Guest speaker, Nov 5
Norman Leach,
military historian – topic Battle of Passchendaele, October, 1917
The Canadians were tasked with taking Passchendaele, which like Vimy Ridge several months earlier, had been the site of unsuccessful Allied assaults.
- It took four days for the Canadians to seize Passchendaele
- the artillery barrage which preceded the attack resulted in a shell hitting every 18 square inches
- the artillery barrage and heavy rains left the ground a muddy cesspool. Canadian soldiers had to be ordered not to pull their comrades from the pools of muddy water to avoid being pulled in by drowning men
- Canadian troops by this time were referred to as “Storm Troopers” by their German counterparts, because they came at the Germans “like a storm.”
- Arthur Currie, the Canadian commander, correctly predicted the cost would be approx.. 26,000 Cdns killed or wounded
- Field Marshall Douglas Haig, gave the Canadians full credit for the victory