Passchendaele: The Day-by-Day Account - Softcover

It will be forever known as Passchendaele: the very word is used to describe wretched and perilous conditions such as were encountered at the battles which became officially designated as Third Ypres. There with better tactics, equipment and experience than he had previously employed, Haig was surely set for considerable advance and ultimate success. Initial successes were, however, reversed by stout German defence and weak British strategy before unprecedented rainfall reduced the Belgian landscape to a quagmire. Through August the British suffered net losses and only towards the end of September did the more enlightened command of Plumer bring gains against the German divisions, only for more rain and the subsequent reduction of offensive effectiveness to reduce territorial gains to a meaningless trickle. Following his popular volume on The Somme,Chris McCarthy re-assesses and enhances the official history of Third Ypres, presenting his research with comprehenive illustrations and valuable coloured maps.

Chris McCarthy joined the Imperial War Museum in1976, first as a Curator of British uniforms and then as Conservation Officer. He is now retired, but continues to work on a long-term database project on the First World War. Chris is a member of the British Commission for Military History and an Honorary Research Fellow in War Studies at the University of Birmingham.