German postcard map of the Western Front in Flanders, looking south and including Lille, Arras, Calais, and Ostend. In the Battle of the Yser in October, 1914, the Belgian Army held the territory south of the Yser Canal, visible between Nieuport, Dixmude, and Ypres (Ypern). Further north is Passchendaele, which British forces took at great cost in 1917.
Der KanalStraße von CalaisThe English Channel and the Strait of CalaisReverse:Panorama des westlichen Kriegsschauplatzes 1914/15 Von Arras bis Ostende.Die Panorama-Postkartenreihe umfaßt mit ihren 9 Abschnitten Nr. 400 bis 408 den gesamten westlichen Kriegsschauplatz von der Schweizer Grenze bis zur Nordseeküste.Panorama of the western theater of operations 1914/15 from Arras to Ostend. The panoramic postcard series includes nine sections, with their No. 400-408 the entire western battlefield from the Swiss border to the North Sea coast.Nr. 408Wenau-Postkarte Patentamtl. gesch.
"Everywhere the story was the same: the pillboxes were far more numerous than Fifth Army headquarters had anticipated, German artillery dominated the field from both flanks, the tanks were valueless except in a few isolated instances, British light guns were firing blindly at nothing that mattered, losses were high, the ground gained was far short of expectations. One brigade got lost altogether and reported it had captured Glencorse Wood (it was, in fact, occupying Chateau Wood), and such confusion developed along the Menin road that after a few hours eight separate battalions were milling around in the same splatter of shell holes just east of Sanctuary Wood."
The situation at late morning, July 31, 1917, the first day of the Third Battle of Ypres, or the Battle of Passchendaele. Despite a horrific artillery bombardment by the British, German defenses remained, and stopped the British advance. Elsewhere, the French gained their first-day objects. British commander Douglas Haig would keep grinding his men on until November.
In Flanders Fields, the 1917 Campaign by Leon Wolff, pp. 144–145, copyright © 1958 by Leon Wolff, publisher: The Viking Press, publication date: 1958
1917-07-31, 1917, July, Third Battle of Ypres, Third Ypres, Battle of Passchendaele, Passchendaele
