PASSCHENDAELE

In 1917, the name 'Passchendaele' became a byword for the horror and futility of siege warfare on the Western Front. It was in the vicinity of this small agricultural village situated on the low ridges north-east of Ypres that the Third Ypres Offensive became bogged down, literally, in a sea of mud and desolation. 'I died in Hell. They called it Passchendaele.' wrote Siegfried Sassoon, summing up the carnage of the battle.

 

The crest of Passchendaele Ridge is topped by a church and memorial site to the Canadian soldiers who seized the village in November 1917. The church foundations were all that survived of the original village. The most obvious legacy of the battle today is the enormous Tyne Cot CWGC Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing. Neighbouring villages also witnessed the ferocity of Third Ypres, not least Zonnebeke which today houses the excellent Passchendaele 1917 Memorial-Museum.