They Called it Passchendaele: The Story of the Battle of Ypres and of the Men Who Fought in it

They Called It Passchendaele: The Story Of The Third Battle Of Ypres And Of The Men Who Fought [Lyn MacDonald] on leondumoulin.nl *FREE* shipping on.
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I could see troops in front of me crawling and jumping up and crawling again and dodging into shell-holes. Away ahead, it was all smoke and explosions and bullets flying out of Lewis guns like streams of fire all around these buildings they were attacking. We were really held up at this place but the bombers were at it, attacking it from the flanks.

There were boys there with buckets of bombs, and one lad in particular I saw crawl up to the wall and reach up and chuck bombs in at the window of the gun emplacement. They were all going at it, hammer and tongs. They were still going at it when it started to rain. They were still going at it an hour later, and by that time we were practically up to our knees in water. We must have reinforcements. He fell right over on to me and we both went right down into the water. I managed to pull him a bit up the side of this crater and laid him down and knelt down beside him.

He was younger than me. Sergeant McCormack crawled across, and looked at him. Then he looked at me. It was an inferno. Just a solid line of fire and sparks and rockets lighting up the sky. When the barrage began to lift we went over like one man towards what had once been the German front line. The chap on my right had his head blown off, as neat as if it had been done with a chopper.

I saw his trunk stumbling on for two or three paces and then collapsing in a heap. My pal, Tom Altham, went down too, badly wounded, and Sergeant-Major Dunn got a shell all to himself. All we could do was leave a man behind to look after him. It was another twenty-four hours before he was rescued. Less than a year after the costly Somme offensive, the British, Empire and French armies found themselves in another titanic and bloodsoaked struggle. This time the aim was too push the well-ensconced Germans from the high ground overlooking the Ypres area from where they wee able to observe everything the primarily British force was up to.

The battle's popular name, Passchendaele, comes from one of the villages that stood on that ridge before it was blasted almost out of existence during the th Less than a year after the costly Somme offensive, the British, Empire and French armies found themselves in another titanic and bloodsoaked struggle.

They Called It Passchendaele by Lyn Macdonald

The battle's popular name, Passchendaele, comes from one of the villages that stood on that ridge before it was blasted almost out of existence during the the days of hostilities. Passchendael's rubble and body strewn streets must have seemed a poor reward for the losses incurred in taking them and the surrounding areas. But the occupiers were now able to look out onto the open countryside beyond. Behind them lay a wasteland of shellholes mostly filled almost to the brim with water, the result of the abnormal amounts of rainfall since the start of the battle.

There can have been few, if any, worst terrains for men to fight in, ever. Lyn Macdonald's books have been criticised for lack of strategic grasp. Arguably, her books are partial and her description of a battle focused around the eye-witness accounts that she uses. But her purpose is to convey to the reader a sense of "being there" and in this book, as with her others, she succeeds magnificently. Aug 29, Geraldine rated it liked it Shelves: Not really sure what to say.

It was boring to read but interesting to have read it. It was very well written and seemed to be well researched, with lots of testimony from participants, from a wide range of ranks. It's definitely one for the World War 1 geeks, rather than history generalists, and perhaps I'm not enough of a geek to appreciate it properly. Yet, a strength was that it didn't get bogged down with pages and pages of military strategy, yet was at its strongest describing the logistics Not really sure what to say. Yet, a strength was that it didn't get bogged down with pages and pages of military strategy, yet was at its strongest describing the logistics involved in a long battle - and how much at risk were the engineers, stretcher bearers, ration carriers and so on, just as much as the PBI.

I got fed up of reading of what seemed to be almost casual deaths. Another one goes west, another gets a bullet in the head, another one with his guts hanging out. Thinking of some of the terrible events this year - Terror attacks and the Grenfell fire in Britain, and other similar events elsewhere, the media pour over the event, the lives lost, the causes, and at their best make me feel that each life matters. So the contrast with this was very difficult to take. Lives that didn't matter, all just part of the equation.

Cannon fodder, suicide squads. The more I read the less I am able to imagine. Mar 17, Sophie rated it it was amazing. I've read this book before and I really like this author. They way she writes is just so refreshing to me. The author gives you all the facts, the where and the how, the dates and the numbers but she doesn't just throw it at you. Many writers of historical non-fiction just drone on, basically just making a list of what happened.

This author interviewed survivors, put parts of their letters and diaries in between all the hard and horrible fact. This is a necessary illustration for readers who, in I've read this book before and I really like this author. This is a necessary illustration for readers who, in this day and age, couldn't possibly imagine what the horrors of the first world war were like.

And the best part of it all is that sometimes you're actually laughing. Because even in hell, everyday things happened and these courageous men made the most of everything. This book is not just a depressing list of horrors, it's a story courage and honor by an author who spent a very long time making sure she had all the facts. Nov 17, Bernie Charbonneau rated it it was amazing Shelves: A brilliant and well researched insight into one of the Great Wars most heinous battles. I have been educating myself over the last couple of years with the individual battles that involved our Canadian forces and this one is probably the most gruesome in environment that the lads had to endure.

This being a concentrated read involving just this period in the war; I found Ms. McDonalds edition an easy to follow reenactment of the carnage that is called Passchendaele. Sep 19, John Mccormick rated it it was amazing. Excellent quality book, well researched, including numerous eye witness accounts by those unfortunates who were there and fortunate to survive. Absorbing from the first page and at times depressing humorous but above all sad at what these people had to endure.

They Called It Passchendaele

Not a pleasant read but one I am glad I did. Feb 21, Damian Wee rated it really liked it. The book depicts how soldiers would behave or fight during World War 1. The main setting or battle in this book is the battle of Ypres. The book gives many accounts and evidences that you might even feel as if you are studying a piece of history. The author, Lyn Macdonald has included maps, journal entries of soldiers and pictures of the frontlines. Nov 29, Peter Ellwood rated it liked it. Fine piece of scholarship.

They Called it Passchendaele

Lyn Macdonald calmly sets out the unbelievable and I do mean unbelievable horrors of the marathon slugging match of Passchendaele in graphic and often really moving style, often simply quoting the words of the soldiers who fought and died there. I have two "if only" comments. One feels a bit curmudgeonly to list the criticisms of such a good piece of work. But that's what a review is for I suppose. The first concerns sex. I freely acknowle Fine piece of scholarship.

I freely acknowledge that Lyn M is the one who did all the research and not me. But as it happens, pretty much the only thing my own grandfather ever told me about the carnage of WWI - he wouldn't talk about it often - was that the men were under such relentless stress and so inured to the probability of dying: My logic tells me that was probably so, and indeed Lyn M does touch on this tentatively here and there. Maybe it's just me, but she seemed to succeed only in conveying a certain sense of "no sex please we're British", and that's a pity.

If my grandfather was right - and surely he was - then a key dimension of the madness has been censored out by ladylike gentility. And finally, not really a criticism, more just a comment. The book does exactly what it says on the cover: In that sense she achieved precisely what she set out to do apart from the sex anyway. But it is by definition therefore only a partial account, because it barely touches on what went on behind the German lines, only a few hundred yards away. This can be misleading, because a relentless concentration on the butchery that went on amongst the British soldiers tends to convey that they were getting beaten.

In one way of course, they were - but my point is that they were also beating the Germans at the same time. It came as a slight surprise towards the end of the book to learn that the Germans probably lost just as many young men. British Broadcasting Corporation Home. Officially known as the Third Battle of Ypres, Passchendaele became infamous not only for the scale of casualties, but also for the mud.


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Ypres was the principal town within a salient or bulge in the British lines and the site of two previous battles: Haig had long wanted a British offensive in Flanders and, following a warning that the German blockade would soon cripple the British war effort, wanted to reach the Belgian coast to destroy the German submarine bases there. On top of this, the possibility of a Russian withdrawal from the war threatened German redeployment from the Eastern front to increase their reserve strength dramatically. The British were further encouraged by the success of the attack on Messines Ridge on 7 June Nineteen huge mines were exploded simultaneously after they had been placed at the end of long tunnels under the German front lines.

The capture of the ridge inflated Haig's confidence and preparations began. Yet the flatness of the plain made stealth impossible: It lasted two weeks, with 4. The Canadian operation was to be three limited attacks, on 26 October, 30 October and 6 November. The 4th Canadian Division captured its objectives but was forced slowly to retire from Decline Copse, against German counter-attacks and communication failures between the Canadian and Australian units to the south. The second stage began on 30 October, to complete the previous stage and gain a base for the final assault on Passchendaele.

The attackers on the southern flank quickly captured Crest Farm and sent patrols beyond the final objective into Passchendaele. The attack on the northern flank again met with exceptional German resistance. The 3rd Canadian Division captured Vapour Farm on the corps boundary, Furst Farm to the west of Meetcheele and the crossroads at Meetcheele but remained short of its objective.

During a seven-day pause, the Second Army took over another section of the Fifth Army front adjoining the Canadian Corps. Three rainless days from 3—5 November eased preparation for the next stage, which began on the morning of 6 November, with the 1st Canadian Division and the 2nd Canadian Division. In fewer than three hours, many units reached their final objectives and Passchendaele was captured. The Canadian Corps launched a final action on 10 November, to gain control of the remaining high ground north of the village near Hill The area was subjected to constant German artillery bombardments and its vulnerability to attack led to a suggestion by Brigadier C.

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Aspinall, that either the British should retire to the west side of the Gheluvelt Plateau or advance to broaden the salient towards Westroosebeke. Expanding the salient would make the troops in it less vulnerable to German artillery-fire and provide a better jumping off line for a resumption of the offensive in the spring of The noise of the British assembly and the difficulty of moving across muddy and waterlogged ground had also alerted the Germans.

Some ground was captured and about prisoners were taken but the attack on the redoubts failed and observation over the heads of the valleys on the east and north sides of the ridge was not achieved. Two battalions of the 2nd New Zealand Brigade of the New Zealand Division attacked the low ridge, from which German observers could view the area from Cameron Covert to the north and the Menin road to the south-west.

Smoke and gas bombardments on the Gheluvelt and Becelaere spurs on the flanks and the infantry attack began at the same time as the "routine" bombardment. The ruse failed, some British artillery-fire dropped short on the New Zealanders and the Germans engaged the attackers with small-arms fire from Polderhoek Spur and Gheluvelt ridge.


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  • A strong west wind ruined the smoke screens and the British artillery failed to suppress the German machine-guns. In a German General Staff publication, it was written that "Germany had been brought near to certain destruction sicheren Untergang by the Flanders battle of ". No soldier of any intelligence now defends this senseless campaign The German submarine bases on the coast had not been captured but the objective of diverting the Germans from the French further south, while they recovered from the Nivelle Offensive in April, had succeeded.

    By blaming an individual, the rest of the German commanders were exculpated, which gave a false impression that OHL operated in a rational manner, when Ludendorff imposed another defensive scheme on 7 October. Boff called this narrative facile and that it avoided the problem faced by the Germans in late Boff also doubted that all of the divisions in Flanders could act on top-down changes. The th Division was in the front line from 11 August to 18 October and replied that new tactics were difficult to implement, due to lack of training.

    The tempo of British attacks and the effect of attrition meant that although six divisions were sent to the 4th Army by 10 October, they were either novice divisions deficient in training or veteran divisions with low morale after earlier defeats; good divisions had been diluted with too many replacements. Boff wrote that the Germans consciously sought tactical changes for an operational dilemma, because no operational answer existed.

    At a British conference on 13 October, a scheme of the Third Army for an attack in mid-November was discussed. Various casualty figures have been published, sometimes with acrimony but the highest estimates for British and German casualties appear to be discredited. Edmonds put British casualties at , and wrote that equivalent German figures were not available, estimating German losses at , Edmonds considered that 30 percent needed to be added to German figures to make them comparable to British casualty criteria.

    Sheldon recorded , slightly wounded and sick soldiers not struck off unit strength , which if included would make , German losses. Cruttwell recorded , British casualties and , German. John Terraine followed Falls in but did not accept that German losses were as high as , Taylor in , wrote that Edmonds had performed a "conjuring trick" on the figures and that no one believed these "farcical calculations".

    Taylor put British wounded and killed at , and German losses at , Terraine refuted Wolff , who despite writing that , British casualties was the BEF total for the second half of , neglected to deduct 75, casualties for the Battle of Cambrai, given in the Official Statistics from which he quoted or "normal wastage", averaging 35, per month in "quiet" periods. The area to the east and south of Passchendaele was held by posts, those to the east being fairly habitable, unlike the southern ones; from Passchendaele as far back as Potijze, the ground was far worse.

    Each brigade spent four days in the front line, four in support and four in reserve.

    The Battle of Passchendaele (1917)

    The area was quiet apart from artillery-fire and in December the weather turned cold and snowy, which entailed a great effort to prevent trench foot. In January, spells of freezing cold were followed by warmer periods, one beginning on 15 January with torrential rain and gale-force winds, washing away plank roads and duckboard tracks. Both sides raided and the British used night machine-gun fire and artillery barrages to great effect.

    On 23 March, Haig ordered Plumer to make contingency plans to shorten the line and release troops for the other armies. Worn-out divisions from the south had been sent to Flanders to recuperate closer to the coast. On 11 April, Plumer authorised a withdrawal of the southern flank of the Second Army.

    Next day, at the Battle of Merckem , the Germans attacked north-east of Ypres, from Houthulst Forest and captured Kippe but were forced out by Belgian counter-attacks, supported by the II Corps artillery. On the afternoon of 27 April, the south end of the Second Army outpost line was driven in near Voormezeele and another British outpost line was established north-east of the village.

    In the case of the United Kingdom only casualties before 16 August are commemorated on the memorial. The Canadian Corps' participation in the Second Battle of Passchendaele is commemorated with the Passchendaele Memorial at site of the Crest Farm on the south-west fringe of Passchendaele village.

    One of the newest monuments to be dedicated to the fighting contribution of a group is the Celtic Cross memorial, commemorating the Scottish contribution to the fighting in Flanders during the Great War. The monument was dedicated by Linda Fabiani , the Minister for Europe of the Scottish Parliament , during the late summer of , the 90th anniversary of the battle. Members of the British Royal family and Prime-Minister Theresa May joined the ceremonies, which started in the evening of 30 July with the service at Menin Gate, followed by ceremonies at the Market Square.

    On the following day, a ceremony was held at Tyne Cot cemetery, headed by the Prince of Wales. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For other uses, see Passchendaele disambiguation. Battle of Verdun and Battle of the Somme. Local operations, December — June The Eastern Front in The progression of the battle and the general disposition of troops.

    June — July Battle of Messines German trench destroyed by a mine explosion. The British set-piece attack in mid British 18 pounder battery taking up new positions near Boesinghe, 31 July. Battle of Pilckem Ridge. German defensive system, Flanders, mid Capture of Oppy Wood and Battle of Hill Battle of Langemarck and Operation Hush. British anti-aircraft gun at Morbecque, 29 August The British set-piece attack in late Derelict tank used as the roof of a dug out, Zillebeke, 20 September Q Battle of the Menin Road Ridge.

    Wounded men at the side of a road after the Battle of Menin Road. Action of 25 September Battle of Polygon Wood. Australian infantry with small box respirator gas masks, Ypres, September Actions of 30 September — 4 October British soldiers moving forward during the Battle of Broodseinde. Photo by Ernest Brooks. First Battle of Passchendaele.

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    Aerial view of Passchendaele village before and after the battle. Action of 22 October Battle of La Malmaison. Second Battle of Passchendaele. Terrain through which the Canadian Corps advanced at Passchendaele, in late Terrain at Passchendaele near where the Canadian Corps advanced, spring Action on the Polderhoek Spur. World War I portal. Haig wrote that if the Allies could win the war in , "the chief people to suffer would be the socialists".

    Prince Charles honours 'courage and bravery' of British soldiers". The Origins of the War of The Australian Imperial Force in France, Official History of Australia in the War of — Retrieved 21 July Sir Douglas Haig's Despatches repr. Eighth Division in War — repr. Field Marshal Earl Haig. A History of the Great War — repr. Der Weltkrieg bis Archived from the original on 3 December Retrieved 17 November French Strategy and Operations in the Great War. Military Operations France and Belgium, Sir Douglas Haig's Command to the 1st July: Battle of the Somme.

    Military Operations France and Belgium Messines and Third Ypres Passchendaele.