1917 Third Ypres.

March 14, 2017Published By Ben Hillidge

Third Ypres. Third Ypres

Ypres – ALL YEARS

The Preparations for the Offensive

Ypres Town. 94 Field Coy Royal Engineers. 3 May 1917

Messines Ridge 7 – 14 June 1917

The Battle for Messines Ridge was the first engagement of the Third Battle of Ypres.

Third Ypres – Passchendaele. 31 July – November 1917.

The Third Ypres Offensive. also known as the Battle of Passchendaele, was fought between 31 July – 10 November 1917. Originally planned as a break out from the Ypres Salient it soon degraded into a battle of attrition fought in appalling conditions and Passchendaele village, one of the objectives for the first week of the offensive, would not be captured until November. Following the successes at Messines Ridge in June preparations for the next phase of the offensive began. However, delays and bad weather caused numerous postponements and the Offensive did not start until 31 July. The British had lost the initiative and the Germans had time to prepare in depth defences.

Preparing for the Offensive.

Poperinghe. 8 Bn South Lancashire Regiment. July 1917

PLACE / 92 Battery Royal Field Artillery. 27 July 1917.

Battle of Pilkem Ridge. 31 July – 2 August 1917.

7 Bn Leinster Regiment at Pilckem Ridge. 2 August 1917

Battle of Langemarck. 16 – 18 August 1917.

Battle of Langemark. Malakoff Farm. 6 Bn King’s Shropshire Light Infantry. 12 August 1917.

Ypres Canal Bank. 123 RE Field Coy. 13 August 1917

36 (Ulster) Division, Royal Irish Rifles. Battle of Langemark – Second Lieutenant John E G (Edward Goodwin) Wilson, 7 Bn Royal Welsh Fusiliers. KIA 16 August 1917, Tyne Cot Memorial (unknown) was attached to one of the Royal Irish Rifles in 26 (Ulster) Division, it is not known which battalion. During the Battle of Langemark 36 Division were in the sector to the north of the Ypres – Rouler railway attacking towards St Julien. Two Brigades – 108 and 109 – almost entirely made up of RIR – were to lead the advance 1 mile to their objective in the third German lines beyond Zonnebecke. On the right 108 Brigade came across new and unknown wire that barred the way forward past Somme and Gallipoli farms. Gaps in the wire that had been formed were targeted by machine gun fire and the advance halted. For 109 Brigade to the left, they had to cross the marshy ground of the Steenbeck stream, progress was slowed and they lost the protection of the creeping barrage. They came under fire from machine guns in Pond Farm and Border House, the advance halted. They had managed to advance about 400 yards at heavy cost, by the end of the battle were back at their start line.

Battle of Langemark, St Julien 1/5 Bn Gloucestershire Regiment, 15 -18 Aug 1917

Third Ypres – Other operations

Frenzenberg. 13 Bn Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment). 22 August 1917

145 Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery – No information has been found to locate where the Battery was in 1917 other than at Third Ypres. Gunner 114603 Joseph Powell, 145 Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery, KIA 2 September 1917, Bleuet Farm Cemetery

Langemarck. 14 Bn Royal Welsh Fusiliers. 2 Sept. 1917

Langemark. White Hope Corner. 6 Bn King’s Shropshire Light Infantry. 3 Sept.1917.

Battle of the Menin Road. 20 – 25 September 1917.

The Battle of Menin Road was fought between 20 and DATE September 1917. It was a continuation of Third Ypres to take a shallow ridge crossed by the Menin Road to the east of Ypres. The battle was fought along a front of XX miles with the Menin Road in the central area. The assault road was

The Battle of Menin Road was an offensive operation, part of the Third Battle of Ypres on the Western Front, undertaken by the British Second Army in an attempt to take sections of the curving ridge, east of Ypres, which the Menin Road crossed. This action saw the first involvement of Australian units (1st and 2nd Divisions AIF) in the Third Battle of Ypres. The attack was successful along its entire front, though the advancing troops had to overcome formidable entrenched German defensive positions which included mutually supporting concrete pill-box strongpoints and also resist fierce German counter-attacks. A feature of this battle was the intensity of the opening British artillery support.

Battle of Menin Road. 25 Bn Australian Infantry AIF. 20 Sept. 1917.

Battle of Menin Road. 6 Bn King’s Shropshire Light Infantry. 20 Sept. 1917.

Battle of Menin Road. Tower Hamlets. 1/6 Bn Cheshire Rgt. Third Ypres, 24 September 1917