The+Battle+of+Passchendaele

=-The Battle of Passchendaele- =

By: James Kim, Luke Sun, Yauheni Basko
__//** Map of Passchendaele **//__

A movie of the battle of Passchendaele was made in 2008 from Alliance Films. It was directed by Paul Gross. Click here for a link to the official website of the movie.

Here is a trailer of the movie. media type="youtube" key="I6WYHagWdeE?fs=1" height="385" width="640"

__** Pictures of the Battle of Passchendaele **__

The following pictures shows how horrible and devastating the battle was.

The above pictures shows a wounded soldier being carried away by his fellow soldiers. The ground these soldiers are passing through shows how destructive the battle was. Not even a single sign of significant life form can be found in this pictures other than the tired looking soldiers.





The above 3 pictures shows how much the landscape of this parts of Belgium was destroyed through the battle of Passchendaele. The ground looks as if it was all just mud and water, but these lands were fields of grass or other life-forms prior to the battle. All three of these pictures show the grounds full of small holes, as well as some big puddles of mud and water. These puddles of mud and water, caused by artillery fire, are one of the causes of trench feet for soldiers. Since soldiers had to fight in these battlefields, they had to do whatever necessary to live and survive the battles. This meant that some soldiers had to throw themselves into these puddles of mud and water in order to escape from the rains of bullets aimed at them. The countless number of holes on the grounds shows the devastating powers of artillery fire, as well as their huge number of fires. There were so many artillery fired that it is almost impossible to see a ten meter squared space of land undisturbed by artillery fire. The third pictures especially shows the land punched with limitless artillery barrage.





This last pictures shows the horrible mark the battle of Passchendaele left in Belgium. The roads seen on the top part of the picture are almost impossible to spot on the bottom part of the picture, which shows the aftereffects of the battle. The battle of Passchendaele was not the only battle which resulted in such devastating marks on the face of the earth. This fact as well as this picture shows how much the World War One destroyed and harmed the entire world.

As seen from the various pictures above, the battle of Passchendaele was very devastating. Many lives of the soldiers were sacrificed, and many of these soldiers had to live through hellish conditions before dying or being scarred for life.

More pictures of the battle are shown in this slide show: media type="custom" key="7292071" width="130" height="130"

__** Brief Introduction **__
The battle of Passchendaele happened in 1917, during the World War One. It was fought between Allied forces and German forces. The battle of Passchendaele is also known as the Battle of Mud by the soldiers who fought in it or the Third Battle of Ypres, since it was fought for control over a village of Passchendaele, near the town of Ypres. The village of Passchendaele is in West Flanders, Belgium. The battle started on 31 July 1917 and ended on 6 November 1917. The battle was initiated by the Allied forces, unlike the other two battles of Ypres, and consisted of many assaults.

The general in charge of the offensive on Passchendaele and the Ypres area was Sir Douglas Haig. Haig had multiple reasons for this offense and believed that something like this was inevitable. The British was being starved out by the German U-boats and their supplies and supply sources could not last much longer to the onslaught of the German Navy. The goal of this offensive was to gain control of some of the German U-boat ports to stop some of the U-boats from sinking more British supply ships. Also, Haig believed that the Germans were sick and tired of this war on two fronts and that the soldiers would have a horrible morale.

The Battle of Passchendaele was considered the most pointless successful attack that the allies launched and is portrayed as a "Hollow Victory."

__** The Attack **__
__** Artillery **__ July 18th, 1917: The allies launched a huge artillery barrage on the German Front lines. This barrage was meant to weaken the German line and lasted for approximately ten days. However, it was because of this barrage that the allies lost the element of surprise and the Germans were completely expecting a big assault. This artillery barrage was a huge tactical misplay as it created a rough terrain with holes that filled with water. This rough terrain slowed down infantry and made tanks completely useless in this battle.

__**Infantry**__ The first main infantry offensive was launched on July 31st, 1917 at 3:50 am. They attacked in the morning; there was a heavy mist. British left flank (north) was successful in taking Bixschoote, St. Julien, and Pilkem North of Ypres. However, the right flank (south) advances were halted by the German resistance. During the beginning of the assault, heavy ceaseless rain continuously fell down on the soldiers, thus causing horrible conditions for the battle. Soldiers were no longer able to make anymore progress and had to walk with mud up to their thighs. Tanks were immobilized and it was literally impossible to advance towards the German armies. This terrible rain lasted for two weeks, during which Germans were able to reorganize and reinforce their troops. All in all, the British were not able to gain much ground but suffered big losses, both in soldiers and supply, to the weather and German defense. The commander of the main portion of this assault was Sir Hubert Gough

The first assault was determined to be a failure and the failure was blamed on Sir Hubert Gough and not the very unfortunate weather. Haig decided to swap generals and made the main assault general Sir Herbert Plumer. Sir Herbert Plumer was involved in the first assault as the general of the right flank. Sir Herbert Plumer's strategy was quite different from Gough's. Gough's strategy was more of a "eat it in one bite" type of strategy that disregarded small gains and went for the large, more important and harder to get gains. Plumer liked to make many small gains in order to get a better position. Plumer's strategy worked well during this battle and he won many small battles, during September and October 1917, that would have been insignificant by themselves but, all together, gave the allies a better position around the Ypres area (Polygon Wood, Menin Bridge, Broodseinde).

The allies continued to attack. During the time period of October 9th to October 12th, the allies attempted two more attack on the German Front Line. These attacks were complete failures and the allies were easily repelled. The German's first used mustard gas here; a gas that burns the skin and eyes and still works when the enemy is wearing a gas mask. The Germans also received reinforcements from the eastern front so any hopes to outnumber the Germans were crushed. The planned attack on Passchendaele ridge was temporarily abandoned after this failure.

The final assault on Passchendaele ridge was left to the Canadians and Major Currie. Currie predicted that 15,000 soldiers would be injured or dead after the battle here and that it would not be a good idea to attack in poor conditions. Currie's prediction was off by 46 men. 14, 954 Canadians troops were dead or wounded after the attack. Although many men were lost, Currie and the Canadians successfully took over Passchendaele Ridge. The battle of Passchendaele ended here.

__** Other **__ -No trenches were used in this attack as this weather and artillery bombarded terrain made it impossible. Instead soldiers just positioned themselves in holes filled with mud and water for protection. -German's first used mustard gas here. The allies weren't expecting this new type of gas so many people suffered here. Mustard gas did not kill very many soldiers, but made the majority affected unable to fight. -The allies tested their tanks here; the tanks got stuck in the mud and did not contribute at all. -Many allied troops had to walk through mud that was waist deep -Much of the casualties were caused by people drowning in the mud or getting stuck until the Germans found and shot them -Adolf Hitler was part of the Battle of Passchendaele and was injured by the Allies on October 13th, 1917

__** Results **__
-The allies lost around 310,000 soldiers and the Germans lost around 260,000 soldiers although the numbers from different sources may vary -Allies gained the advantage of position and some U-boats were disabled

Many people criticized Haig for this attack as the allies lost so many for a few thousand meters. They say Haig should have been more flexible and stopped his attack when the weather turned on him. They also criticized him for his strategy in attacking, especially the artillery barrage at the beginning and his head-on offense strategy.

In his defense, people say that the British needed to stop the U-boat onslaught. Also, it was completely bad luck that the weather was like this. Since the United States joined the war, German lost a bigger ratio of their soldiers than the allies did (although Russia withdrew)

__** Questions: **__

 * 1) Why was this battle considered the most pointless successful battle for the Allies in World War One?
 * 2) Are there any reasons to why this battle was necessary? If so, what were they?
 * 3) What was the difference in military strategy between Gough and Plumer?
 * 4) What are some reasons that the assault on October 9th-12th failed miserably?
 * 5) Why were tanks not useful in this battle?
 * 6) Why were trenches not used?

__** Citation/Sources **__

__** Internet **__ [] [] [] @http://www.google.ca/ @http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/ypres3.htm

__** Book(s) **__ Author: Anthony Livesey (H.P Willmott, consultant)
 * The Historical Atlas of World War I**

"A Henry Holt Reference Book Henry Holt and company New York"

Copyright 1994 Published in canada by Fitzhenry and Whiteside ltd. 195 Allstate Parkway, Markham, Ontario L3R 4T8

First Edition- 1994