Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 19 On 26 October 1917, all four divisions of the Canadian Corps took turns assaulting the Passchendaele ridge — their gains measuring only a few hundred meters each day, despite heavy losses. Under almost continuous rain and shellfire, conditions for the soldiers were horrifying. Troops huddled in waterlogged shell holes, or became lost on the blasted mudscape, not knowing where the front line was that separated Canadian from German positions. The mud gummed up rifle barrels and breeches, making them difficult to fire. It swallowed up soldiers as they slept. It slowed stretcherbearers — wading waist-deep as they tried to carry wounded away from the fighting — to a crawl. Ironically, the mud also saved lives, cushioning many of the shells that landed, preventing their explosion. On 6 November, the Canadians launched their third, large-scale attack on the ridge. They succeeded in capturing it and the ruins of Passchendaele village from the Germans. A final assault, which secured the remaining areas of high ground east of the Ypres salient, was carried out on 10 November — the final day of the more than four-month battle. Nine Victoria Crosses, the British Empire's highest award for military valour, were awarded to Canadians after the fighting. More than 15,600 Canadians were killed and wounded there — almost exactly the losses predicted by Arthur Currie. These were among the 275,000 casualties lost overall to the armies under British command at Passchendaele. The Germans suffered another 220,000 killed and wounded. At the end, the point of it all was unclear. In 1918, all the ground gained there by the Allies was evacuated in the face of a looming German assault. A century later, the Battle of Passchendaele is remembered as a symbol of the worst horrors of the First World War, the sheer futility of much of the fighting, and the reckless disregard by some of the war's senior leaders for the lives of the men under their command. The Battle of Passchendaele (continued)
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