DAY 4: Guided Tour of Ypres Salient (part 2)

Thousands of Canadians died in the battles at Passchendaele in the fall of 1917, among them one young man from my hometown whose name is listed on Menin Gate.

About the battles:

The German defensive line had been fortified during the previous months in their expectation of an attack here. The British advance turned into a battle of 8 phases, inching closer to the Passchendaele Ridge in a series of actions with limited objectives. The capture of the Passchendaele Ridge eventually took over 8 weeks to achieve.

The cost to both sides in human casualties was immense at between 200,000 and 400,000, although exact figures for British and German casualties continue to be a matter of discussion for military historians. The great tragedy for the British Army and the Imperial Forces of Australia, New Zealand and Canada, who suffered so many losses in the fight for the few miles from Ypres to the Passchendaele Ridge, is that only five months later almost all of the ground gained in the mud and horror of the battles for Passchendaele was recaptured by the German Army during its April offensive in 1918.

Source: http://www.greatwar.co.uk/ypres-salient/battles-ypres-salient.htm

Our tour guide stopped at Canadian memorials along the way to the Passchendaele memorial and described what the battleground was like in the 100 days it took to capture the hill.