Despite many attempts to push at the heavily fortified German held positions the allies very rarely were able to capture ground and even then often it was insignificant. The Canadians were quite successful with their attacks however the ground they made was taken back almost effortlessly by the Germans. Push after push was made however the story was always the same. A report from Sir Douglas Haig as shown in the 12 of November 1917 edition of the New Zealand Herald shows how futile many of the attacks were:
The British on the left attacked along the western shoulder of the main ridge, overcame the obstacles of the marshy ground in the neighbourhood of Paddebeke stream, and reached their objectives beyond. Heavy counter-attacks developed later during the morning against the ground gain by the British, the enemy regaining, after fierce and obstinate fighting, some of the advanced positions... French advances at Sundgan were thrown back. English forces advanced on the Strums Plain, but a powerful Bulgarian counter-thrust threw them back. |
Many historians have questioned and criticized the inflexibility of Haig's plans, placing some of the blame for the events at Passchendaele on him. The total number of casualties is unknown however there have been many disputed estimates with an approximate 5000 New Zealand casualties, between 200,000 and 400,000 British and French casualties with another 200,000-400,000 German dead. There British also claim to have taken 24,065 prisoners during the battles as well.
Over the whole of world war 1 there were over 38 million total casualties. Over 17 million dead and 20 million wounded. The total death count includes 11 million military deaths and 7 million civilians. The battle of Passchendaele contributes almost 1 million of these numbers, counting for one tenth of the military fatalities. The Battle of Passchendaele definitely was one of the deadliest battles of world war 1 and showed the wastefulness of the allied military strategies costing thousands of young men their lives. |