DOCSLIB.ORG

Ypres Resource 4 -The Nature Of

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Ypres Resource 4 -The Nature Of Resource 4 How did the appalling conditions at the Battle of Passchendaele affect people’s attitude towards the War? Task Use all the sources to answer the questions below: Why did the conditions at the Battle of Passchendaele horrify so many who fought there? In what way were the conditions even worse than those encountered in previous battles? How did the Battle end? How might the conditions and outcome of the Battle have affected people’s view of the War – both the soldiers who fought in the Battle and people back home? Was this a battle worth fighting or a battle too far? Source 1a Canadian soldiers at Passchendaele, October 1917 Source 1b The landscape around Passchendaele. Source 2 Rain The opening bombardment opened on 16 July and the offensive itself started on 31st July. At mid-day it started raining. It did not stop for an entire week. The average rainfall for Flanders in August is 77mm. In 1917 it was 127mm. During the entire month of August there were only 3 days when it did not rain. September was drier but with the high water table and the destruction of the drainage system 5mm of rain was enough to turn the battle field into a quagmire. On 4 October the rain continued and did not stop for 5 days. Over 30mm had fallen, more than enough to turn the devastated, drainage deprived battlefield into a lake. Prior & Wilson: Passchendaele: The Untold Story 1996. Source 3a nla.pic-vn6298250 Hurley, Frank, 1885-1962, photographer. http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn6298250 German bunker turned into First Aid Dressing Station, Zonnebeke, October 1917 Source 3b A German Concrete Bunker at the Third Battle of Ypres Source 4a "Floods of rain and a blanket of mist have doused and cloaked the whole of the Flanders plain. The newest shell-holes, already half-filled with soakage, are now flooded to the brim. Every man was soaked through and was standing or sleeping in a marsh. It was a work of energy to keep a rifle in a state fit to use." William Beach Thomas (journalist) at the Battle of Passchendaele Source 4b “The living conditions in our camp were sordid beyond belief. The cookhouse was flooded, and most of the food was uneatable. There was nothing but sodden biscuits and cold stew. The cooks tried to supply bacon for breakfast, but the men complained that it smelled like dead men.” Lieutenant Robert Sherriff at the Battle of Passchendaele Source 5 The 3rd Battle of Ypres: the results The Battle of Passchendaele did not end in an Allied victory, the Germans were not defeated, it simply came to a halt in November 1917 with both sides exhausted. It cost the British Army approximately 275,000 casualties. Of these 70,000 were killed. Germany probably suffered just under 200,000 casualties. Several witnesses said that the Battle had harmed the morale of Britain’s fighting men by their involvement in such worthless fighting. In December 1917 the Minister for National Service noted increases in drunkenness, desertion and psychological disorders amongst front line soldiers. Men who went home from the front spoke about the waste of life during the constant fighting on the Ypres Salient..
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Night Operation on the Passchendaele Ridge, 2Nd December 1917
    Centre for First World War Studies A Moonlight Massacre: The Night Operation on the Passchendaele Ridge, 2nd December 1917 by Michael Stephen LoCicero Thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of History and Cultures College of Arts & Law June 2011 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract The Third Battle of Ypres was officially terminated by Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig with the opening of the Battle of Cambrai on 20 November 1917. Nevertheless, a comparatively unknown set-piece attack – the only large-scale night operation carried out on the Flanders front during the campaign – was launched twelve days later on 2 December. This thesis, a necessary corrective to published campaign narratives of what has become popularly known as „Passchendaele‟, examines the course of events from the mid-November decision to sanction further offensive activity in the vicinity of Passchendaele village to the barren operational outcome that forced British GHQ to halt the attack within ten hours of Zero. A litany of unfortunate decisions and circumstances contributed to the profitless result.
    [Show full text]
  • THE WESTERN FRONT World War
    INTRODUCTORY NOTES movement in their efforts to win. Also there is the opportunity to examine other aspects of life on the By 1907 Europe was divided into two armed camps Western Front which affected the life of the ordinary that involved all the major European powers, the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente. While the alliances soldier, such as living conditions, food, medical problems, army routine, discipline and humour. were meant to increase the security of each country, instead they ensured that a war that involved any of these powers would probably involve all of them. WAR PLANS Between the Anglo-French Cordiale of 1904 and the outbreak of war in 1914, there were a number of There had not been major war in Europe since 1870. Teacher's Notes crises in Morocco and the Balkans, any of which Much had changed since then. Population growth meant could have sparked a war. more men were available to be conscripted, industrial advancements meant armies could be equipped with It was the assassination of the Austrian heir to the more devastating weapons, railways meant armies could throne, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, be more easily moved and supplied. Every army had a 1914, that finally ignited the European powder keg. general staff, whose job it was to ensure their nations THE WESTERN Following the declaration of war on Serbia by Austria- army was properly equipped and organised for war and to Hungary on July 28, 1914, the Russian Government prepare plans to cover the most likely scenario. ordered its army to mobilise.
    [Show full text]
  • The Evolution of British Tactical and Operational Tank Doctrine and Training in the First World War
    The evolution of British tactical and operational tank doctrine and training in the First World War PHILIP RICHARD VENTHAM TD BA (Hons.) MA. Thesis submitted for the award of the degree of Master of Philosophy by the University of Wolverhampton October 2016 ©Copyright P R Ventham 1 ABSTRACT Tanks were first used in action in September 1916. There had been no previous combat experience on which to base tactical and operational doctrine for the employment of this novel weapon of war. Training of crews and commanders was hampered by lack of vehicles and weapons. Time was short in which to train novice crews. Training facilities were limited. Despite mechanical limitations of the early machines and their vulnerability to adverse ground conditions, the tanks achieved moderate success in their initial actions. Advocates of the tanks, such as Fuller and Elles, worked hard to convince the sceptical of the value of the tank. Two years later, tanks had gained the support of most senior commanders. Doctrine, based on practical combat experience, had evolved both within the Tank Corps and at GHQ and higher command. Despite dramatic improvements in the design, functionality and reliability of the later marks of heavy and medium tanks, they still remained slow and vulnerable to ground conditions and enemy counter-measures. Competing demands for materiel meant there were never enough tanks to replace casualties and meet the demands of formation commanders. This thesis will argue that the somewhat patchy performance of the armoured vehicles in the final months of the war was less a product of poor doctrinal guidance and inadequate training than of an insufficiency of tanks and the difficulties of providing enough tanks in the right locations at the right time to meet the requirements of the manoeuvre battles of the ‘Hundred Days’.
    [Show full text]
  • Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1919
    OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE CANADIAN ARMY IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR CANADIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE 1914-1919 By COLONEL G.W.L. NICHOLSON, C.D. Army Historical Section Published by Authority of the Minister of National Defence ROGER DUHAMEL, F.R.S.C. QUEEN'S PRINTER AND CONTROLLER OF STATIONERY OTTAWA, 1964 1 CHAPTER I CANADA AT WAR The Outbreak of War On 28 JUNE 1914 an assassin's bullet struck down the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. The incident, occurring at a time when a dangerous tension strained the relations between the two armed camps into which the great powers of Europe had grouped themselves, precipitated the devastating conflict which we have come to call the first World War. The slaying took place at Sarajevo, capital city of Bosnia, a Balkan province which Austria after thirty years of occupancy had formally annexed in 1908. The plotters were allegedly agents of a Serbian secret society, and on 23 July Austria, seizing the opportunity to end the "Greater Serbia" movement which she saw as a threat to the prestige, if not the very existence, of the Dual Monarchy, presented a harsh ultimatum whose demands Serbia could not possibly accept and retain her national sovereignty. Austria hoped to crush Serbia in a purely local war, but in view of Russia's known encouragement of Serbian ambitions, she had taken the precaution of obtaining Germany's assurance of support in the event of a wider conflict. With only forty-eight hours allowed for her answer Serbia immediately appealed to Russia for help, at the same time seeking advice from France, Britain and Italy.
    [Show full text]
  • Belgium-Luxembourg-7-Preview.Pdf
    ©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd Belgium & Luxembourg Bruges, Ghent & Antwerp & Northwest Belgium Northeast Belgium p83 p142 #_ Brussels p34 Wallonia p183 Luxembourg p243 #_ Mark Elliott, Catherine Le Nevez, Helena Smith, Regis St Louis, Benedict Walker PLAN YOUR TRIP ON THE ROAD Welcome to BRUSSELS . 34 ANTWERP Belgium & Luxembourg . 4 Sights . 38 & NORTHEAST Belgium & Luxembourg Tours . .. 60 BELGIUM . 142 Map . 6 Sleeping . 62 Antwerp (Antwerpen) . 144 Belgium & Luxembourg’s Eating . 65 Top 15 . 8 Around Antwerp . 164 Drinking & Nightlife . 71 Westmalle . 164 Need to Know . 16 Entertainment . 76 Turnhout . 165 First Time Shopping . 78 Lier . 167 Belgium & Luxembourg . .. 18 Information . 80 Mechelen . 168 If You Like . 20 Getting There & Away . 81 Leuven . 174 Getting Around . 81 Month by Month . 22 Hageland . 179 Itineraries . 26 Diest . 179 BRUGES, GHENT Hasselt . 179 Travel with Children . 29 & NORTHWEST Haspengouw . 180 Regions at a Glance . .. 31 BELGIUM . 83 Tienen . 180 Bruges . 85 Zoutleeuw . 180 Damme . 103 ALEKSEI VELIZHANIN / SHUTTERSTOCK © SHUTTERSTOCK / VELIZHANIN ALEKSEI Sint-Truiden . 180 Belgian Coast . 103 Tongeren . 181 Knokke-Heist . 103 De Haan . 105 Bredene . 106 WALLONIA . 183 Zeebrugge & Western Wallonia . 186 Lissewege . 106 Tournai . 186 Ostend (Oostende) . 106 Pipaix . 190 Nieuwpoort . 111 Aubechies . 190 Oostduinkerke . 111 Ath . 190 De Panne . 112 Lessines . 191 GALERIES ST-HUBERT, Beer Country . 113 Enghien . 191 BRUSSELS P38 Veurne . 113 Mons . 191 Diksmuide . 114 Binche . 195 MISTERVLAD / HUTTERSTOCK © HUTTERSTOCK / MISTERVLAD Poperinge . 114 Nivelles . 196 Ypres (Ieper) . 116 Waterloo Ypres Salient . 120 Battlefield . 197 Kortrijk . 123 Louvain-la-Neuve . 199 Oudenaarde . 125 Charleroi . 199 Geraardsbergen . 127 Thuin . 201 Ghent . 128 Aulne . 201 BRABO FOUNTAIN, ANTWERP P145 Contents UNDERSTAND Belgium & Luxembourg Today .
    [Show full text]
  • 31Th March 2019 Hotspots
    31TH MARCH 2019 HOTSPOTS 7 RACES IN FLANDERS FIELDS KM 85 KM 65 FURNES DIKSMUIDE START KORTEMARK TIELT DEINZE ROESBRUGGE-HARINGE KM 233 WAREGEM KM POPERINGE YPRES ZONNEBEKE 255 COURTRAI WEVELGEM HEUVELLAND MENIN ARRIVAL MESSINES COMINES-WARNETON PLOEGSTEERT KM 193 The map describes a limited number of hotspots. West-Flanders has 1,388 war remnants. This means that you can discover many other relics along the track, such as Locre No. 10 Cemetery, La Clytte Military Cemetery, Wulverghem-Lindenhoek Road Military Cemetery … the latter two provide a final resting place for more than 1,000 soldiers each. The ‘km’ marker indicates the distance to each hotspot from the starting position. - If the hotspot is located on the track (marked with ), then the kilometre marker indicates the track distance. - If the hotspot described is not located along the track, then the distance indicated will denote the distance from the starting point to the nearest kilometer marker on the track. These hotspots are located no further than 6.5 km from the track as the crow flies (men’s and ladies’ track combined). - For example, the Pool of Peace is not labelled with and is therefore a hotspot not on the track but nearby. This means that the hotspot is situated within a range of 6.5 km from the track. Specifically: the Pool of Peace is 1.75 km from the trail, on the road from Kemmel to Messines, at 164 km into the race. The ‘Commonwealth War Graves Commission’ (CWGC) is responsible for commemorating almost 1 700 000 British Com- monwealth soldiers who lost their lives in one of the two World Wars.
    [Show full text]
  • Passchendaele – Canada's Other Vimy Ridge
    MILITARY HISTORY Canadian War Museum CWM8095 Canadian Gunners in the Mud, Passchendaele 1917, by Alfred Bastien. PASSCHENDAELE – CANADA’S OTHERVIMYRIDGE by Norman S. Leach ...I died in Hell (they called it Passchendaele) through the mud again and amid the din of the my wound was slight and I was hobbling back; and bursting shells I called to Stephens, but got then a shell burst slick upon the duckboards; no response and just assumed he hadn’t heard me. so I fell into the bottomless mud, and lost the light. He was never seen or heard from again. He had not deserted. He had not been captured. One – Siegfried Sassoon of those shells that fell behind me had burst and Stephens was no more. Introduction – Private John Pritchard Sudbury ...At last we were under enemy gunfire and Wounded at Passchendaele I knew now that we had not much further to carry 26 October 1917.1 all this weight. We were soaked through with rain and perspiration from the efforts we had been By the spring of 1917, it was clear that the Allies were making to get through the clinging mud, so in trouble on the Western Front. British Admiral Jellicoe that when we stopped we huddled down in the had warned the War Cabinet in London that shipping nearest shell hole and covered ourselves with losses caused by German U-Boats were so great that a groundsheet, hoping for some sort of comfort Britain might not be able to continue fighting into 1918. out of the rain, and partly believed the sheet would also protect us from the rain of shells.
    [Show full text]
  • Nieuwpoort, Belgium [email protected]
    A Kingdom Saved by the Sea Guido Demerre Nieuwpoort, Belgium [email protected] The Belgian Army had been fighting a defensive war since the German invasion of Belgium on 4 August 1914. In quick succession the fortified position of Liège fell, and the Belgians withdrew to the outer fortifications of Antwerp. As commander in chief of the armed forces, Belgium’s King Albert intended to maintain his nation’s independence during this essentially Franco-Prussian conflict. Bound by a pledge of neutrality, he aimed to expell the Germans without favouring the French; he knew to fear post-war French dominance as much as German victory. Although Article VII of the Treaty of London (1839) promised European aid to protect Belgian neutrality, the king did not know when help would arrive, as the Anglo-French forces had troubles of their own in northern France. To show his support, the king launched 2 sorties from Antwerp,1 which succeeded in diverting 60,000 German soldiers destined for France. Despite the valiant efforts of little Belgium, foreign military assistance was not forthcoming. First Lord of the Admiralty Winston S. Churchill suggested that the Dutch hold the River Scheldt open to allow supplies to reach Antwerp, but the Dutch insisted on maintaining their neutrality. The British, with much more at stake in the defence of Antwerp, began sending guns and ammunition. Unfortunately, German artillery bombardments began in late September. Just as at Liège and Namur, Antwerp’s defences were no match for German guns. The Belgian clearance of the suburbs looked even worse than the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake.
    [Show full text]
  • Fighting for Every Metre of High Ground
    WWI Sal the ien t C e n t 2014 e n a r IEPER y YPRES YPERN Walking folder Ypres Salient-North / Entry point Klein Zwaanhof Three entry points in the Ypres Salient 2018 The story of the Great War is told in an interactive and contemporary way in the In Flanders Fields Museum in the Cloth Hall in Ieper. The museum also explains how the landscape has become the last witness of these four terrible years of fighting. To help you to explore this Fighting for every landscape, you can make use of three entry points created along the old front line of the Ypres Salient: in the north at Klein Zwaanhof (Little Swan Farm); in the east at Hooge Crater Museum; and in the south near Hill 60 and the Palingbeek provincial park. Remembrance metre of high ground trees mark the positions of the two front lines between the entry points. A 2.8 kilometre walk along the front line in the northern part of the Ypres Salient Entry point Klein Zwaanhof ››› The small, original cemeteries The front line at Caesar’s Nose ››› Fortin 17: gentle slopes become hills of blood The Writers’ Path: poets and authors at the front Ypres Salient cycle route Yorkshire Trench and Deep Dug-Out People who prefer to explore the old battlefield by bike can follow theYpres Salient cycle route. This 35-kilometre route starts and ends at the Cloth Hall on the Market Square (Grote Markt) in Ieper. The route links the three entry points: north, east and south. It also passes many other sites of interest related to the First World War.
    [Show full text]
  • Passchendaele
    INTRODUCTION YPRES Canadians have a proud history of bravely serving in The Ypres area of Belgium—where the village of the cause of peace and freedom over the years. A name Passchendaele is located—was the scene of several First from Canada’s First World War military heritage that World War battles, including the first use of poison gas still stirs emotions is “Passchendaele.” On a muddy when the Germans unleashed deadly chemical attacks battlefield in northwest Belgium, Canadians overcame there in April 1915. The Ypres salient was the last almost unimaginable hardships to win an impressive portion of Belgium that was not in enemy hands after victory in the fall of 1917. the initial German advances of the war and, as a result, held great symbolic meaning to the Allies. CANADA AND THE FIRST WORLD WAR Ypres was a very difficult place to fight. It was a region When Britain went to war in Europe in August 1914, largely made up of flat, low ground that was kept dry Canada—as a member of the British Empire— only with the help of an intricate series of dikes and automatically found itself at war as well. The First ditches. Three years of heavy fighting there, however, World War soon turned into a stalemate of trench had entirely destroyed these drainage systems. The fighting along the Western Front, with a heavily ground, churned up by millions of artillery shells, defended 1,000 kilometre-long network of trenches turned to sticky mud when wet. In 1917, the autumn stretching across Belgium and northern France from rains came early and turned the battlefield into a the English Channel to the border of Switzerland.
    [Show full text]
  • Flanders Fields
    2016 > 2018 Brochure Flanders Fields. A place to remember. FLANDERSFIELDS1418.COM UNITED KINGDOM NEDERLAND Dover North Sea ANTWERP BRUGES Nieuwpoort GHENT MECHELEN Diksmuide Dendermonde Calais AARSCHOT Flanders Fields Poperinge HASSELT Zonnebeke BRUSSELS © Westtoer FLANDERS LEUVEN Ypres Mesen DEUTSCHLAND FRANCE Lille WALLONIE EUROPE BELGIUM Flanders Fields. © VISITFLANDERS Silent city meets A place living city to remember. © Westtoer © Artothek 1917, from mine explosions to © Erskine Williams © Erskine floating mud sea War in Short China in Poperinge Pants The Power of Avant-Garde NEDERLAND North Sea ANTWERP BRUGES Nieuwpoort GHENT MECHELEN Diksmuide Calais Flanders Fields Poperinge HASSELT Zonnebeke BRUSSELS FLANDERS LEUVEN Ypres Menen Mesen DEUTSCHLAND FRANCE Lille WALLONIE Greenwich Coming © Royal Museums Menin Road WWI, the World battle of the Remember North Sea Her side Me of the war Edition 2015 Note: This document will be regularly updated with new information as it becomes available. The latest version is always available to download from: www.visitflanders.com and has been compiled with information provided to Visit Flanders by partners throughout Belgium and around the world. All information is correct to the best of our knowledge, at the time of going to print (October 2015). However, no liability can be accepted 2 for any loss resulting from use of information contained in this document. Please check opening dates and times before travelling. 3 COMMEMORATION YEAR 2016 > 6 Her side of the war. Remarkable women at the centre
    [Show full text]
  • Indian Army in the Ypres Salient World War I (1914-1918)
    Indian Army in the Ypres Salient World War – I (1914-1918) According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, 138,000 soldiers from India were sent to Europe during the First World War. Most of these soldiers were deployed in the Ypres Salient and at nearby Neuve Chapelle in France during the period 1914-15. A very large number lost their lives in the campaign to halt the German advance. 2. The Indian Army’s involvement on the Western front started on 6 August 1914. That day, the War Council in London requested two infantry divisions and a cavalry brigade from the Viceroy's government to be sent to Egypt. On 27th August, these troops were ordered to Europe. 3. The supreme sacrifice of Indian soldiers in Europe is recorded in the major World War One memorial in continental Europe, Menin Gate, in Ypres, Belgium, and at the memorial for Indian soldiers in near-by Neuve Chappelle in France. In 2002, at the request of the Government of India, an Indian Memorial was erected on the lawn south of the Menin Gate. 4. After the war, India participated in the peace conference held in Versailles and was represented by Edwin Montague, the Secretary of State for India, Lord Satyendra Nath Sinha and His Highness Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner. The Peace Treaty of Versailles was signed by Mr. Montague and His Highness Maharaja Ganga Singh and India became an original member of the League of Nations. In 1945, when the conference to establish the United Nations Organisation was held in San Francisco, India participated and signed the Charter becoming a founding member of the United Nations.
    [Show full text]