack on Messines Ridge on 7 June 1917. Between the German defences lay villages such as Zonnebeke and Passchendaele, which were fortified and prepared for all-round defence. [31] Several plans and memoranda for a Flanders offensive were produced between January 1916 and May 1917, in which the writers tried to relate the offensive resources available to the terrain and the likely German defence. Reserve battalions moved back behind the artillery protective line and the Eingreif divisions were organised to intervene as swiftly as possible once an attack commenced, despite the risk of British artillery-fire. The Battle of Passchendaele started on July 31, 1917 and lasted for three months and six days. [100] The Germans were repulsed again at 6:00 a.m. but German artillery-fire continued during the day. [157] Conditions in the salient improved with the completion of transport routes and the refurbishment of German pillboxes. [24], Possession of the higher ground to the south and east of Ypres, gives an army ample scope for ground observation, enfilade fire and converging artillery bombardments. The Battle of the Menin Road was the first of General Plumer’s attacks and saw Australian units in action at Ypres for the first time. SOS rockets were not seen in the mist and the British artillery remained silent. The Battle of Passchendaele was not without consequences. Australian soldiers on duckboards in Passchendaele. At the end of June, Haig added a division to II Corps (Lieutenant-General Claud Jacob) from the Second Army and next day, after meeting with Gough and General Herbert Plumer, the Second Army commander, Haig endorsed the Fifth Army plan. There were actions from 14–15 February and 1–4 March at The Bluff, 27 March – 16 April at the St Eloi Craters and the Battle of Mont Sorrel from 2–13 June. Most of the German troops of the 45th Reserve Division were overrun or retreated through the British barrage, then the Australians attacked pillboxes one-by-one and captured the village of Zonnebeke north of the ridge. The German submarine bases on the coast had not been captured but the objective of diverting the Germans from the French further south, while they recovered from the Nivelle Offensive in April, had succeeded. Belgium’s wettest autumn in 70 years, combined with ruined drainage systems from artillery barrages … The Allies were commanded by British leaders. [146] In 1940, C. R. M. F. Cruttwell recorded 300,000 British casualties and 400,000 German. The attack succeeded by 2:00 p.m. and later in the afternoon, the 100th Brigade re-took the ground lost north of the Menin road. The monument was dedicated by Linda Fabiani, the Minister for Europe of the Scottish Parliament, during the late summer of 2007, the 90th anniversary of the battle. On the following day, a ceremony was held at Tyne Cot cemetery, headed by the Prince of Wales. The German infantry managed to advance on the flanks, about 100 yd (91 m) near the Menin road and 600 yd (550 m) north of the Reutelbeek. [143] In fear that Italy might be put out of the war, the French and British governments offered reinforcements. The X Corps commander proposed an attack northward from In de Ster into the southern flank of the Germans opposite I Anzac Corps. [159] A German attack on 11 March was repulsed; after that the Germans made no more attacks, keeping up frequent artillery bombardments and machine-gun fire instead. The French First Army conformed, pushing up to the Kortebeek and St Jansbeck stream west of the northern stretch of the Wilhelmstellung, where it crossed to the east side of the Kortebeek. [32] On 14 February 1917, Colonel Norman MacMullen of GHQ proposed that the plateau be taken by a massed tank attack, reducing the need for artillery; in April a reconnaissance by Captain Giffard LeQuesne Martel found that the area was unsuitable for tanks. [62] Gough laid down a new infantry formation of skirmish lines to be followed by "worms" on 24 August and Cavan noted that pillboxes should be attacked on a broad front, to engage them simultaneously. Constant shelling had churned the clay soil and smashed the drainage systems. Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, commander of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), did not receive approval for the Flanders operation from the War Cabinet until 25 July. Matters of dispute by the participants, writers and historians since 1917 include the wisdom of pursuing an offensive strategy in the wake of the Nivelle Offensive, rather than waiting for the arrival of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in France. [56] Hermann von Kuhl, chief of staff of Army Group Crown Prince Rupprecht, wrote later that it was a costly defeat and wrecked the plan for relieving fought-out (exhausted) divisions in Flanders.   What happened? In the fall of 1917, the Canadian Corps—after its great success at Vimy Ridge that April—was sent north to Belgium. [22] Haig wished to exploit the diversion of German forces in Russia for as long as it continued and urged the British War Cabinet to commit the maximum amount of manpower and munitions to the battle in Flanders. [17] British determination to clear the Belgian coast took on more urgency, after the Germans resumed unrestricted submarine warfare on 1 February 1917. Heavy rain and mud again made movement difficult and little artillery could be brought closer to the front. The Canadian Corps launched a final action on 10 November, to gain control of the remaining high ground north of the village near Hill 52. [13] A meeting in London of the Admiralty and the General Staff urged that the Flanders operation be undertaken in 1917 and Joffre replied on 8 December, agreeing to a Flanders campaign after the spring offensive. [76] Plumer continued the tactical evolution of the Fifth Army during its slow and costly progress in August. [35][b], The 4th Army held a front of 25 mi (40 km) with three Gruppen, composed of a corps headquarters and a varying complement of divisions; Group Staden, based on the headquarters of the Guards Reserve Corps was added later. [72] The French attack on 20 August and by 9 September had taken 10,000 prisoners. They had failed. A French counter-attack on 17 July re-captured the ground, the Germans regained it on 1 August, then took ground on the east bank on 16 August. [21], The Russian army conducted the Kerensky Offensive in Galicia, to honour the agreement struck with the Allies at the Chantilly meeting of 15 to 16 November 1916. (Image: Australian War Memorial) The attrition rate was catastrophic for the German Army By far the most significant result of Passchendaele was the catastrophic impact it had on the German Army. [Note 2] The battle was fought for control of the ridge and village of Passchendaele (modern Passendale) near the town of Ypres in West Flanders, Belgium. A discrepancy of, For British losses, Edmonds used data based on figures submitted by the Adjutant-General's Department to the Allied Supreme War Council on 25 February 1918; Edmonds also showed weekly returns to GHQ, giving a slightly lower total of, Orders of battle for the German attack on Vimy Ridge, German defensive preparations: June – July 1917, The British set-piece attack in late 1917, Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918, "Duke of Cambridge leads Commemorations on 100th Anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele", "Battle of Passchendaele Centenary: Prince Charles Honours 'Courage and Bravery' of British Soldiers", "New Zealand Memorial (Gravenstafel ridge)", "Tribute to Scots Soldiers at Passchendaele", Passchendaele – Canada's Other Vimy Ridge, Norman Leach, Canadian Military Journal, Passchendaele, original reports from The Times, Armistice between Russia and the Central Powers, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Passchendaele&oldid=999955230, Battles of World War I involving Australia, Battles of World War I involving New Zealand, Battles of World War I involving South Africa, Battles of World War I involving the United Kingdom, Battles of the Western Front (World War I), Events of National Historic Significance (Canada), Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 12 January 2021, at 20:11. Worn-out divisions from the south had been sent to Flanders to recuperate closer to the coast. [141] The experience of the failure to contain the British attacks at Ypres and the drastic reduction in areas of the western front that could be considered "quiet" after the tank and artillery surprise at Cambrai, left the OHL with little choice but to return to a strategy of decisive victory in 1918. The attack at Passchendaele was Sir Douglas Haig’s attempt to break through Flanders. It would be all-too-familiar ground for the Canadians who had seen heavy fighting there earlier in the war. [80], After setting objectives 1–2 mi (1.6–3.2 km) distant on 31 July, the British attempted shorter advances of approximately 1,500 yd (1,400 m) in August but were unable to achieve these lesser objectives on the south side of the battlefield, because the rain soaked ground and poor visibility were to the advantage of the defenders. The general aspect south and east of Ypres, is one of low ridges and dips, gradually flattening northwards beyond Passchendaele, into a featureless plain. In a series of operations, Entente troops under British command attacked the Imperial German Army. [154] In his 1963 biography of Haig, Terraine accepted Edmonds' figure of 244,897 British casualties and agreed that German losses were at least equal to and probably greater than British, owing to the strength of British artillery and the high number of German counterattacks; he did not accept Edmonds' calculation that German losses were as high as 400,000. Canadian soldiers had succeeded in the face of almost unbelievable challenges. [156], The area to the east and south of the ruins of Passchendaele village was held by posts, those to the east being fairly habitable, unlike the southern ones; from Passchendaele as far back as Potijze, the ground was far worse. Attempts by the German infantry to advance further were stopped by British artillery-fire with many casualties. German counter-attacks made after 22 October, were at an equal disadvantage and were costly failures. It happened between July and November 1917. [105] After the costly failure of the methodical counter-attack ( Gegenangriff) on 1 October, the attack was put back to 4 October, rehearsals taking place from 2 to 3 October. The British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, opposed the offensive, as did General Ferdinand Foch, the Chief of Staff of the French Army. It had quickly overcome its depression. The German defence had failed to stop a well-prepared attack made in good weather. [98], At 4:00 a.m. on 30 September, a thick mist covered the ground and at 4:30 a.m. German artillery began a bombardment between the Menin road and the Reutelbeek. [75] Haig transferred the main offensive effort to the Second Army on 25 August and moved the northern boundary of the Second Army closer to the Ypres–Roulers railway. He suggested that the southern attack from St Yves to Mont Sorrel should come first and that Mont Sorrel to Steenstraat should be attacked within 48–72 hours. It happened between July and November 1917. It lasted two weeks, with 4.5 million shells fired from 3,000 guns, but again failed to destroy the heavily fortified German positions. BBC © 2014 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The German invasion of Belgium on 4 August 1914, in violation of Article VII of the treaty, was the reason given by the British government for declaring war. [45], Haig selected Gough to command the offensive on 30 April, and on 10 June Gough and the Fifth Army headquarters took over the Ypres salient north of Messines Ridge. The Third Battle of Ypres (German: Dritte Flandernschlacht; French: Troisième Bataille des Flandres; Dutch: Derde Slag om Ieper), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele (/ˈpæʃəndeɪl/), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by the Allies against the German Empire. [149] In his 1977 work, Terraine wrote that the German figure ought to be increased because their statistics were incomplete and because their data omitted some lightly wounded men, who would have been included under British casualty criteria, revising the German figure by twenty per cent, which made German casualties 260,400. The battle began on the 31st July 1917. Few battles encapsulate World War One better than the Battle of Passchendaele. (Q5726), German defensive system, Flanders, mid-1917, British anti-aircraft gun at Morbecque, 29 August 1917, Royal Field Artillery gunners hauling an 18-pounder field gun out of the mud near Zillebeke, 9 August 1917, Derelict tank used as the roof of a dug out, Zillebeke, 20 September 1917 (Q6416), Wounded men at the side of a road after the Battle of Menin Road, Australian infantry with small box respirator gas masks, Ypres, September 1917, British soldiers moving forward during the Battle of Broodseinde. Haig preferred an advance from Ypres, to bypass the flooded area around the Yser and the coast, before attempting a coastal attack to clear the coast to the Dutch border. No German counter-attack was possible because the local Eingreif divisions had been transferred to Flanders. Explore one of the most infamous battles of WW1 - the Battle of Passchendaele. There is a low ridge from Messines, 260 ft (80 m) at its highest point, running north-east past Clapham Junction at the west end of Gheluvelt plateau (​2.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px;white-space:nowrap} 1⁄2 miles from Ypres at 213 ft (65 m) and Gheluvelt, above 160 ft (50 m) to Passchendaele, (​5 1⁄2 miles from Ypres at 160 ft (50 m) declining from there to a plain further north. On 30 June, the army group Chief of Staff, General von Kuhl, suggested a withdrawal to the Flandern I Stellung along Passchendaele ridge, meeting the old front line in the north near Langemarck and Armentières in the south. After discussions with Rawlinson and Plumer and the incorporation of Haig's changes, Macmullen submitted his memorandum on 14 February. [119] The battle was also costly for the Germans, who lost more than 1,000 prisoners. Soldiers carrying equipment through the muddy terrain. The 7th Division commander objected, due to uncertainty about the situation and the many casualties suffered by the 21st Division on the right flank and Plumer changed his mind again. To the east the land is at 66–82 ft (20–25 m) for several miles, with the Steenbeek river at 49 ft (15 m) near St Julien. Loßberg's judgement was accepted and no withdrawal was made. Byng wanted the operations at Ypres continued, to hold German troops in Flanders. [117] There were 13,000 Allied casualties, including 2,735 New Zealanders, 845 of whom were dead or stranded in the mud of no-man's-land; it was one of the worst days in New Zealand military history. The battle, better known simply as Passchendaele, has become a byword for senseless slaughter. The Flandernstellung (Flanders Position) along Passchendaele Ridge, in front of the Flandern line, would become Flandern I Stellung and a new position, Flandern II Stellung, would run west of Menin, northwards to Passchendaele. Both sides raided and the British used night machine-gun fire and artillery barrages to great effect. The II Anzac Corps commander wanted to advance north-east towards Passchendaele village but the I Anzac Corps commander preferred to wait until artillery had been brought up and supply routes improved. This battle took place during WWI and was between the British and the Germans. Hussey wrote that the wet weather in August 1917 was exceptional, Haig had been justified in expecting little rain, swiftly dried by sunshine and breezes. Without the divisions necessary for a counter-offensive south of the Gheluvelt Plateau towards Kemmel Hill, Rupprecht began to plan for a slow withdrawal from the Ypres Salient, even at the risk of uncovering German positions further north and on the Belgian coast. [25], In Flanders, sands, gravels and marls predominate, covered by silts in places. [42] The Germans knew the British were mining and had taken counter-measures but they were surprised at the extent of the British effort. The infantry were supported by artillery-observation and ground-attack aircraft; a box-barrage was fired behind the British front-line, which isolated the British infantry from reinforcements and ammunition. Officially known as the Third Battle of Ypres, Passchendaele was a three-month battle which started on July 31 and ended on November 6 2017 … The main French attack took place from 9 April to 9 May and failed to achieve a breakthrough. The Battle of Vimy Ridge lasted for three days, April 9-10, 12, 1917. [63] Another general offensive intended for 25 August, was delayed by the failure of the preliminary attacks and then postponed due to more bad weather. [142] On 24 October, the Austro-German 14th Army (General der Infanterie Otto von Below), attacked the Italian Second Army on the Isonzo at the Battle of Caporetto and in 18 days, inflicted casualties of 650,000 men and 3,000 guns. Boff wrote that the Germans consciously sought tactical changes for an operational dilemma for want of an alternative. From Hooge and further east, the slope is 1:60 and near Hollebeke, it is 1:75; the heights are subtle and resemble a saucer lip around the city. [48] Major-General John Davidson, Director of Operations at GHQ, wrote in a memorandum that there was "ambiguity as to what was meant by a step-by-step attack with limited objectives" and suggested reverting to a 1,750 yd (1,600 m) advance on the first day to increase the concentration of British artillery. To gain Passchendaele Village and its Ridge was General Haig's main objective. [122] On 18 October, Kuhl advocated a retreat as far to the east as possible; Armin and Loßberg wanted to hold on, because the ground beyond the Passchendaele watershed was untenable, even in winter. The British attacked in dry, clear conditions, with more aircraft over the battlefield for counter-attack reconnaissance, contact patrol and ground-attack operations. only the first part of which was quoted by Lloyd George (1934), Liddell Hart (1934) and Leon Wolff (1959); in a 1997 essay, John Hussey called the passage by Charteris "baffling". In early 1916, the importance of the capture of the Gheluvelt plateau for an advance further north was emphasised by Haig and the army commanders. The infantry attack began on 31 July. Discover the battle of Passchendaele Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917. Battle of the Bulge; Part of the Western Front of World War II: American soldiers of the 117th Infantry Regiment, Tennessee National Guard, part of the 30th Infantry Division, move past a destroyed American M5A1 "Stuart" tank on their march to recapture the town of St. Vith during the Battle … German counter-attacks were costly failures and on 28 September, Thaer wrote that the experience was "awful" and that he did not know what to do. [118], At a conference on 13 October, Haig and the army commanders agreed that attacks would stop until the weather improved and roads could be extended, to carry more artillery and ammunition forward. The attack on the northern flank again met with exceptional German resistance. Sheldon wrote that the German casualties could only be brought up to 399,590 by including the 182,396 soldiers who were sick or treated at regimental aid posts for "minor cuts and wounds" but not struck off unit strength; Sheldon wrote "it is hard to see any merit" in doing so. German counter-attacks pushed back the 35th Division in the centre but the French attack captured all its objectives. At 5.50 a.m. on 26 September, five layers of barrage fired by British artillery and machine-guns began. German troops engaged were from the 239th, 39th, 4th, 44th Reserve, 7th, 11th, 11th Bavarian, 238th, 199th, 27th, 185th, 111th and 40th divisions. On 11 April, Plumer authorised a withdrawal of the southern flank of the Second Army. The film was shot over a period of forty-five days and involved over 200 actors, some of them Canadian Forces soldiers with combat experience in Afghanistan. [129] On 26 October, the 3rd Canadian Division captured its objective at Wolf Copse, then swung back its northern flank to link with the adjacent division of the Fifth Army. The Battle of Passchendaele was fought July 31 to November 6, 1917, during World War I (1914-1918). [111] Later in the day, Plumer had second thoughts and ordered I Anzac Corps to push on to the Keiberg spur, with support from the II Anzac Corps. Monday marks 100 years since the Battle of Passchendaele, ... Those who fought there included Harry Patch, the "Last Tommy" who died aged 111 in 2009.

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