Okla-homey
11/6/2006, 07:04 AM
Nov. 6, 1917: Canadians take Passchendaele
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/4619/iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiqy4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Canadian troops negotiate the Passchendaele mud
After three months of horrific fighting, the Third Battle of Ypres finally ends when Canadian forces take the village of Passchendaele in Belgium.
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/911/iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuv7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
In one of the bloodiest battles of World War I, a combination of over-ambitious aims, terrible weather conditions, and misguided persistence by British Field Marshal Douglas Haig led to nearly 250,000 total casualties suffered by both sides.
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/7048/iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiils8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
FM Douglas Haig
In a bit of typically grim soldier humor, Haig (a Scotsman) was said to have held the record for killing English soldiers, eclipsing "Braveheart" William Wallace's tally of dead English by at least a million.
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/1966/iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiho6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Post-battle landscape
At the time Allied forces were scheduled to begin the long-planned offensive, Allied artillery and unusually heavy rains had turned the battlefield into a sea of mud.
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/4447/iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiok7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Artillery shell craters created rain-filled holes in which many drowned when they were wounded and fell in unable to extract themselves.
Soldiers fought in the mud, slept in the mud, and some men drowned in the mud when they slipped into water-filled shell craters. When the offensive was finally called off, after the Canadian victory at Passchendaele, the total Allied advance amounted to only five miles.
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/2483/iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisf9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
(Top) Pre-battle aerial view of the viilage of Passchendaele before the intense artillery bombardment. (Bottom) the same view, after the battle.
Make no mistake..."War is Hell," and WWI was extra "Hell-ish."
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/5403/insane7zole4.jpg
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/4619/iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiqy4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Canadian troops negotiate the Passchendaele mud
After three months of horrific fighting, the Third Battle of Ypres finally ends when Canadian forces take the village of Passchendaele in Belgium.
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/911/iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuv7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
In one of the bloodiest battles of World War I, a combination of over-ambitious aims, terrible weather conditions, and misguided persistence by British Field Marshal Douglas Haig led to nearly 250,000 total casualties suffered by both sides.
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/7048/iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiils8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
FM Douglas Haig
In a bit of typically grim soldier humor, Haig (a Scotsman) was said to have held the record for killing English soldiers, eclipsing "Braveheart" William Wallace's tally of dead English by at least a million.
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/1966/iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiho6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Post-battle landscape
At the time Allied forces were scheduled to begin the long-planned offensive, Allied artillery and unusually heavy rains had turned the battlefield into a sea of mud.
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/4447/iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiok7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Artillery shell craters created rain-filled holes in which many drowned when they were wounded and fell in unable to extract themselves.
Soldiers fought in the mud, slept in the mud, and some men drowned in the mud when they slipped into water-filled shell craters. When the offensive was finally called off, after the Canadian victory at Passchendaele, the total Allied advance amounted to only five miles.
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/2483/iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisf9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
(Top) Pre-battle aerial view of the viilage of Passchendaele before the intense artillery bombardment. (Bottom) the same view, after the battle.
Make no mistake..."War is Hell," and WWI was extra "Hell-ish."
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/5403/insane7zole4.jpg