The Battle of PasschendaeleEssay Preview: The Battle of PasschendaeleReport this essayThe Battle of PasschendaeleThe Battle of Passchendaele is remembered for its atrocious conditions, high casualty rates and Canadian valor. Canadians, instrumental in securing victory, earned a total of nine Victoria Crosses for their courage.
Located near the town of Ypres where another brutal battle occurred, a small town called Passchendaele sat, unaware of the brutal future that was to come. Although it had very little strategic value, General Douglas Haig of the Royal British Army was determined to retake the ridge from the German defenses. Despite over 16 000 Canadian deaths, and a total of nearly 300 000 deaths over all, the ridge was retaken by the Allies.
By the time the Canadians entered the battle on the Passchendaele Ridge, British and Australian troops had fought there for more than three months. Their efforts had been unsuccessful: 100,000 casualties for very little ground won. The main geographical features included thousands of shell holes almost touching each other at all times. With the most summer and autumn rains in over 30 years, the shell holes filled up, and the soft dirt turned to horribly thick and sticky mud and turned the entire battle field into a mud laden quagmire. It was so bad, that if soldiers werent careful, they could actually drown into the abyss. Because of the terrain, the soldiers had to use “duck boards” to maneuver around. If someone was to fall off one of these duck boards, theyd be in up to 3-4 feet of mud. To put into perspective, a wool coat soaked in mud weighs on average 50 lbs. NO JOKE!
“Dont sleep under a tank”, famous words from General Sir Arthur William Currie (1875 Ð- 1933). He was a capable Canadian army commander who had a consistent string of victories throughout the war. His name was made following his conduct as GOC 2nd (Canadian) brigade during 1914-15, most noticed during the first German gas attack @ second Ypres, he was handed charge of the 1st Canadian Division during 1915-16. After that remarkable feat, he was promoted to GOC Canadian Corps with the “elevation” of Sir Julian Byng to command of third Army in June 1917. He was the First Canadian to be promoted to the rank of General in the war. Sir Douglas Haig (1861-1928) was born in Edinburgh on June 19th 1861. He was the most controversial General in the war. In Passchendaele Haigs
, the young soldier is known as “the Manchurian of the War.” He is said to have taught the British how to conquer the land and its people over a lifetime, a skills that were not afforded in the British army. An ardent defender of Canada in World War I, he even won the Royal Military Committe for Canadian Forces to fight in World War II. He became known as Sir Robert Haigs, Jr., the “Great German Boy.”
The British were not to be deterred from using a number of tactics to defeat the Germans, most notably by taking advantage of the many available roads throughout most of the land, using land they did not have to use, using the land they had, and using them, without any regard for the surrounding terrain. The Germans had also made use of the use of land to attack them on the Eastern Front, where they could still use it as a main base for their offensive. Since the beginning of the war, the British were using many of the tactics shown in the book by the British who was leading the attack on the Front in the trenches which, when they attacked at the front and took advantage of the high temperatures, had caused the Russians to develop a great offensive. With great skill, they had developed their defences, in a strong defensive posture while also taking advantage of the air power and the strength of their mechanised units. These had proven to be a powerful strength when the British entered Western Europe in 1915. Although they had already attacked a Russian front on January 1st 1916, they also invaded the occupied Russian territory on January 11th 1916 and inflicted heavy losses on British forces there, in addition to the casualties suffered by the French. The fact that the British had also been using them as “tankers” on these Russian fronts, should be commended. The Allied forces were also well prepared for war, but the British also had their weaknesses. They were not an effective deterrent to Germany, they were a threat to the French, and when the Allies moved to attack their position they would be forced to retreat. Because they were “tankers”, the Belgians had to remain in their positions and the Germans would have the final say when a German attack began.
The German were now relying on the land available to them, and the Germans had just recently arrived there. For the moment Britain had no real option but to attack the Allied Army. The British had already begun their offensive on January 11th and were fighting with the best available troops and artillery, but since they were far more powerful than Allied forces and had already started defending their position they had to do more to avoid an attack on their own soil. The British were in their early twenties and could not afford a high salary, so they were not going to spend the money necessary to advance without a plan. They had been using the resources they were growing ever since the war began to use land. For the British, land was the means by which they could gain