Battle of Passchendaele

The Battle of Passchendaele spanned three months of combat from the 31st July 1917 to 10th November 1917. It was an inconclusive battle between the British Empire and German Empire, committing a total of nearly 140 Divisions with casualties amounting to anywhere from 457,000 – 850,000. The 44th Battalion’s role in the battle lasted 12 days.

“It seemed that every gun on the Western Front was being dropped on to or in front of the 11th Brigade. The 44th was split up into little groups struggling and cursing their way forward, many men being killed or wounded, and the survivors exhausted and covered with mud. Organised movement was impossible and it stands as a monument to the Digger that not one man turned back. Despite the sheer horror of the whole operation, when morning dawned the 44th Battalion was lying in the mud on a line approximating that which had been taken one week earlier in the Battle of Broodseinde Ridge.” – Captain Longmore

Before dawn on the 10th October 1917, the 44th Battalion advanced forward but were isolated by the heavy German fire and suffered heavy casualties. Mustard gas dropped on the Australian positions. By the end of the first day the 44th had suffered seven killed. On the second day another five were killed and another five the day after that.

“British Empire troops from all over the world had been fighting heavily for the past three months, with no appreciable gain in territory for their tremendous efforts. In one shellhole alone were seen five dead men, evidently killed on various dates. An English officer, a coloured King’s African Rifleman, a New Zealander, a Highlander and an Australian. Such a “grave” in itself lent a grim significance to the term World War, for the bugle call had brought these willing fighters together from every British corner of it. In life strangers; in death comrades united.” – Captain Longmore

“The slope was littered with dead, both theirs and ours. I got to one pillbox to find it was just a mass of dead, and so I passed on carefully to the one ahead. Here I found about fifty men alive, of the Manchesters. Never have I seen men so broken or demoralised. They were huddled up close behind the box in the last stages of exhaustion and fear. Fritz had been sniping them off all day, and had accounted for 57 that day – the dead and dying lay in piles. The wounded were numerous – unattended and weak, they groaned and moaned all over the place.” – Lieutenant Fisher.

From the 13th to the 21st October, the 44th were ordered to hold the line. The 14th October was the deadliest day of the battle. The battalion had entered October with around 1000 men and after three weeks of hellish fighting had just 150 men. The total 44th casualties for the Battle of Passchendaele were around 40 killed and another 100-150 wounded.

“The general opinion of the Diggers on the Passchendaele fighting was that it was a tragic blunder. As it turned out, the Canadians, fresh and fit, took another five weeks, and a series of strenuous operations, which caused them very severe losses, before they finally took Paschendaele. By that time the whole British Army was exhausted. The occupation of Passchendaele did not cause the Germans to fall back on the flanks, and simply resulted in the creation of a British salient in which the trenches were subject to artillery fire from the front and both flanks.” – Captain Longmore

Acts of Bravery

Private Cook – From the 4th to the 21st of October he laboured like a giant. His mates were killed; the casualty he was carrying on one occasion was killed, but Cook was untouched. When a British Regiment’s attack had failed, Cook ran forward to assist the casualties. He worked day and night, and finally, when the remnants of the battalion were relieved, he approached the adjutant and requested to be allowed to stay with the Canadians. Two days later he had his shoulder smashed by shell fire. He was recommended for the Victoria Cross but received nothing, which led many of his comrades to become angry.

The following men received the Military Medal for gallant acts: D Adams, H Barr, E.M. Dreger, R.C. Jennings, A Jones, A McInnes, W.M. McLachlan, D.R. McLarty, P O’Donohue, S O’Gorman, E.R.G. Rendell, D.W. Tobin, R Trimble.