The Battle of Passchendaele on the Fields of Flanders

1. "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

2. The Horrors of War 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." 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. The final Battle of Passchendaele Haig was still obsessed with capturing Passchendaele, and turned to Lieutenant-General 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.

13. 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

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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.