history · 31 July 1917 · 107 years ago
The third battle of Ypres (also known as Passchendale) began. It was a British offensive designed with the aim of breaking through the German trench lines to the German submarine bases in Belgium and to relieve pressure on the collapsing Russian army in the east. Neither of these objectives was achieved. For much of the three months battle successive attacks by Goughs Fifth army and Plumers Second army foundered in terrain that had been turned into a swamp by intensive artillery bombardment, thus precluding the use of tanks. The limit of the British advance was five miles, at a cost of 250,000 casualties.
More history on 31 Jul
OnThisDay.net