Passchendaele 90th Anniversary

"I died in Hell -they called it Passchendaele;
my wound was slight
and I was hobbling back; and then a shell
burst slick upon the duckboards; so I fell
into the bottomless mud, and lost the light"

Siegfried Sassoon

This year marks the 98th anniversary of the World War I Battle of Passchendaele ( now Passendale) in 1917. Also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, it has come to symbolise the horror of industrialised warfare. For five months ANZAC, British, Canadian and South African soldiers fought the Germans in mud, mustard gas, barbed wire and rain. Both sides suffered overwhelming casualties.

Despite strong opposition from the British War cabinet, British commander Sir Douglas Haig was determined to get control of the village of Passendale in Belgium. The aim was to break German defences and take over the German occupied ports on the Belgian coast, which would help take pressure of the French forces.

In this excerpt from his book From Petershead to Passchendaele, Roy Buchan outlines some of the reasons for the failure of the campaign.

“…Unfortunately everything conspired against the prospects of success. The original date in early July had to be postponed and Flanders was to experience the wettest August in twenty years. Plans for a mobile attack using tanks were replaced by the familiar preliminary massive bombardment, the main effect of which was to destroy the drainage system of what was once a flood plain and to turn the whole area into a swamp….

During the campaign drowning was common as the wounded were left on wooden duckboards that occasionally sank into the mud.

“Some progress would be made by advancing infantry units only to be followed by their virtual annihilation from the rear as German machine gunners emerged from their underground dugouts. The pitifully small territorial gains were often cancelled out almost immediately, one wooded area changed hands 18 times during the months of conflict….

By the end of August hospital trains were arriving at Charing Cross Station in London every hour. Despite these appalling casualties and the failure to take the main objectives, the British High Command, out of touch with conditions at the front, ordered the campaign to continue through September in the hope that the German lines would crack. Although suffering similarly massive casualties the enemy had all the advantages of fighting from strong defensive positions and the hoped for break through never came. “

For the period 21-30 September casualties were estimated at 38,000 for the Germans and 36,000 for the allies, yet the campaign continued. At the start of October New Zealand troops were given the objective of capturing Gravenstafel Ridge. This lay only a mile from the remains of the village of Passchendaele, which sat on the strategic goal of high ground. Although the New Zealand Division succeeded in gaining Gravenstafel Ridge they were only half way to their objective. Haig, encouraged by success of recent assaults pushed for further attacks ultimately leading to the most catastrophic day in New Zealand’s military history.

In the space of a few hours on October 12 1917 the New Zealanders suffered 3296 casualties, with more than 1800 of these killed.

Despite the Spectator Newspaper reporting that the Passchendael campaign `had been a great week for the Allies in Flanders’ the final push gained no objectives. In 1918 the Germans regained almost all of the ground taken by the Allies at Passchendaele.

 From Peterhead to Passchendaele by Roy Buchan – excerpt reproduced with the author’s permission