Passchendaele 1917: The Tommies' Experience of the Third Battle of Ypres

Robert J. Parker

jun 2017 · Amberley Publishing Limited

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It seems absurd to claim it, but the Battle of Passchendaele was in many ways worse than the Somme. The British offensive, also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, was launched on the Belgium battlefield at 3.30 a.m. on 31 July 1917. It was a massive effort by General Sir Douglas Haig and the British Army to achieve a strategic breakthrough and defeat Germany. Attrition would defeat a Germany that was, many believed, ‘on the ropes’. Just one more ‘big push’ would secure victory – yet it failed. Passchendaele continued until November 1917 and became synonymous with the tragedy of the Great War: abominable weather, mud and filth; horrific injuries inflicted by increasingly industrialised warfare including tanks, gas, mines and flamethrowers; the enormous casualties (600,000) and the futility of the operation all combined to form a nightmare vision of war in the trenches. What was life like for the ordinary British soldier? Was the whole bloody effort necessary or were there alternatives? What, if anything, did it achieve? Passchendaele 1917 answers these questions while reminding us of the sacrifices and heroism of the soldiers who fought it.

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Robert J. Parker has been a school teacher for over thirty years. He has Bachelors &Masters degrees in history & combines his passion for the history of WW1 & WW2 with frequent travel to the battlefield sites. He has spent several months based in France studying the remains of the D-Day landings. He has visited six continents and over fifty countries, making more than forty separate trips to the United Kingdom alone. He lives in Indiana, USA.