Why General Douglas Haig Won The Battle Of Passchendaele Ridge

TORONTO, CANADA- Yesterday, as the sun set on the horizon, signaled the last day of the horrific four month battle at the Passchendaele Ridge, Ypres for British, German as well as Canadian troops.

The battle of Passchendaele, which had begun on July 31st, 1917 carried on till the final attack. It has been told that the Canadians had joined the war sometime in October, on the order of General Douglas Haig. The order was passed on to General Sir Arthur Currie, the Canadian’s new commander, who then prepared the 4 divisions of the Canadian Troops.

After the great success at Vimy Ridge, Canadians were presented with the opportunity to celebrate and enjoy their new success. It had not been too long when the British General believed his troops

At first, General Currie objected as he predicted that it would cost about 16 000 lives for no strategic gain, but had no other choice than to agree to Haig’s orders, considering that Canada was allied with Britain.

On October 26th, Canada goes out to fight in the Battle of Passchendaele. The battle was not only horrific and tough; it also became extremely hard to fight due to the poor weather conditions. There were unusual periods of constant heavy rain, making the ground terribly muddy. This made the movement for the soldiers tremendously difficult. Although the mud saved lives, cushioning many shells that landed, preventing their explosion, it still gummed up rifle barrels and breeches, making them difficult to fire. Hence the most common name for this war can be said to be “Sea of Mud.”

“Our feet were in water, over the tops of our boots, all the time,” wrote Arthur Turner, an infantryman from Alberta. “We were given whale oil to rub on our feet…this was to prevent trench feet. To solve it, I took off my boots once, and poured half the oil into each foot, then slid my feet into it. It was a gummy mess, but I did not get trench