Kendall, Paul Passchendaele In 100 Locations

Exploring the Third Battle of Ypres 1917

Encouraged by the success of the attack on the Messines Ridge on June 7, 1917, Field Marshal Haig ordered his generals to continue preparations for the Third Battle of Ypres. The offensive, delayed for various reasons, including bad weather, finally began on July 31, 1917. The battle for the small Belgian village of Passchendaele would not only demonstrate the futility of offensive tactics against well-prepared defensive positions, but also the horrific conditions the soldiers had to endure in the Flemish mudimages of which remain inextricably linked to the trench warfare of the First World War. Fighting raged on for weeks and months afterward. The final phase of the battle for Passchendaele took place on November 6. Within just three hours, the village was in the hands of the Allied troops. Ninety-seven days had passed from the initial attack on July 31 to that point. The offensive ended after a minor skirmish on November 10, in which Canadian troops captured a strategically important section of terrain. Casualties on both sides ran into the hundreds of thousands. Lloyd George wrote in 1938: "Passchendaele was indeed one of the greatest disasters of the war No soldier in his right mind would defend this senseless campaign today." In this richly illustrated publication, the author describes 100 sites connected with the Battle of Passchendaelefrom the headquarters from which it was directed to the scenes of specific engagements and the places where Victoria Crosses were won. He thus intertwines poignant stories with the very ground that visitors can walk on today.