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An extraordinary collection of patriotic First World War recruitment posters have been unearthed after 100 years stashed under the stairs of a pensioner's Brighton home. In total, 10 morale-boosting posters were found - all of which belonged to an elderly former airport worker now in her 90s. The haul was discovered as part of a house clearance. The colourful posters had been stashed under the stairs of the woman's house for many decades One carries a powerful image of a soldier stood in France reaching out his hand to a fellow Brit in civilian costume, urging him to 'come lad,...

Between July and November of 1917, one of the greatest disasters of the Great War unfolded near the Belgian town of Ypres, where the British and their allies fought the Germans for control of some ridges running through Flanders. Better known as the Battle of Passchendaele, hundreds of thousands of men occupied trenches, dugouts and underground tunnels on the front lines. Among the British forces there were many seasoned infantrymen who could claim to have seen all the technological terrors so far gathered together on World War I battlefields—machine gun fire, poison gas, strafing and bombing by aircraft. But for...

Army News videos: Historian explains battle of Passchendaele, Part 1Historian explains battle of Passchendaele, Part 2Thursday, April 23, 2009 Ottawa, ON – Norman Leach discusses the bravery and strategy of WWI Canadian soldiers.

CALGARY -It's a sure bet that not many Canadians under 50 could tell you much about the Battle of Passchendaele. For a few of us, it might ring vaguely familiar -- a place once spotted in some long-ago textbook or overheard on a television documentary, likely recalled more for its odd sounding name than for its significance. It's a battle "lost to Canadian history" as Calgary-based historian Norman Leach puts it, obscured by the shadow of the fabled Vimy Ridge. But as defining accounts of Canadian military exceptionality go, it may be more compelling. Passchendaele has occupied Paul Gross's thoughts...

By Jasper Copping Last Updated: 1:29am BST 16/09/2007 He was a young man, like so many others, who fell on the battlefield at Passchendaele. Aged just 29, Private Jack Hunter died in the arms of his younger brother, Jim, who buried him there, on the front line, in a shallow grave. Jack Hunter, who died at Passchendaele, with his brother Jim Jack Hunter, who died in the first world war, with his brother Jim Once the guns had fallen silent, Jim returned to look for his brother's body, but the ground had been chewed up by artillery and he could...

You have to strain to hear Harry Patch. At 109 years old, the last surviving Tommy from the horrors of the trenches in the First World War is growing increasingly frail. But his mind is every bit as sharp today as it was 90 years ago this week when, as a 19-year-old conscript, he was ordered over the top at the Third Battle of Ypres. The battle, better known simply as Passchendaele, has become a byword for senseless slaughter. Bitter memories: Harry Patch at Passchendaele today Read more... Hell on Earth: The never before seen colour photographs of the bloody...

YPRES, Belgium - The summer plowing season in Flanders Fields is a good time for Ivan Sinnaeve. Known as "Shrapnel Charlie," he keeps alive memories of one of history's bloodiest battles by melting down the World War I shells harvested by farmers and transforming them into toy soldiers which he calls "soldiers of peace." The 54-year-old Belgian history buff has a huge following among war pilgrims visiting Flanders Fields, the battleground of 1914-1918. Sinnaeve, a retired carpenter, is busier than usual this year, the 90th anniversary of the phase of fighting called the Battle of Passchendaele which saw some of...

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...

THE remarkably well preserved remains of a British officer, killed in one of the bloodiest battles of the First World War, have been discovered in the mud of Flanders. The man, still wearing his gas cape, boots and helmet, was killed during the battle of Passchendaele almost 90 years ago. A Commonwealth War Graves Commission team is due to arrive in Belgium today to help identify the Lancashire Fusiliers' officer, whose remains were found by archaeologists. The officer, who was found on Friday, is one of more than 58,000 men who fought in the notorious Ypres Salient in Belgium during...

Efforts are being made to identify the well-preserved body of a World War I soldier found at Passchendaele. The curator from the site's memorial museum believes the man was an officer with the UK's Lancashire Fusiliers. On Monday, the man's body will be handed to the Belgian authorities with a specialist UK team to be called in to identify him so he can be buried. Nearly half a million men died at Passchendaele, near Ypres, in 1917, in one of the war's bloodiest battles. Museum curator Franky Bostyn said the man had a silver cigarette case, a wristwatch and leather...