why was the battle of passchendaele so bloody

This section of our site is full of useful advice for success in NCEA History with a focus on the Battle of Passchendaele. Preparation -- The plan -- First days -- The 35th Division -- Ending the enfilade -- The Kriemhilde Stellung -- Reorganization -- Breakout -- Victory. The number of German casualties is not known. The British , led by General Herbert Plumer, began with a week-long artillery barrage, the heaviest in history to that point. When he did, the whole character of the battle changed.Â, To begin with, Plumer advocated attacking in and, luckily, got better conditions. In Sons of Freedom, prize-winning historian Geoffrey Wawro weaves together in thrilling detail the battles, strategic deliberations, and dreadful human cost of the American war effort. New Zealand played an integral part in many of the legendary battles of World War One, including, Gallipoli, The Somme, and most importantly, the bloody Battle of Passchendaele. Below, you will find an exemplar essay written for this external standard/paper at level 2, which received an Excellence grade of 8, the highest possible score. Incredibly, they were taken just a year apart - the first in 1916 before the bloody battle and the second in 1917 once the village had been seized by the Allies. The Germans atop Passchendaele ridge fired continuously on these efforts, killing or wounding hundreds. Passchendaele became a pile of mud and some soldiers even ruled the mud to be more of an enemy than their actual enemies. III. (They called it Passchendaele.) John Barrett, who was killed aged 37, on 31 July 1917 Credit: Julian Simmonds. However, if the offensive was going to be fought, Lloyd points out that it should have been done so the way Plumer had advocated: “Had the Second Army commander been in charge from the beginning, had the offensive begun a month earlier, and had ‘bite and hold’ been the guiding principle upon which British operations were based, who knows what could have been achieved? Also the introduction of the disabled soldier pension further descended the New Zealand economy. Passchendaele was not a war but a battle during World War One (also called the Great War). The towering Menin Gate in the Belgian town is covered with the names of 54,391 British dead who have no known grave, according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. This continued for years. General Sir Henry Rawlinson, the architect of the campaign, had wanted a more conservative ‘bite-and-hold’ operation. One was the Battle of Vimy Ridge, a small British portion of Nivelle’s larger spring offensive. This had been Plumer’s latest victory as he stomped his way ever deeper into the German lines. An example of the extent of this is that out of 230 Wellington college students who died in WW 1, 150 of them died on the bloody slopes of Passchendaele. The magnitude of the battle still stuns the imagination. 18,000 New Zealand soldiers died and a further 40,000 were wounded during World War One, and of those who did return uninjured still found conversion to civilian life difficult. Haig turned instead to Fifth Army commander General Sir Hubert de la Poer Gough. New Zealand played an integral part in many of the legendary battles of World War One, including, Gallipoli, The Somme, and most importantly, the bloody Battle of Passchendaele. The argument over First World War generalship has raged for a century now and has gone through various stages.Â. Amid the discussions, the commander of the British Expeditionary Force, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, pushed for an attack in Flanders. The CIGS (Chief of Imperial General Staff, a bit like today’s US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs) was William Robertson, and he supported Haig. It would take a change in command to finally break this cycle. Facts … Colonel G.W.L. Nicholson's Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919 was first published by the Department of National Defence in 1962 as the official history of the Canadian Army’s involvement in the First World War. The Battle of Passchendaele proved to be so contentious that no official history of it was written until after the second World War. The Battle for the Passchendaele Ridge was without doubt one of the Muddy-est, Bloody-est, of the whole war. Consequently, many guns had to be allocated to more distant targets, whereas Rawlinson had originally intended to use all his artillery pieces to bombard nearer objectives. So I said, ‘Get your rifles, one man in the middle to stretch them out, make a chain and let him get hold of it.’ But it was no use. They were required to cross the Ravebeek, a feature that had been a modest stream prior to the battle, but that had now swollen to a river about 50 yards wide in some places, and was waist deep in the middle. The battle of Passchendaele lasted from July 31 to November 6, 1917. Many could be filled by women, a positive for many middle class women as it allowed increased job opportunities. History of Passchendaele New British Cemetery Towards the end of 1914, Passchendaele was briefly under Allied occupation, but only shortly later it was in German hands where it … On 28/09/2013 at 10:43, Colin W Taylor said: MetalMark. Those who returned were wounded, scarred and many suffered from shell-shock. It was part of the Third Battle of Ypres held in 1917. Why was Antietam so deadly? - Credit: Archant. Cyril Falls of 36 Division, contrasted his experience under Gough with the one his unit had under Plumer at Messines: “The System of liaison was practised by the Second Army as in no other. The British Army was the first to use tanks, employing a handful of early models during the closing stages of the Battle of the Somme, September 1916. Passchendaele Society President, Iain MacKenzie says the Battle of Passchendaele is of immense significance to all Kiwis. Either way, this structure could be adapted in to any essay for this standard. Some, such as historian Keith Sinclair notices that our involvement in the large scale battles of the WWI, including Passchendaele, helped to forge our own unique national identity. Mid-term cause - the Battle of Messines which led the New Zealanders into the battle in the Ypres Salient in order to reach Belgian coast and neutralise U-boat pens. Meanwhile, special ‘Eingreif divisions’ would rush up from behind and counterattack assaulting British infantry. The high death toll of Passchendaele both affected New Zealand negatively and strangely enough, positively. This is the story of that other First World War. Plumer made a new innovative tactic suitable to the conditions of Passchendaele whilst he was at the battle. Found insideGeneral Officer Casualties of the Great War 1914–1918 Frank Davies, Graham Maddocks ... I have not received a single letter from any one who took part in the actual fighting at Passchendaele which contradicts any of my statements, ... Plumer, the methodical, conscientious and brilliant technocrat who’d engineered the victory at Messines, was not the one given the job of running Third Ypres. On the face of it, attacking in Flanders was madness. b. The mud-soaked battlefield at Passchendaele, Belgium, in the fall of 1917. To order a copy for £22.50 (p& p free), call 0870 161 0870. Advanced technology, unwise tactics, and terrible decision-making. But as we pass through the centenary of those four bloody years, it is important that we pay especial tribute. The Third Battle of Ypres (German: Dritte Flandernschlacht; French: Troisième Bataille des Flandres; Dutch: Derde Slag om Ieper), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele (/ ˈ p æ ʃ ən d eɪ l /), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by the Allies against the German Empire. So when looking through the photographs of this battle here on the blog, and in the exhibition, it may be puzzling that some depict this morass with men and horses up to their waists in mud, yet many others show a rather dry and dusty landscape. Plumer had been used to a schedule of five days, and the steadily worsening conditions probably should have meant even more time being given than this. That is a considerable difference.Â. This should have taken no more than five hours, but some attacking battalions took almost twice as long, before collapsing, exhausted and soaked through, into their jumping-off positions, shortly before the attack began.”. The Battle of Passchendaele - World War I The Battle of Passchendaele was fought July 31 to November 6, 1917, during World War I (1914-1918). - Arthur Turner, a soldier from Alberta The enemy and ourselves were in the selfsame muck, degradation and horror to such a point nobody cared anymore about anything, only getting out of this, and the only way out was by death or wounding and we all of us welcomed either. Here the Germans were far better dug in, with concrete pillboxes from which they could mow down any attacking Allied soldiers. The British army’s commander in chief in France, General Sir Douglas Haig, believed Germany’s army was close to collapse and needed “just one more push” for defeat. This day was the blackest day in human history for New Zealand with the deaths of 846 New Zealanders and the wounding of 2700 others. 233480. For their part, the heavy artillery fire stopped Eingreif divisions from being able to get in to help their comrades, and, in any case, with all the telephone wires having been destroyed by the incessant shelling, it was impossible for those in the rear to establish if the village was even still in German hands. 260,000 German soldiers died in the Battle of Passchendaele. A good number of British generals were killed during the war.Â. To begin with, they didn’t notice when the barrage was lifted off in front of them because it was so much weaker than it should have been. Paul's book is scholarly, absorbing, splendid. The British commander, Sir Douglas Haig, had decided to launch his forces from the Ypres salient -- the loop in the front line around the city which they had been holding since October 1914. Then, in the early hours of the morning on July 31, the infantry assault began. AS91231 (Internal Assessment) - Examine sources of an historical event that is of significance to New Zealanders. All this is put in the context of the background to the battle, and Haig's overall strategy for the Western Front, making this the most comprehensive history of the battle since Lyn MacDonald's bestselling work over 20 years ago. The result of new and extensive archival research across a number of countries, this new volume in the Great Battles series offers an innovative overview of the development of a critical site of Great War memory. To one degree or another, the European powers in general thought of war as normal and even desirable. So twelve British and French divisions were gathered that summer to attack the German Fourth Army near the small Belgian village of Passchendaele, to break through and force the Germans to abandon their submarine bases on the Belgian coast. A part of the Allies’ victory in the war, New Zealand was appointed a place on the league of nations. Passchendaele (officially the third battle of Ypres) is outstanding among the battles of World War I not only for its cost, but also for the conditions in which those casualties were incurred. After months of bloody combat, the battle came to an end in the villge of Passchendaele and saw victory for the British and Canadian troops. However, as the high death toll of Passchendaele began to take its toll on the overall military force, many commanders turned their eyes to the indigenous Maori population, with many conscripted, and some even volunteering. Look at those two chairs’. Of 3000 casualties on that day, more than 840 young New Zealanders lay … It was everyone’s perception of what the Western Front was like - a bleak, overcast and flooded plain mutilated by artillery and lashed by months of torrential rain.  This also coupled with the deaths of 1853 other soldiers from all across the British Ranks. The Battle of Passchendaele was fought July 31 to November 6, 1917, during World War I (1914-1918). A damaged British tank partly submerged in mud and water near St Julien, 12 October 1917, during the Third Battle of Ypres.. Battle of Passchendaele. Bloody Victory: The Sacrifice on the Somme and the Making of the Twentieth Century by William Phillpott Economic consequences - increased revenue for farmers and trading with Britain, working class wages lowered cost of living increased and class divisions grew forming the Labour party and loss of trading with previous partner, Germany. The combination of this and his meticulous preparations gave the whole affair a kind of Messines Ridge-like quality of quiet confidence.Â, The Australian troops who went into battle under his command did so casually, keeping up with the barrage so easily that they were walking along smoking pipes and cigarettes.Â. This was the third battle of Ypres, officially known as the Battle of Passchendaele ... so it ultimately lost them the war. However, as bestselling military historian Nick Lloyd reveals in this highly-praised history - the first of an epic trilogy -- the story is not one of pointlessness and stupidity, but rather a heroic triumph against the odds. The battle of Passchendaele started due to Germans. While this might not have entailed the complete liberation of the Belgian coast, it is not inconceivable that continued British pressure, heavier German losses and the effect of regular hammer blows might have convinced the German High Command that it was best to cut their losses… and raised the possibility of a compromise peace.”. Get involved in exciting, inspiring conversations with other readers. More properly known as the Third Battle of Ypres, it is a byword for the futility and horror of war. Passchendaele: Directed by Paul Gross. I believe I had a greater struggle over getting a carpet than I had over getting £50 million (£4.7 billion in today’s money) for munitions. Who could shoot him? NCEA history requires students to analyse perspectives, identify trends and forces within history and develop an argument on a given issue. The battle took place on the Western Front in Flanders Fields, Belgium, between 31 July and 10 November 1917, and was one of the First World War's most bloody battles. The name Passchendaele has become synonymous with mud, blood and futility. Frequent artillery bombardments had destroyed the local drainage system and pierced the water table, helping flood the area. The battle was fought for control of the village of Passendale near the Belgian town of Ieper in West Flanders by British, ANZAC, and Canadian soldiers against the German Imperial Army. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have led the official commemorations to mark 100 years. This seemed somewhat short-lived as New Zealand have continued to fight alongside British soldiers in various other military engagements such as WWII, the Middle East and Vietnam. In the Social Darwinian sense, it was thought of, by some, as cleansing for society as it got rid of those with weaker genes (although the term ‘gene’ would not be coined until later).Â. The story follows Gross as a troubled veteran, his nurse girlfriend and a naïve boy who intersect first in Alberta and then through the bloody battle of Passchendaele. The private soldier felt a difference.”. A soldier walks past a field of tribute poppies at the Tyne Cot cemetery ahead of a commemoration to mark the centenary of Passchendaele. This is an ancient conflict on many fronts - for the land of Ukraine, the minds of its people and the keys to Europe itself, writes Bohdan Ben. Plumer made a new innovative tactic suitable to the conditions of Passchendaele whilst he was at the battle. They planned to sweep through Passchendaele, successfully capturing it, and through towards the Belgian coast, attacking the many German U-boat bases located there. The salient (bulge) – their most westerly position – was transformed into a straight line known as ‘The Hindenburg Line’. And I was hobbling back, and then a shell  Passchendaele is also infamous for being one of the muddiest battles of the war, with many soldiers and war horses drowning in the liquid mud. The Battle of Passchendaele, also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, was fought during the First World War from 31 July to 10 November 1917. This freed up a number of infantry divisions and guns with which the Germans could create a strategic reserve, ready and able to plug any gap that might be punched in their line by Allied attacks during 1917. Haig and GHQ were well aware of how bad conditions were, but still pressed ahead anyway. However, many working class people suffered with a 10% decrease in savings for working class citizens. Hell on Earth: The never before seen colour photographs of the bloody battle of Passchendaele (warhistoryonline.com) Ypres and the battlefields of the Salient (greatescapesblog.co.uk) Third Ypres and the Battle for Poelcapelle October 1917: A Machine Gunner’s Story. (Naturally, one must remember that figures, particularly German ones, have been disputed, such as by J H McRandle and J Quirk in 'The Blood Test Revisited: A New Look at German Casualty Counts in World War I').Â. He’d been elected on a promise of delivering a decisive victory, but it was one he wanted to fight for cautiously. But this misses the point. LORD KITCHENER’S GRAVE ERROR.”. The strongest, healthiest man cannot refuse death when a shell hits him and smashes his body to blood clots. Eventually, after being decimated and destroyed by the German defence, the New Zealand Corps (Division) was relieved on the 18th of October by the Canadian Corps, who eventually went on to take Passchendaele. Anyone could see that Flanders was the worst place to pick a fight, especially in 1917. Overwhelmed. The Great War: A Combat History of the First World War by Peter Hart. The British , led by General Herbert Plumer, began with a week-long artillery barrage, the heaviest in history to that point. The Battle of Passchendaele began at 3.50 on the morning of 31 July 1917, when the British army launched an attack across the gentle agricultural slopes below the village of Passchendaele. Typically, the NZQA do not release exemplars of E8 standard, normally, they will only release an E7 exemplar. By Joe Shute 30 July 2017 • 7:00am. For example, the question may ask what the consequences on people and groups were or it may ask you for social or economic causes. But whereas Plumer’s approach can be described as bite-and-hold, Gough’s might be summed up as biting off more than he could chew. Some 42,000 bodies have never been recovered. There was also a massive increase in the price of living, and with inflation reaching 44% in 1918 life became hard for your average New Zealander. Although it is difficult to calculate exact numbers, around 325,000 Allied and 260,000 German soldiers died in the Battle of Passchendaele. The offensive, which spanned more than three months on the Western Front, was controversial from the moment it happened and remains so today, with historians debating the motivations behind it and whether its vast human cost can possibly be justified. It is throughout the wartime that business boomed for many capitalists, especially wool kings who’s produce was sold as a military resource for clothing, uniform and blankets. Passchendaele 1917 by Chris McNab. By Joe Shute 30 July 2017 • 7:00am. When considering the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917, what immediately springs to mind is a desolate, shattered landscape of mud. The delicate drainage system of Flanders, which kept water at bay, had already been badly damaged by three years of heavy fighting. This had seen Germans stunned by enormous underground mines that blew up many of their positions before the attack. He went down gradually. Found insideDuring the battle of Passchendaele a very senior staff officer asked to betaken to the battlefield. ... binds which matter, it is when something has been destroyed in the makeupof a man that the bloody business of war comes home to him. His book, released for the centenary of the battle (which lasted from July 31 until November 10, 1917) provides a detailed blow-by-blow account while also exploring the controversies surrounding the campaign. Fact is, the movie is nowhere close to a documentary and when its over many, like me, will wonder how much they have learned about the historic battle of Passchendaele. The attack was an overall success with a low casualty rate and well-implemented tactics. This worked well at Ypres, as, apart from on the ridges further back on the German side, it was difficult to build any kind of substantial trench line. The Passchendaele offensive began on July 18 with a bombardment attack on German lines with thousands of guns and millions of shells. Ken Hills’ ‘World War I’ provides a pictorial history suitable for children of any service personnel, while ‘Great Battles of World War I’ by Anthony Livesey and Osprey’s ‘Passchendaele And the Battles of Ypres 1914-18’ by Martin Marix Evans, ‘FE 2b/d vs Albatros Scouts’ by James F Miller and 'The Vickers-Maxim Machine Gun' by Martin Pegler provide visual histories of the period and weapons for adults. Also the, ‘Lost Generation effect,’ with around 100,000 New Zealanders fighting in the war out of a population of 1,000,000, lead to large gaps in the work sector. The German army also unleashed mustard gas, leaving many soldiers with chemical burns. Few battles encapsulate World War One better than the Battle of Passchendaele. The operation led to criticism of General Haig for continuing the campaign even after it became apparent a breakthrough might be unlikely. Air photographs of Passchendaele were taken after the battle; it is estimated that half a million shell holes could be seen in the half square mile of the picture!. The combination of new rifles that could be shot with great accuracy from far away and old-fashioned battle lines led to unprecedented deaths in the Battle of Antietam (and in the Civil War in general). Tour Introduction In the year 1917, Flanders was dominated by the great offensives of the Battle of Messines and the Battle of Passchendaele. Meeting at Chantilly, France, in November 1916, Allied leaders discussed plans for the upcoming year. Â. Surveying what was effectively, by that point, a swamp carpeted by so much artillery that the lunar battlefield had given way to flooded pools formed of joined-up shell holes, Lieutenant General Sir Launcelot Kiggell was aghast. Facts … Passchendaele Society President, Iain MacKenzie says the Battle of Passchendaele is of immense significance to all Kiwis. What are facts about the Battle of Antietam? In many NCEA assessments, that issue is to do with the causes and consequences, and the later impacts of an event of historical significance to New Zealanders. Words: 526 - Pages: 3 World War 2 Outline. It is possible that a major victory could have been won in the late summer and autumn of 1917. The battle of Fromelles on 19 July 1916 was a bloody initiation for Australian soldiers to warfare on the Western Front. Why was the Battle of Antietam so bloody? He was methodical and intelligent and worked like mad to make sure his troops had as much support as he could muster. Allied forces advanced just five miles during the entire campaign. Company Limited by Guarantee. Infamous for being one of the most horrific encounters of the First World War, with over half a million fatalities, the Battle of Passchendaele was known for its bloody combats and treacherous mud surroundings. This is an ancient conflict on many fronts - for the land of Ukraine, the minds of its people and the keys to Europe itself, writes Bohdan Ben. After the war had got into full swing in 1915, a shell shortage had hampered progress on the battlefield, something generals like Haig had had to contend with. The Battle of Passchendaele was fought July 31 to November 6, 1917, during World War I (1914-1918). Already below sea level in some places, their drainage systems had been interfered with by the war. When writing an essay for an internal or external, it is important that candidates return often to the wording of the question in the structuring of their responses and do not wander from the central issue of the paper. He very nearly did just that, stretching his army to the absolute limit during Third Ypres. He was impatient to take more territory and laid out objectives for the first day (July 1) that would, in the end, take until the middle of November to achieve. Thus, the following essay is a more than suitable model for students at NCEA Level 2. Words: 526 - Pages: 3 World War 2 Outline. It was called ‘defence in depth’ and consisted of a zone roughly 2,000 – 3,000 yards deep, the front of which would be relatively lightly defended. The official line after the war was that the generals had done their duty, and done it well. Passchendaele: The Bloody Battle That Nearly Lost The Allies The War eBook: Ham, Paul: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store Select Your Cookie Preferences We use cookies and similar tools to enhance your shopping experience, to provide our services, understand how customers use our services so we can make improvements, and display ads, including interest-based ads. This amounted to 3,800 casualties per square mile. Plumer had one gun for every 7 meters of front. The First World War had already been going on for three years before the Passchendaele offensive was launched. Eight days earlier, around 500 New Zealanders died during the capture of Gravenstafel Spur, one of two spurs on the ridge above the village of Passchendaele in Flanders, … The Germans bombarded the place remorselessly for four days but were unable to dislodge the Canadians. Introduction - the Battle of Passchendaele saw New Zealand exposed to global warfare on an unprecedented scale and had social and economic consequences including that of welfare. Burst slick upon the duck-boards; so I fell Examine how a significant historical event affected New Zealanders in the short and/or long term. He now saw battle differently, as: “...no longer a Darwinian survival of the fittest, but the survival of those who stay safely away from this terrible holocaust, whether in civilian occupation or comfortable billets, either at the Base or in England. 1917.... I suppose that a century hence men and women will think of that date as one of the world's black years flinging its shadow forward to the future until gradually new generations escape from its dark spell. My wound was slight Haig may have been aware that things were bad, but it's not clear that he knew just how bad 'bad' really was.Â. Monday, 31 July, 2017. Firstly, by this point, Plumer had only launched one of the three more successful battles that he would conduct during the Passchendaele campaign (the Battle of Menin Road Ridge; the other two would be the Battle of Polygon Wood and the Battle of Broodseinde, see below).

Legal Cheek Bird And Bird, Cure Thermale Le Touquet, Dyson Big Ball Animal 2 Parts, Fuller's Cricket League, Tom's Hardware Overclock Raspberry Pi 4, Fishing In Kansas City Missouri,