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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 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 four 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.

Battle of Pilckem Ridge (31st July-2nd August)

This was the opening attack of Third Ypres and began at 3.50am on 31st July when British and French troops launched their offensive to break out of the Ypres salient. The day had mixed results. To the north the Pilckem Ridge was captured but there was less success further south along the Gheluvelt Ridge, where a combination of stiff German resistance and low cloud, which hindered observation, meant that only the first objectives were captured. Further attempts to push on were stopped in their tracks by specialist German counter attack divisions and resulted in a 70% casualty rate among the British troops. Then in the afternoon, the rain came and under the weight of shells falling on it, the battlefield soon became a quagmire. Over the next two days, suffering the most appalling conditions in the mud and the rain, the troops had to fight off numerous German counter attacks.

At 3.50am on 31st July, 1917, 63 Brigade of 37th Division attacked on the Second Army front  to the south of the Ypres salient, with the village of Wytschaete behind them. The attack was made by the 4th Middlesex, 8th Lincolnshire, 10th York & Lancaster and 8th Somerset Light Infantry battalions with 4th Middlesex and 8th Lincolnshire leading the advance. The second phase of the attack began at 7.50am and up until that time 8th Somerset remained in the front line and support trenches where the enemy artillery caused some casualties. ‘C’ and ‘D’ Companies went forward at the allotted time to clear Beek Wood and to establish a new line from a small stream, the Wambeek, to Grass Farm where they would join up with 10th York & Lancaster. There followed a day of heavy and often confused fighting. The enemy were well entrenched and able in places to enfilade the British positions. But threatened counter-attacks were seen off by the artillery and the new position was consolidated and here 8th Somerset remained until relieved on the following night. George Ketley was among the many casualties, amounting to nearly 200, suffered by 8th Somerset during this battle.