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Significance and Losses
The battle, technically, was a success; General Currie had completed the task
set out by Haig. But many questioned the cost and the achievement. In what became
known as the Third Battle of Ypres, British and Dominion casualties topped 260,000.
Currie’s solemn estimate of the cost to take Passchendaele (16,000 casualties)
was strangely accurate – Canadians suffered 15,654 casualties in the battle.
Many soldiers and officers called the mud and carnage of Passchendaele the most
brutal and horrible experience of the war. Others called it a senseless waste
of life and at least one soldier called it simply “hell on earth.”
The Canadians had once again proved their tenacity and valour (many Victoria
Crosses were awarded at Passchendaele for extraordinary demonstrations of personal
courage). Though the original offensive had been launched to shore up the French
and to attack
German submarine bases in Belgian |
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ports, by 1917 the French had largely recovered
and Allied convoys had for the most part neutralized the submarine threat by
introducing a convoy system and using destroyers as protective escorts. The losses
of ships by submarine attack was reduced to almost zero. Most historians agree
that pushing |
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Carrying
the wounded
Almost
16,000 Canadians were wounded or killed at Passchendaele for a victory that was
short-lived and without strategic value, a waste of human life on an enormous
scale. |
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