Paschendale

The Battle of Passchendaele[Note 1] was a campaign of the First World War, taking place between July and November 1917. In a series of operations, Entente armies under British command attacked theImperial German Army.[Note 2] The battles were fought for control of the ridge and village of Passchendaele (modern Passendale) near the city of Ypres in West Flanders, Belgium.

The British intentionwas to wear out the German army with a quick succession of broad-front attacks moving short distances into the German defences, eventually to force the German army into a general withdrawal,[1] thento advance on the Belgian coast and connect with the Dutch frontier. The British commander Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig anticipated a campaign in three parts: the capture of Passchendaele Ridge, anadvance on Roulers and then Operation Hush, an attack along the Belgian coast from Nieuport combined with an amphibious landing.[2] The offensive also served to distract the German army from theFrench armies on the Aisne, which were debilitated by mutinies in the aftermath of the Nivelle Offensive.[3] The German Army fought to contain the British attacks using large amounts of artillery fire andmany infantry counter-attacks, trying to keep control of the higher ground around Ypres which they had held since 1915.

Much of the fighting took place in unusually wet weather, which turned partsof the battlefield into a sea of mud churned by shell-fire[4] yet at other times, particularly in September, the weather was hot and dry enough for men to wear shorts.[5] The campaign ended inNovember when the British army captured Passchendaele village and part of the ridge. The British advance beyond the ridge to Roulers and the linked coastal operation did not take place and the German armymanaged to avoid a general withdrawal, which had seemed inevitable to them in October.[6] The campaign is controversial; in a German General Staff publication of 1927 Theodor Jochim, first head of the...