Passchendaele

Passchendaele was known for its atrocious conditions and it is a tribute to those who fought at this place. This is one of the reasons why it has been declared the finest feat of the war. Passchendaele was broken up into eight smaller actions. All five Australian divisions were involved in the attacks at Menin Road, Polygon Wood and Broodseinde. The aim was to capture Paschendale which meant numerous fortified ridges along the way need to be taken also. These ridges were strewn with concrete pill-boxes, had a 100 meter wide strip of barbed wire and trenches. It formed the best built-out resistance line of the Germans. Supported in the rear by heavy artillery and protected by inaccessible swamps Hanebeek and Steenbeek it was thought to be invulnerable. The pill-boxes walls were a foot thick. Direct hits from artillery shells could not put a hole or break in the wall only chips. Each pill-box had pre-designated field of fire for the machine guns and with the mud making advancing an impossible task it was amazing how any solider managed to get to the pill-boxes to drop a grenade inside.

"...I died in Hell
(they called it Passchendaele) my wound was slight
and I was hobbling back; and then a shell
burst slick upon the duckboards; so I fell
into the bottomless mud, and lost the light"

  The mud was like a death trap within itself as many lives were lost from soldiers either drowning in it or being rescued and having their internal organs crushed as they were pulled out of the mud via rope. Although all battles and actions were a success the bad planning and mud caused a high amount of casualties. The five Australian divisions were in the line for eight weeks and in this time the total casualties amongst all of the divisions was approximately 38 093. Passchendaele was the result of chronic shortage of men in the AIF.

Pictures courtesy of:

http://collections.ic.gc.ca/turner/ph_index1.html

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/8054/

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