Passchendaele

The Battle of Passchendaele, otherwise known as the Third Battle of Ypres, was one of the major battles of World War I, fought by British, ANZAC, and Canadian soldiers against the German army near Ypres (Ieper in Flemish) in West Flanders, southwestern Belgium over the control of the village of Passchendaele. The plan was to drive a hole in the German lines and advance clear through to the Belgian coast. The idea being that the offensive would have a two-fold benefit if succcesful. Not only would it allow for a decisive corridor to be opened in a crucial area of the front but it would meanwhile take pressure off of the French forces who, after suffering a series of disastrous defeats were suffering from extremely low morale, which resulted in an alarming increase in cases of mutiny and misconduct. The land on which the battle took place was largely reclaimed bog-land, swampy even without rains. Then it rained from August onwards almost without cease. Add to that the ceaseless, and senseless, preparatory bombardment by the British and the result was a terrain so impassable with deep "liquid mud" that not only the heavy tanks and the men inside them, and the heavy artillery, but countless numbers of unfortunate and doomed foot soldiers were drowned in the mud before they even had a chance to get shot by the Germans. So, being forced to advance through this deadly mud against row after row of heavily armed and manned German pill-boxes meant that when the town of Paschendaele was finally taken by the Canadians allied forces had sufffered almost a quarter million casualties, with about the same number of men lost by the germans by the battle's end, while the original strategic purpose of the battle had long-been forfeited. It was in fact the use of massed tanks which effected the breakthrough, and the Tank Corps finally broke through, quite un-expectedly at Cambrai, east of the old Somme sector, in November. The breakthrough was so un-expected in fact that the British and Canadian high command had no plan in place to capitalize on it and the territory was soon mostly re-captured by the Germans. So while utterly senseless in and of itself, the battle did have very consequential effects. First it convinced Churchill, who had long had serious doubts (see the Dardanelles campaign) that the war could be won on the Western front, and it greatly influenced strategists who began to see the benefits of massed tank warfare in the European theatre, Heinz Guderian in particular, whose ideas came to striking fruition in the Blitzkrieg tactics used some 21 years later.

Second Battle of Passchendaele

At this point two divisions of the Canadian Corps were moved into the line to replace the now-decimated ANZAC forces. After their successes at Vimy Ridge and the Battle of Hill 70, the Canadians were considered to be the allies' elite force and were often sent into the most horrific conditions.

Related Topics:
Canadian Corps - Vimy Ridge - Battle of Hill 70

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Upon his arrival, the CiC General Currie stated he believed the objective could be taken, but only at the cost of 16,000 casualties. Haig, by this time inured to such high numbers after years of allied losses in the hundreds of thousands, ordered the offensive to continue; the Canadians moved into the line during mid-October.

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On October 26 1917, the Second Battle of Passchendaele began with 20,000 men of the 3rd and 4th Canadian divisions advancing up the hills of the salient. A further 12,000 allied casualties occurred during the day for a gain of a few hundred yards (metres).

Related Topics:
October 26 - 1917

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Reinforced with the addition of two British divisions, a second offensive on October 30 resulted in the capture of the town in blinding rain. For the next five days the force held the town in the face of repeated German shelling and counterattacks, and by the time a second group of reinforcements arrived on November 6, 4/5ths of two Canadian divisions had been lost — casualties Currie had predicted, almost to the man.

Related Topics:
October 30 - November 6

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Their replacements were the Canadian 1st and 2nd divisions. German troops still ringed the area, so a limited attack on the 6th by the remaining troops of the 3rd division on a machine gun post allowed the 1st division to make major advances and gain strong points throughout the area. A follow-up by the 2nd division on November 10 completed the battle, by pushing the Germans off the slopes to the east of the town. The high ground was now firmly in allied control.

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