📅 On This Day in Military History
1 event across history
Haig's attempt to break through the German lines in Flanders and reach the Belgian coast. Preliminary bombardment destroyed the drainage system, turning the battlefield into a liquid mud swamp. Men and horses drowned in shell craters. The Canadians finally captured the ruined village of Passchendaele after three months, gaining five miles at a cost of 325,000 British casualties.
The battle's mud became the defining image of the war's horror. It shook faith in Haig's command. The village's name became synonymous with futile sacrifice. Yet the pressure it placed on German forces contributed to their eventual exhaustion.
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