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Age-29

15, Little Surrey Street, Blackfriars

Third Battle of Ypres

This was a campaign fought between July and November 1917 and is often referred to as the Battle of Passchendaele, a village to the north-east of Ypres which was finally captured in November. It was an attempt by the British to break out of the Ypres salient and capture the higher ground to the south and the east from which the enemy had been able to dominate the salient. It began well but two important factors weighed against them. First was the weather. The summer of 1917 turned out to be one of the the wettest on record and soon the battlefield was reduced to a morass of mud which made progress very difficult, if not impossible in places. The second was the defensive arrangements of concrete blockhouses and machine gun posts providing inter-locking fire that the Germans had constructed and which were extremely difficult and costly to counter. For 4 months this epic struggle continued by the end of which the salient had been greatly expanded in size but the vital break out had not been achieved.

14th Division arrived at Ypres in the middle of August, 1917 and on 17th August, 7th Rifle Brigade of 41 Brigade moved into the front line near the Menin Road with Battalion HQ at Stirling Castle. They remained in this forward position until relieved on 20th August and during their stay here they consolidated a series of shell hole posts into a trench and sent out a number of patrols to ascertain the strength of the enemy in Inverness Copse, opposite them. On 22nd August, 14th Division attacked using 42 and 43 Brigades as they tried once again to penetrate Inverness Copse and the open ground between that and Glencorse Wood. 7th Rifle Brigade were moved up to Chateau Segard at short notice but were not required and the following night moved back to Dickebusch. On 24th August the Germans launched a strong attack on 43 Brigade and drove them back from the ground they had gained on 22nd August. Once again 7th Rifle Brigade were brought forward to the Menin Road  and that night, along with 7th King’s Royal Rifle Corps, they moved up to the front line, temporarily attached to 43 Brigade. On 25th August, 41 Brigade took over from 43 Brigade with 7th Rifle Brigade and 7th King’s Royal Rifle Corps in front and taking the brunt of the German artillery, still going strong after the previous day’s attack. 26th August was a day of confused fighting. Overnight, 41 Brigade had attempted to establish posts in the German trench, curiously named ‘The Bone of Contention’ which ran between Inverness Copse and Glencorse Wood. These posts changed hands a number of times and then, between 3.45am and 4.40am, the enemy unleashed a heavy artillery bombardment, under cover of which they attacked and penetrated 41 Brigade’s front line. An SOS was sent up and the resulting British shell fire forced the Germans back. The fighting continued for most of the day at the end of which 7th Rifle Brigade had expected to be relieved only to have their hopes dashed when orders were received that they were to remain in position and attack ‘The Bone of Contention’ the next day with the aid of six tanks. Things were made considerably worse that evening when torrential rain fell, transforming the whole countryside into a swamp. Overnight the tanks arrived but the state of the ground prevented them from participating in the attack so the infantry went in alone at 5am on 27th August with one platoon from each of 7th Rifle Brigade, 7th King’s Royal Rifle Corps and 8th Rifle Brigade. The lack of tank support and the terrible state of the ground over which they attacked meant that not only did the attack fail but also that many casualties were incurred including Edward Blackley of 7th Rifle Brigade.