Passchendaele
a small village in northern Belgium, near Ypres, around which centered some of the most important military operations on the western front, during the World War. The village gives its name to a ridge, on whose slopes it stands, which was of great strategic value and the object of severe fighting, especially during the fall of 1917.
Beginning on Oct. 4, 1917, Field Marshal Haig, in command of the British forces based on Ypres, delivered a strong attack on the German lines, east of the city. The ground covered by the British assault was from the N. of Langemarck, on the Ypres-Staden railway, to a point S. of Tower Hamlets, a height S. of the Ypres-Menin high road.
On the north wing the British pushed on to within a short distance of Poelcappelle, and gained a footing on Gravenstafel Ridge, projecting from Passchendæle Ridge on the W., along which the Germans had constructed a very elaborate system of works. This advance into the enemy country had been preceded by a heavy artillery fire, which forestalled an attack which had been in preparation by the Germans that morning. Three whole German divisions were here advancing against the British, when they were caught in the barrage, and almost annihilated.
By the dashing advance which followed, the British were able to penetrate the German lines to a depth of 2,500 yards. To the S. the British were thus able to overlook parts of the main Passchendaele Ridge, and in places they had descended into the valley beyond. For several days the fighting raged furiously back and forth, the Germans defending their positions with a keen sense of their importance. The French troops, advancing on the left of the British line, N. of Ypres, penetrated the German lines to a depth of over a mile, along a front of nearly two miles. Fr From the S. the Brit- Ridge, to a point about a thousand yards ish pushed N. E. from Grafenstafel to the main heights. S. W. of the village of Passchendaele, up Ridge, to a point about a thousand yards S. W. of the village of Passchendaele, up to the main heights.
It was a notable success on the part of the Allies, in that it gave the British command of the surrounding region and established a foothold in Belgium. In this important advance the Allied troops gained possession of most of the observation points that commanded a view of the great plain of Flanders.