> Sir Arthur Currie, commander of the Canadian Corps, objected to the battle, fearing it could not be won without a terrible expenditure in lives, but Haig was desperate for a symbolic victory and insisted on the effort, believing that even a limited victory would help to salvage the campaign. Having no choice but to attack, Currie prepared carefully for the fight, understanding that deliberate preparation, especially for his artillery and engineers, was the key to advancing over this shattered landscape.
http://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/history/battles-and-fighting/land-battles/passchendaele/
According to the page, the Canadian force of 100,000 lost almost 16,000; that’s a trustworthy figure, but the German figure appears to be the inflated wartime official propaganda of the British gov’t, which insisted that the Germans and Austrians were “running out of men”. If the German wartime losses had been that high, there would have *been* no second World War.
If german losses had been that much, the Ludendorff
spring offensive would not have been half as successful.
It was all for naught anyway.