Killing field: A German machine gun unit strafes No Man's Land at Passchendaele
as artillery shells churn up hte ground and mustard gas billows over the front
Posted on 07/17/2007 2:32:18 PM PDT by LibWhacker
They are the most remarkable pictures of one of the most hellish places on earth.
Never seen before, these astonishing photographs, lovingly hand-touched in colour to bring to life the nightmare of Passchendaele, were released this week to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the battle that, between July and November 1917, claimed a staggering 2,121 lives a day and in total some quarter of a million Allied soldiers.
Killing field: A German machine gun unit strafes No Man's Land at Passchendaele
as artillery shells churn up hte ground and mustard gas billows over the front
What was once pretty countryside around the Belgian village that gave the battlefield its name was reduced to an infernal swamp where the ground oozed with foul-smelling slime, and mustard gas that blistered the skin and made the lungs bleed.
Today, the Queen will attend a Last Post ceremony in Passchendaele at the Menin Gate, where a memorial arch is engraved with the names of the 54,896 Commonwealth soldiers who died with no known graves.
Slaughter: One of the 250,000 Allies killed in action
She will also visit the Tyne Cot cemetery, where 11,952 graves are laid out in neat concentric circles, their tombstones white against the green grass, in peaceful defiance of the brutal battle that took their lives.
One of the major conflicts of World War I, it was conceived by British Commander-in-Chief Sir Douglas Haig as a "big push" that would, finally, bring a breakthrough in the stalemate in Flanders.
Another bleak day dawns: Allied soldiers take a breather before the next round
of German bombardment
Officially named the Third Battle of Ypres, the hope was that by breaking through German lines at this point on the Western Front, the Allies could reach the Belgian coast and capture the German submarine bases there.
The Allies prepared the way with a massive two-week bombardment in which 3,000 heavy guns sent more than four million shells pouring into the German lines.
Devastation: Canadian soldiers survey a smashed German bunker
Then, on July 31, the troops poured into a No Man's Land that within days and under torrential rain had become a sodden bog.
It became so deep that men, horses and pack mules drowned in it. What was supposed to be a breakthrough became a battle of attrition.
By November, the British and Empire forces had advanced just five miles at terrible cost, to take the village of Passchendaele - which at least provided an excuse for them to call a halt.
Their one consolation was that the Germans had also suffered grievously.
Holy cow, nice work! Jeez, you can’t believe anything anymore. I knew they were hand-colored but didn’t know they were that flagrantly manipulated. Sigh...
Wow are you good!
Well, for what it’s worth, the dead body in picture # 2 looks like a German. Boots - no puttees(SP?).
Lucky, actually. I decided to Google some other images of Passchendaele, and it showed up on the very first row.
At the time of this battle Wilson (or was it his wife) and the demoncRATS were rushing to get our troops into this war.
Ah, so by virtue of a “D” in the White House, it was a “legal war”....
I perceive...
Illbedamn, another Photoshop job!
Military history ping
Please FReepmail “indcons” to get on/off the MilHist list
Thanks. My husband is a revolutionary war/civil war/first world war/second world war buff, so I just emailed him the link.
Oops...looks like this is a Photoshop and the photo posted on this thread appears to be a fake. See post #20 by r9etb (nice work).
After campaigning they would keep us out of the war.
Thanks for posting these photos of a real hell hole. Indcons, thanks for the link.
Jimbo
Apparently this is why it is a never before seen photo being locked up all those years in the Daily Mail’s vault of propaganda and photoshop.
I think beerguy needs to be added to complete the spectacle.
All jokes aside, I can not even imagine the fortitude, determination, courage, loyalty, bravery, insanity it would have taken to fight day and night week after week during the First World War.
The casualty figures of the main battles during the war stagger me.Tens of thousands upon hundreds of thousands lost to gain or defend a few square miles.
And to think now not even a hundred years later Islamofacists are seemingly trying to hurtle mankind into even worse destruction.
Kipling lost his only son in WWI.
It does look odd - the perspective and lighting are off, plus they are too exposed, they would be down deeper in the shellhole with the muzzle of the MG just peeping over the edge. Since it's a montage, the original photo of the machinegunners probably had them in training, with the MG set up in an open field.
I have some scraps of Hamilton Coolidge’s biplane when he was shot down and killed in 1918. Could you ask you husband if he has any idea what they might be worth or if he knows where I could find out? I’m thinking of selling them and don’t know much about the value of such things.
PING to #37
lol - the inevitable looter guy. He’s never far away.
I’m pretty sure that is an authentic, never before seen picture of Great-Grand-Looter Guy.
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