Passchendaele

[sp1814]

I don't want to offend anyone, and I am not being flippant - but I've literally never heard of this before.

There are rememberance ceremonies going on today - but the Battle of Passchendaele isn't something that (I suspect) my generation really know about.

Is this a notable event in WW1? Am I just uneducated in this, or have others been taken by surprise?

[Old_Geezer]

Fair enough. It was notable for the loss of life. There are so many battles in so many wars one can't expect to be au fait with them all.

[Islay]

The reason it is so memorable is it started in July 17 on a battlefield that had been fought over several times already.
Once the battle started it rained consistently for several weeks which turned the battlefield that was already damaged into a sea of mud that was still fought over until early November.
1/2 million casualties during that period both Commonwealth and German.

Potted version

[Tilly2]

I have known about it since I was a child. My granddad and my dad spoke to me about it and other WW1 battles.

[Tilly2]

Plus, 'War Poetry' was on the GCE syllabus.

[rockyracoon]

I'd never heard of it either, so you're not alone.

[Tilly2]

Perhaps it depends on how old you are.

[Islay]

Tilly, Wilfred Owen, Dulce et Decorum est?
It was when I did GCSE.

[ummmm]

I'd never heard of it.

[Tilly2]

Yes, Islay, but you are younger than me. :-)

I was a GCE pupil.

[Islay]

Lol I think I was 2nd year GCSE

[david small]

My grandad fought at Passchendael. He lost an eye, and suffered shrapnel wounds. I knew about it only too well.
Brings tears just reflecting upon the appalling misery suffered...for what?

[Tilly2]

Squire nagged and bullied till I went to fight,
(Under Lord Derby's scheme). 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

At sermon-time, while Squire is in his pew,
He gives my gilded name a thoughtful stare;
For, though low down upon the list, I'm there;
"In proud and glorious memory" ... that's my due.
Two bleeding years I fought in France, for Squire:
I suffered anguish that he's never guessed.
I came home on leave: and then went west...
What greater glory could a man desire?

Seigfried Sassoon

[andy-hughes]

The battle is now a by-word for the futile loss of life in war - so many dead of a strip of land, fought for with methods guaranteed to ensure minimum effect for maximum loss of life.

[david small]

Thanks Tilly2. So sad, such wasted lives.

[Peter Pedant]

yes you should feel bad about this

'O' level history used to stop in 1914 - so we had to ask fathers ( second world war - amd 'all our yesterdays'ITV) and grandfather (Great War now called WWI - and the 'Great War'BBC 1964)
( now available on disc)

most peopledoing the history run out of steam by 1916 (Somme) and the endless slaughter with no advantage- or Verdun, that the French called The Meat Machine.

however if you get to 1917 - fail of the Tsar - defeat of Russia - movement of German troops to the west ( eek!) - entry of American into the war - the big battle ( = waste of more lives) occurs at Passchendaele. - 1918 - Michael Slacht - the last throw of the German Army which the Germans predict that if it isnt successful - then Germany will be defeated. it isnt: they are. Final onslaught Nov 18 where the Allies just walk into the German positions because the Germans have 'voted with their feet' [Lenin]. Brits marvel that if they had been defended they would bever have got thro.....

[New Judge]

I find it strange that a key event in World War 1, a hundred years ago, is denied knowledge by some of our younger readers because they are “too young”. Does this mean that taught history (or inquisitive knowledge of historical events) is restricted to, say, fifty years or twenty years?

I know quite a bit about many of the more important events that took place a thousand, five hundred, two hundred years ago as well as most of the major events (of which this is certainly one) of the twentieth century. Of course the trade off is that I have no idea who or what Kerry Katano is. I suppose one has to prioritise.

[Peter Pedant]

The Belgians marvel/are jealous ( think of other verbs)
at the Brits walking over their fields and crying

'every British school child gets the chance to see the battle fields and no one in Belgium bothers - we just dont have the preoccupation'

I went out to Oudenaarde to see where my father was captured ( 1940) at Schorisse

warning to anyone who does this - - - it is very very emotional
(Belgians are used to it)

[mikey4444]

SP...we have been commemorating WW1 for 3 years now, and you have never heard of Passchendaele ?

I am quite frankly amazed !

[mikey4444]

NJ has it right....we are all "too young" but that doesn't stop most of us from knowing about these terrible events.

What next ?....we don't know anything about WW2, because we weren't there ?

[paddywak]

Perhaps you've heard of it as the Third Battle of Ypes?,what made Passchendaele so infamous was the conditions.The ground had been fought over and churned up that many times that the terrible rains that fell turned to mud that was so deep that many soldiers, unless they were luckily enough to be puiied out straight away, were just sucked under and drowned