'The Battle of Passchendaele' ... 100th Anniversary

[Selkirk]

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Battle of Passchendaele (the Canadian part) - Oct. 26 to Nov 11, 1917

Historica Canada article ... http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.c...passchendaele/

Battle of Passchendaele vid ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i39Yum5hjuM


No words can truly describe.

Selkirk

[bobtodrick]

If the current generation knew how lucky the are.
We lost what...160 killed in five years of fighting in Afghanistan.
More than 4000 killed in one battle (Passchendaele).
Any loss through battle is tragic...and the thought of warfare is so archaic...but when you look at these kinds of figures...we've come a long way.

[Selkirk]

Originally Posted by bobtodrick

If the current generation knew how lucky the are.
We lost what...160 killed in five years of fighting in Afghanistan.
More than 4000 killed in one battle (Passchendaele).
Any loss through battle is tragic...and the thought of warfare is so archaic...but when you look at these kinds of figures...we've come a long way.

X2

Passchendaele was arguably 'The Worst Horrific Meat Grinder Carnage' of all time.

We have nothing to compare it with today ... Thank God!

Selkirk

[mgvande]

The Canadians arrived in Flanders in mid-October to relieve Australian and New Zealand troops and were shocked by the terrible battlefield conditions. Currie ordered the construction of new roads, the building or improvement of gun pits, and the repair and extension of tramlines (light railways). Horses and mules transported hundreds of thousands of shells to the front to prepare for the artillery barrage that would prepare for the infantry’s attack. The Germans atop Passchendaele ridge fired continuously on these efforts, killing or wounding hundreds.

His preparations ready, Currie launched a deliberate or ‘set-piece’ attack on 26 October, the first of four phases in a battle he estimated might cost 16,000 Canadians killed or wounded. By mid-November, having captured the ridge, his estimate proved eerily accurate, with 15,654 Canadian fallen.

Iron Maiden also has a wicked song telling the story of Passchendaele

[densa44]

This was a case of the military making decisions and the politicians not having the courage to say no.

For example the British army was shooting the enlisted men for various crimes (coming back late from leave, falling asleep at their post etc.) and our government did nothing to protect our troops. On the other hand the Australian government would not let them shoot their soldiers "the fact that a man has volunteered is sufficient evidence of his courage" Haig continually complained that he couldn't shoot Aussies.

Just BTW the first soldier that Currie had shot was a French Canadian volunteer from Quebec. The Conservative couldn't win an election in the PQ for another 50 years.

The land the battle was fought over, to my eye anyway was about 1/4 section of mud.

Never let this happen again.

[Maxwell78]

Please, everybody get your poppies

[decoy]

I was there in September. The people of France keep the memorial in pristine condition, as with all the memorials visited. An incredibly humbling trip.

[densa44]

At the Vimy memorial I too was humbled at how small a graveyard held 17,000 Canadians.

The old vets that made it back all wrote in the guest books "NEVER AGAIN" it was advice for us.

[colroggal]

Originally Posted by Maxwell78

Please, everybody get your poppies

And use folding currency!!!

Colin

[t.tinsmith]

You bet I take this seriously.My Grandad was wounded in this engagement.

[sjr]

Originally Posted by t.tinsmith

You bet I take this seriously.My Grandad was wounded in this engagement.

Please give your Grandad a big hug , shake his hand and tell him thanks for his service . Would love to meet him and thanks him myself .

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by sjr

Please give your Grandad a big hug , shake his hand and tell him thanks for his service . Would love to meet him and thanks him myself .

So true.

[Selkirk]

Originally Posted by Maxwell78

Please, everybody get your poppies

It's the very least we can do.

And remember them forever.

Selkirk

[bb356]

[Selkirk]

100 years ago today (Nov. 10th, 1917), the Battle of Passchendaele finally came to an end. More than 4,000 Canadians were killed and another 12,000 wounded. Those numbers were almost exactly the casualties predicted by Canada's General Arthur Currie.

Total casualties for all combatants (both sides) came close to half a million (~ 495K) ... http://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwa...passchendaele/

Selkirk

[Iskra]

Too many fought and died for us to ever forget. Sacrifices made by those Canadians must not be forgotten. That is my goal, this is my inspiration:

Canadian Military Personnel Killed
First World War: 66,665
Second World War: 46,998
Korea: 516
Peacekeeping: 121
Afghanistan: 157

[The Cook]

Amen

[skidderman]

I watched a series of war documentaries last night. Many scenes brought tears. If only the people in our country could fathom the sacrifices made. To sacrifice a person's life for someone else is the highest honour one could get. I take my hat off to those that suffered and died!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[CaberTosser]

The gent on the left side of this photo is my Great Grandfather, the paragraph following the photo is a cut & paste that was written by my sister and of course the rest was written by my Great Grandpa himself. The following text (preceding the photo) was written by my Dad:

My dear Grandfather, Alexander Davidson Strachan,(on the left), in a photo taken in France in 1916, during the First World War. Grandpa fought at: Vimy Ridge, The Somme, Ypres, And Passchendale. He was awarded The Military Medal for bravery. He lost his brother, Edward Mowatt Strachan, at St.Eloi, Belgium, in 1916






The following is an excerpt from my Great Grandpa Alexander Strachan's autobiography, which he entitled "A Wee Herd Laddie's Memories." He was born in Scotland, but moved to Canada, and in WWI served in 43rd Cameron Highlanders battalion. *He described, in his no-nonsense Scottish way, much of what trench warfare was like for him. In this short excerpt he talks a little about his time in the trenches near Vimy, France, in 1917, when he was a 28-year-old soldier. It may be important to note that his battalion, though Canadian, wore kilts in combat:
*
While lying there, I figured that if I got killed, I wouldn’t need all my heavy stuff, and if I didn’t we would get back anyway. So I ditched the things I wouldn’t need. Packed my mess tin with bread, other stuff. Cut my coat hip-length, and waited until five o’ clock. The barrage opened up then and lifted and away we went, up Belleview Spur. Halfway up, a flare came down and fell on the back of one of my men. I opened my kit, and took one half to bandage him up, and told him to make back to the H.Q. They were in an old Fritz concrete shelter. Then on we climbed, until we took Fritz front line trench, and waited to get organized again. All at once, all went blank, and it was some time before I came to myself and found I couldn’t move, as I was jammed into the back of the trench. As the minutes passed, I found I had no hat, my rifle was bent in two, and all was quiet around me. I tried to scrape the mud away, and finally I saw that I was on the side of a shellhole. Everything being so soaked with rain, that the shell had gone so far down, that very little shrapnel had come up, which saved my life. Then I found I was quite deaf, my right side and legs was sore and useless, also my thumb (right) was all smashed at the base. Well, I kept trying, and finally I pulled myself out. I crawled back to another shellhole when I saw a fellow coming towards me, and when he got closer, I recognized him as the lad whose hand I had bandaged on the way up. He spoke to me, but I couldn’t hear a word he said. But he heard me, and I bawled him out for not going back. He said he should have done that, just couldn’t bring himself about to do it. As there was a Fritz plane flying around (the only one) we went into this shellhole one on each side, as it was half-filled with water. A few minutes later, everything went black again, and when I came to, I was a few yards from the shellhole, and when able to look around, I saw this chap a few yards from the other side, so the shell must have landed right in the centre of the shellhole. A short time later, Jim Sherriss and Black Smithy came along. They had been slightly wounded, and with one on each side of me, we managed to get back to H.Q. There was quite a crowd there, so we kept going until we came to a Y.M.C.A. Shelter, where we got hot cocoa and wafers and did that go down nicely. From there, we were taken in a truck to Ypres where there was a Medical Hospital. I couldn’t move I was so cold. I sat between two bib boilers until we got the call to board a train, and headed out. I sat there for awhile quite sick, and a Nurse came along and looked me over. Then she says in good Scottish voice, “Man, Scotty, I could plant tatties between your legs!” and I guess she could, thanks to Colonel Grassy and his “No Shorts” order.*

[FXSB]

This is an interesting read. The first war is quite close to my family. My father was with the British Engineers and was in the first war and the British expedition to North Russia in 1919. Happily for me he survived and I was born when he was 53 years old. Even in the 1960’s he still had a reaction to the sound of a jackhammer sounding like a machine gun. My mother’s brother was killed Oct 31,1917 at Passchendaele. He was with the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles.
For those who are interested,grave sites, photocopied attestation papers and service records of Canadian service men are available on line. He would never believe that 100 years after his death that people would be able to view his signature on line.

[Gray Wolf]

WWI battle carnage. No one born after that war, can even imagine what it was like.

Let's hope we never find out.