Battle of Passchaendale (Military History)

Introduction

The Third Battle of Ypres, or Passchendaele, took place between 31 July and 10 November 1917. Haig’s idea was to sweep out of the Ypres Salient to the Belgian Coast, thus outflanking the entire German-held Western Front in the north. As it happened, when the battle concluded the British army had secured the merest toehold on part of the Passchendaele Ridge, just ten miles from its starting line. The battle is remembered as a continuous slog in the mud, but it was more complex than this. It falls into four phases. The first, the capture of the Messines Ridge on 7 June, was quite successful. Sappers had been tunneling under this and had placed an enormous amount of high explosive under it. It was essential to capture this high ground before the main attack was launched. The explosion blew off the top off the ridge, allowing its capture. The second phase controversially did not commence for another seven weeks. Its aim was to capture Pilckem Ridge on the left of the front and the Gheluvelt Plateau on the right. The first objective was achieved but not the second, which allowed the Germans to observe every movement by the British on the remainder of the battlefield. Rain started to fall on 1 August and turned the low-lying battlefield into a quagmire. Progress was impossible but that did not prevent the High Command from ordering successive attacks. These all failed. In September the third phase began. A new commander, General Plumer, was introduced to conduct the main battle while General Gough who had conducted affairs until then was sidelined. Plumer asked for time to prepare his battles, and Haig agreed. Plumer’s three battles, which enabled the Gheluvelt Plateau to be captured, commenced on 20 September and concluded on 4 October. They were masterpieces of the limited objective battle, accompanied by enormous concentrations of artillery and conducted in dry weather. The fourth phase began after 4 October. Rain started to fall and the British were advancing into low-lying country. It seemed essential that the battle be halted but neither Haig nor Plumer agreed. The period from 9 October to 10 November saw conditions deteriorate as the British slogged on toward Passchendaele Ridge, by this time had lost all meaning as an objective. In the end men were drowning in the mud, and it is this phase that has branded the battle as an episode of futility. The so-called capture of the ridge (it was never completely in British hands) was hailed as a victory but in three days in 1918 the German offensives retook the ground that had taken three and a half months to capture.

General Overviews

There are many more books that cover the Battles of Passchendaele in their entirety than are listed here. The selection that follows attempts to strike a balance between tactical and strategic studies and those that see the battle through the eyes of individual soldiers. For serious readers and researchers, Edmonds 1948 is the place to start. For other accounts of the strategy of the battle, consult Prior and Wilson 2002 and Wolff 1958. For tactics, see Cecil and Liddle 1996, Liddle 1997, and Terraine 1977. For the soldier’s battle, see Macdonald 1978 and Steel and Hart 2000.

Cecil, H., and P. Liddle. Facing Armageddon. London: Leo Cooper, 1996.
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A collection of essays on the Great War that contains a considerable number on aspects of the Passchendaele campaign.
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Edmonds, Sir James. Military Operations: France and Belgium 1917. Vol. 2. London: HMSO, 1948.
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The British Official History. This volume was originally written by G. C. Wynne, but his efforts were deemed too critical of the High Command so it was rewritten by Edmonds, hence the late publication date. Not surprisingly, the volume is one of the least useful of the series.
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Liddle, Peter, ed. Passchendaele in Perspective: The Third Battle of Ypres. London: Leo Cooper, 1997.
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An excellent collection of essays on all aspects of the battle including some valuable accounts of the Germans at Passchendaele.
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Macdonald, Lyn. They Called It Passchendaele. London: Michael Joseph, 1978.
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A superb reconstruction of the battle told through the eyes of the participants; a model of its kind.
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Prior, Robin, and Trevor Wilson. Passchendaele: The Untold Story. London: Yale University Press, 2002.
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A detailed account of the planning and execution of the British army’s Passchendaele campaign from which the High Command does not emerge well. Emphasizes the political control (or lack of it) of the battle.
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Steel, Nigel, and Peter Hart. Passchendaele: The Sacrificial Ground. London: Cassell, 2000.
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A first-rate account of the battle told through the eyes of the soldiers. Draws extensively on the superb collection of letters and diaries in the Imperial War Museum.
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Terraine, John. The Road to Passchendaele: The Flanders Offensive of 1917: A Study in Inevitability. London: Leo Cooper, 1977.
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A valuable collection of documents, diary extracts, and letters that tends to show that the offensive was well-thought out and only criticized by ignorant politicians. The subtitle is odd because the book contains no study—or even mention—of inevitability. There is a tendentious note on casualty statistics at the end of the book.
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Wolff, Leon. In Flanders Fields: The 1917 Campaign. London: Longmans, 1958.
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This is the classic account of the campaign that should be consulted by all who are interested in this topic. It should be noted, however, that the book was written before the release of official documents.
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Reference Works

There is no reference work on the Battle of Passchendaele. Barton 2007 is useful for photographs; McCarthy 1995, for chronology; and the War Office 1922, for casualty statistics.

Barton, Peter. Passchendaele: Unseen Panoramas of the Third Battle of Ypres. London: Constable, 2007.
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Particularly valuable for the panoramic photographs of the battlefield taken at the time.
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McCarthy, Chris. Passchendaele: The Day by Day Account. London: Weidenfeld, 1995.
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A chronological account of the fighting at Passchendaele with short entries for each day. Essential for establishing which units fought where and when.
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War Office. Statistics of the military effort of the British Empire, 1914–20. London: War Office, 1922.
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Contains a mass of useful statistics for the period of the battle.
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Battlefield Guides

There is a wealth of battlefield guides to cater for the increasing number of visitors to the battlefield. For particular sections of the battlefield, the guides in the series Battleground Europe are exceptional (see Cave 1997). The others are good general guides to the entire battle. Those who wish to see the battlefield as it looked at the time are directed to the Ypres and the Battles for Ypres 1914–1918 2009 and The Pilgrim’s Guide to the Ypres Salient 1920. Giles 1987 and Holt and Valmai 2006 are more modern guides.

Cave, Nigel. Passchendaele. Barnsley, UK: Pen and Sword, 1997.
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This guide is part of a series called Battleground Europe. Although each guide only covers a small section of the Passchendaele battlefields, they often contain useful military information. Readers are advised to consult the other volumes under the name of the series.
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Giles, John. Flanders: Then and Now: The Ypres Salient and Passchendaele. Harlow, UK: After the Battle, 1987.
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An illustrated guide to the Passchendaele battlefields contrasting its appearance in 1917 with that of today.
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Holt, Tonie, and Valmai. Holt’s Pocket Battlefield Guide to Ypres and Passchendaele. Barnsley, UK: Pen and Sword, 2006.
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A comprehensive survey by experienced battlefield guides. The maps are particularly good.
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The Pilgrim’s Guide to the Ypres Salient. London: Herbert Reach for Talbot House, 1920.
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An early guide compiled for the Talbot House organization when visitors to Passchendaele were called pilgrims rather than tourists.
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Ypres and the Battles for Ypres 1914–1918. London: Naval and Military Press, 2009.
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This is a reprint of one of the well-known Michelin Battlefield guides published shortly after the war. The guide gives an excellent idea of the state of the battlefields at that time. Originally published 1920.
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Personal Accounts

There are scores of personal accounts of the fighting at Passchendaele. The experiences of the troops very much depended on which phase of the battle they experienced. Included here is a list of some of the more memorable accounts. See Campbell 1979 and Hamilton 1990 for accounts by battery commanders. For the infantry, see Gladden 1967 and Stewart and Stewart 2009. Jack 1964 gives a brigadier’s perspective; Lawrence 1987, an engineer’s; and Gordon 2013, a gunner’s.

Campbell, P. J. In the Cannon’s Mouth. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1979.
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A well-told story of a battery commander at Passchendaele.
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Gladden, N. Ypres 1917: A Personal Account. London: Kimber, 1967.
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A vivid account of the battle by a participant written after the war.
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Gordon, Huntly. The Unreturning Army: The Classic Memoir of a Field Gunner in Flanders. New York: Doubleday, 2013.
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A reprint of possibly the best account of a gunner during the Passchendaele campaign.
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Hamilton, R., ed. The War Diary of the Master of Belhaven, 1914–1918. Barnsley, UK: Wharncliffe, 1990.
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An exceptional diary of a battery commander with an interesting section on the Passchendaele campaign.
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Hislop, Ian, F. J. Roberts, and Patrick Beaver. The Wipers Times: The Complete Series of the Famous Wartime Trench Newspaper. London: Little Books, 2006.
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Written by officers for officers this well-known trench newspaper makes enthralling reading for the period of the Passchendaele campaign.
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Jack, J. General Jack’s Diary, 1914–1918: The Trench Diary of Brigadier J. L. Jack. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1964.
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A rare diary of a commander at this level that contains an excellent section on the fighting at Passchendaele.
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Lawrence, C. Sergeant Lawrence Goes to France. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1987.
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Accounts the experiences of an Australian engineer at Passchendaele.
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Stewart, Alexander, and Cameron Stewart. A Very Unimportant Officer: Life and Death on the Somme and at Passchendaele. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2009.
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An officer’s thoughts on the conditions and life in the trenches based on very brief entries made at the time and written up for publication some years later.
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German Accounts

Sheldon 2007 and Wynne 1940 are essential reading for this battle. The other German accounts, Asprey 1991, Beumelberg 1928, Lossberg 1939, and Reichsarchiv 1942, vary in quality, but all give a useful perspective on the suffering of the German army in what is considered a British defeat. Lupfer 1981 and Wynne 1935 are important accounts of German tactics in English.

Asprey, Robert B. The German High Command at War. New York: William Morrow, 1991.
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Chapter 29 gives an account of the German High Command at Passchendaele.
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Beumelberg, W. Flandern, 1917. Oldenburg, Germany: Stallung, 1928.
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An official German monograph on the Passchendaele campaign that illustrates the strain that the British offensive put on the German army.
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Lossberg, F. Von. Meine tätigkeit im veltkrieg 1914–1918. Berlin: Mittler, 1939.
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The memoirs of the general who designed the German defensive system at Passchendaele.
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Lupfer, Timothy. The Dynamics of Doctrine: The Changes in German Tactical Doctrine during the First World War. Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute, 1981.
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Particularly important for the quite dramatic changes in German defensive doctrine before the battle of Passchendaele.
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Reichsarchiv. Der weltkrieg. Vol. 13. Berlin: Mittler, 1942.
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The German official account. Although it was written in the Nazi era it is a useful source to establish that German units fought at Passchendaele and where they fought.
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Sheldon, Jack. The German Army at Passchendaele. Barnsley, UK: Pen and Sword, 2007.
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An extensive collection of translated German sources drawn largely from the Bavarian archives in Munich.
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Wynne, G. C. “The Other Side of the Hill, No Xiv: The Fight for Inverness Copse 22nd–24th of August, 1917.” Army Quarterly 29 (1935): 297–303.
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An account reconstructed largely from German sources of the bitter fighting for a ruined wood in the first mud phase at Passchendaele.
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Wynne, G. C. If Germany Attacks: The Battle in Depth in the West. London: Faber, 1940.
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An essential source for the development of the German defense in depth at Passchendaele, which was especially constructed to meet the obviously impending British offensive.
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High Command

The conduct of this battle by the High Command is often viewed as the nadir of the military art on the Western Front. The opening and closing months of the battle certainly fit this description. The successful middle phase of the battle has rather been forgotten, but see Powell 2004 on Plumer. The chief architect of battle, Haig, is dealt with sympathetically by Charteris 1931, Davidson 1953, Sheffield 2011, and Terraine 1963. Graham and Bidwell 1993 take a more skeptical view.

Charteris, John. At G.H.Q. London: Cassell, 1931.
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Contains an account of the battle by Haig’s intelligence chief. Written in the form of a diary but, in fact, based on letters to his wife. Charteris allegedly visited the front after the battle and was shocked by the conditions in which the soldiers had fought. A visit during the battle might have been more appropriate.
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Davidson, John. Haig: Master of the Field. London: Peter Nevill, 1953.
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Davidson was director of operations at general headquarters during the battle. He gives an intimate if partial view of Haig’s conduct of the campaign.
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Graham, Dominick, and Shelford Bidwell. Coalitions, Politicians and Generals: Some Aspects of Command in Two World Wars. London: Brassey, 1993.
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Chapters 6 and 7 discuss Haig’s command at Passchendaele.
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Powell, G. Plumer: The Soldiers’ General. Barnsley, UK: Pen and Sword, 2004.
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The only modern account of this important general who conducted the successful Messines operation and the three attacks across the Gheluvelt Plateau in September and October.
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Sheffield, Gary. The Chief: Douglas Haig and the British Army. London: Aurum, 2011.
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Takes a critical but sympathetic view of Haig’s command of the battle. Supersedes all other biographical studies of Haig at Passchendaele.
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Sheffield, Gary, and John Bourne. Douglas Haig: War Diaries and Letters, 1914–1918. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2005.
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The definitive edition of Douglas Haig’s diaries. Enables the reader to see the battle from Haig’s necessarily subjective perspective.
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Terraine, John. Douglas Haig: The Educated Soldier. London: Hutchinson, 1963.
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The first modern treatment of Haig at Passchendaele. Most would now see it as superseded by Sheffield 2011, but it can still be read with profit on many aspects of the battle.
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Woodwood, David, ed. The Military Correspondence of Field-Marshall Sir William Robertson, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, December 1915–February 1918. London: Bodley Head for the Army Records Society, 1989.
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Important for the correspondence between Robertson and Haig that illustrates that the subservient role he played with his subordinate at the Somme was still in evidence at Passchendaele.
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Command

The intermediate levels of command at Passchendaele have received little attention. There is no satisfactory study of either General Plumer, General Gough, or of any of the corps commanders who participated in the battle. Army commanders are dealt with by Farrar-Hockley 1975 and Gough 1931; corps commanders, by Simpson 2006; intelligence, by Beach 2013; and command more generally, by Prior and Wilson 1992 and Rawling 1987

Beach, Jim. Haig’s Intelligence: GHQ and the German Army 1916–1918. London: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
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General headquarters intelligence always considered the German army to be on the brink of collapse during this battle. Whether their views influenced Haig’s decision to fight on, however, is a moot point.
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Farrar-Hockley, Anthony. Goughie: The Life of General Sir Hubert Gough. London: Hart Davis, MacGibbon, 1975.
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A slight account of the commander of the 5th Army at Passchendaele but the only book on the subject.
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Gough, Sir Hubert. The Fifth Army. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1931.
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The unreflective memoirs of the commander who presided over the disastrous first phase of the battle.
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Pedersen, Peter. Monash as Military Commander. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1985.
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An excellent study that demonstrates that however brilliantly Monash performed as corps commander, as commander of the 3rd Australian Division at Passchendaele he had much to learn.
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Prior, Robin, and Trevor Wilson. Command on the Western Front: The Military Career of Sir Henry Rawlinson. Oxford: Blackwell, 1992.
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Deals with the brief role played by Rawlinson in the planning of the battle.
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Rawling, Bill. Surviving Trench Warfare: Technology and the Canadian Corps, 1914–1918. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1987.
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Especially valuable for the experience of the Canadians at Passchendaele.
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Simpson, Andy. Directing Operations: British Corps Command on the Western Front 1914–1918. Stroud, UK: Spellmount, 2006.
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Contains a section on the British corps commanders at Passchendaele.
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Particular Battles

Important episodes within the main battle have been largely neglected. There are no good accounts of such important encounters as the Menin Road, Polygon Wood, and Broodseinde. The Australians at Passchendaele are dealt with by Bean 1938 and Spagnoly 1991; the Canadians, by Gross and Leach 2003 and Nicholson 1962; and the New Zealanders, by Harper 2000 and Stewart 1921. See Passingham 2012 for Messines Ridge.

Bean, C. E. W. The Australian Imperial Force in France 1917. Sydney: Angas and Robertson, 1938.
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The Australian official history. It is particularly important for the fighting at Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde and should also be consulted for the battles for Passchendaele Ridge in October.
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Gross, Paul, and Norman Leach. Passchendaele: An Illustrated History: Canada’s Triumph and Tragedy on the Fields of Flanders. Regina, SK: Coteau, 2003.
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Illustrates the dreadful conditions under which the Canadians fought in the final battles for the Passchendaele Ridge.
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Harper, Glyn. Massacre at Passchendaele: The New Zealand story. Sydney: Harper Collins, 2000.
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Tells the story of the New Zealand army’s blackest day at Passchendaele in October. A sobering and well-researched book.
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LeCicero, Michael. A Moonlight Massacre: The Night Operation on the Passchendaele Ridge 2 December 1917. London: Helion, 2014.
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This book really does uncover an unknown incident at the very end of the Passchendaele campaign and it reinforces the view that actions such as this should never have been fought.
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Nicholson, G. W. L. Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914–1919. Ottawa, ON: Queen’s Printer, 1962.
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The Canadian official history. Useful for the final battles and the partial seizure of the Passchendaele Ridge in November.
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Passingham, Ian. Pillars of Fire: The Battle of Messines Ridge, June 1917. London: History Press, 2012.
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The capture of Messines Ridge was a necessary preliminary to the Passchendaele campaign. There are many accounts of it, but this is one of the newest and the best.
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Spagnoly, Tony. The Anatomy of a Raid: Australia at Celtic Wood: 9th October 1917. London: Multidream, 1991.
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A rare micro account of battle. In this instance a raid by the 10th Battalion A.I.F. in the aftermath of Broodseinde is described. It should be noted that only one small section of the book actually describes the raid and the remainder is of dubious relevance.
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Stewart, H. The New Zealand Division 1916–1919: A Popular History Based on Historical Records. Auckland, New Zealand: Whitcombe and Tombs, 1921.
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Useful for information on the participation of the New Zealand division for the battles of Broodseinde and Poelcappelle.
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Weist, Andrew. Passchendaele and the Royal Navy. London: Greenwood, 1995.
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An account of the aborted plan to land a British division on the Belgian coast behind the German lines.
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Unit Histories

Many divisions that fought in the battles of Passchendaele have individual monographs detailing their experiences. These vary widely in quality. Some are mere chronologies. The unit histories listed herein are considered the best or concern divisions that were involved with particularly important aspects of the battle. For the early part of the campaign, see Headlam 1924, Nichols 1922, and Stewart and Buchan 1926. For the more successful part of the campaign, see Bewsher 1921, Coop 1919, Ellis 1920, Ewing 1921, and Hutchinson 1921.

Bewsher, F. The History of the 51st (Highland Division) 1914–1918. Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1921.
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The 51st Division played a prominent role on the first day of battle and at the Menin Road.
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Coop, J. The 55th (West Lancashire) Division 1916–1919. Liverpool, UK: Daily Post, 1919.
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The 55th Division made a considerable advance on the first day of battle and at the Menin Road in September.
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Ellis, Captain A. D. The Story of the Fifth Australian Division. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1920.
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The 5th Australian Division played a crucial role in the Battle of Polygon Wood.
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Ewing, J. History of the 9th (Scottish) Division, 1914–1918. London: John Murray, 1921.
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The 9th Division fought at the battle of the Menin Road.
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Headlam, C. History of the Guards Division in the Great War. London: John Murray, 1924.
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The Guards Division fought in the opening battles for Pilckem Ridge and later took part in the futile mud battles in August.
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Hutchinson, G. The 33rd Division in France and Flanders 1915–1919. London: Waterloo, 1921.
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The 33rd Division played an important role in the battles of the Menin Road and Polygon Wood.
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Nichols, Captain G. H. F. The 18th Division in the Great War. Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1922.
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The 18th Division was commanded by General Maxse, one of the most innovative commanders of the war. Its lack of success at Passchendaele demonstrated that not even a well-trained division could gain ground in such conditions.
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Stewart, J., and J. Buchan. The Fifteenth (Scottish) Division, 1914–1919. Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1926.
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An important account of the first day of battle by a division that suffered very heavy casualties.
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Artillery

There had been some significant artillery developments by time of Passchendaele. The use of the creeping barrage to protect infantry attacks was almost universal (Bidwell and Graham 1982). Artillery accuracy had been improved by taking note of wear on the guns, the weight of individual shells and other factors (Broad 1922–1923; Brooke 1924–1925; Marble 2013). A new method of detecting enemy guns by the sound emitted when they fired (sound ranging) was just coming into use (Bragg, et al. 1971). Protective barrages fired in front of the infantry objectives helped to ward off counter attacks. Moreover, the British army had more guns of a heavier caliber than those used on the Somme (Hogg 1973). The high command however had yet to learn that the new techniques could be rendered useless by unfavorable weather. The books and articles listed here trace the development of these matters.

Bidwell, Shelford, and Dominick Graham. Fire-Power: British Army Weapons and Theories of War 1904–45. London: Allen and Unwin, 1982.
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Contains a very useful chapter on artillery development in the Great War. It is vital for establishing the context in which the artillery was used at Passchendaele.
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Bragg, Lawrence, A. H. Dowson, and H. H. Hemming. Artillery Survey in the First World War. London: Field Survey, 1971.
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An essential book for understanding sound ranging, one of the most important artillery developments of the war.
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Broad, C. N. F. “The Development of Artillery Tactics 1914–18.” Journal of the Royal Artillery 49 (1922–1923): 62–81, 127–148.
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A seminal article on the development of artillery tactics.
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Brooke, Alan. “The Evolution of Artillery in the Great War.” Journal of the Royal Artillery 51 (1924–1925): 359–372.
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An excellent exposition of artillery development by the future chief of the Imperial General Staff. Article continues in Volume 52 (1925–1926): 37–51, 369–387.
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Fraser-Tytler, Neil. Field Guns in France. Brighton, UK: Tom Donovan, 1995.
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A reprint of a battery commander’s reminiscences of his war in France. Contains a section on the field guns at Passchendaele.
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Hogg, Ian V. The Guns 1914–18. London: Pan, 1973.
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A useful textbook.
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Marble, Sanders. British artillery on the Western Front in the First World War. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2013.
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An excellent modern study of artillery development that is disappointingly brief about this battle.
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McCartney-Filgate, J. History of the 33rd Division Artillery in the War, 1914–1918. London: Vacher, 1921.
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The 33rd Division took part in the battles for Polygon Wood in July and August 1916. This is a rare account of divisional artillery in action.
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Tanks

The British had a new tank at Passchendaele, the Mk IV, but because of the state of the ground there was limited scope for their use. This did not stop the command from trying however, usually with disastrous results as Cooper 1974, Fuller 1920, and Orgill 1970 demonstrate.

Cooper, Bryan. Tank Battles of World War 1. London: Ian Allen, 1974.
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Contains a popular account of the limited use of tanks made at Passchendaele.
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Fuller, J. F. C. Tanks in the Great War. London: John Murray, 1920.
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An account by the great tank expert of the development and use of the tanks. Generally overenthusiastic about the capabilities of the First World War tank.
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Orgill, Douglas. The Tank: Studies in the Development and Use of a Weapon. London: Heinemann, 1970.
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Contains useful chapters on the development and use of the tanks during the Passchendaele campaign.
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Aerial Warfare

The aerial side of this battle took on a familiar pattern, with dog fights developing around the aircraft spotting for the artillery. The weather often prevented aircraft even from taking off thus blinding the “eye in the air.” Jones 1934 is the place to start.

Barker, R. The Royal Flying Corps in France from Bloody April 1917 to Final Victory. London: Constable, 1995.
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A useful section on air fighting at Passchendaele.
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Jones, H. A. The War in the Air. Vol. 4. London: Oxford University Press, 1934.
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The British official history. The most comprehensive treatment of aerial combat during the battle.
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Mead, Peter. The Eye in the Air: History of Air Observation and Reconnaissance for the Army 1785–1945. London: HMSO, 1983.
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A useful reminder that the main task of aircraft during battle was to observe for the artillery.
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Morrow, John. German Airpower in World War 1. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982.
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Chapter 3 gives an account of the German Airforce during the battle of Passchendaele.
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Logistics

During the preparations for this campaign the British Lines of Communications staff performed well in assembling a mass of equipment, ammunition, and guns for the attack. During the battle even moving small amounts of ammunition and food to the front became a nightmare in the bog. Brown 1998, Creveld 1977, and Henneker 1937 are all general studies.

Brown, Ian Malcolm. British logisTics on the Western Front 1915–1919. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1998.
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Contains an excellent discussion of this neglected issue during the campaign.
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Creveld, Martin Van. Supplying War: Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton. London: Cambridge University Press, 1977.
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Contains a general overview of logistics problems during the First World War. Useful to place the problems encountered at Passchendaele in context.
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Henneker, Colonel A. M. Transportation on the Western Front. London: HMSO, 1937.
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The British official history has a chapter on the difficulties of transportation at Passchendaele.
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Gas Warfare

Poisonous gas had been a part of warfare on the Western Front since it had been introduced by the Germans in April 1915. One of the major “innovations” in chemical warfare took place during the Passchendaele campaign—the introduction by the Germans of mustard gas. This new gas could blister the skin and the lungs if too much was ingested. The books included here concern gas warfare in general, but all have sections on the use and effectiveness of mustard gas. Haber 1986 deals with German gas warfare, and Foulkes 1934, Griffith 1994, Moore 1987, and Palazzo 2000 address the British side.

Foulkes, C. H. Gas! The Story of the Special Brigade R. E. London: Blackwood, 1934.
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An important study of the use of gas from a founder member of the special brigade.
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Griffith, Paddy. Battle Tactics on the Western Front: The British Army’s Art of Attack 1916–18. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1994.
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A superb book on every level of tactical fighting. There is an instructive section on how the introduction of gas-affected tactics.
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Haber, L. F. The Poisonous Cloud: Chemical Warfare in the First World War. Oxford: Clarendon, 1986.
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An excellent account from the German side of the introduction and use of mustard gas by a relative of Fritz Haber who oversaw the development of gas warfare in Germany in 1915.
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Moore, William. Gas attack! Chemical Warfare: 1915 to the Present Day. London: Leo Cooper, 1987.
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A general book that contains many references to the use of gas during the Passchendaele campaign.
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Palazzo, Albert. Seeking Victory on the Western Front: The British Army and Chemical Warfare in World War 1. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000.
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An excellent book on chemical warfare which contains a long section on mustard gas.
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The Political Battle

There is always a relationship between battles and politics in modern warfare. Rarely, however, does it reach the bitterness generated by the Passchendaele campaign. Even before the battle commenced the British prime minister, Lloyd George, expressed reservations about it and eventually the War Cabinet only gave permission for the first phase of battle with the stipulation that it would then be reviewed according to progress made. In the first phase of the battle there was no progress but no review took place either. As the battle raged Lloyd George fulminated against Haig but refused to restrain him. This undeclared “war” continued into the memoirs of the participants in the postwar era (Lloyd George 1938; Callwell 1927; Riddell 1933). Prior and Wilson 2002 (cited under General Overviews) should be consulted for the political ramifications of the battle. More modern studies of the political side of the battle can be found in French 1995, Roskill 1970, and Woodward 1983.

Callwell, C. E. Field-Marshal Sir Henry Wilson: His Life and Diaries. London: Cassell, 1927.
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The wonderfully indiscreet diaries of this most political of generals contains some mordant comments about Haig, Lloyd George, and the Passchendaele campaign.
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French, David. The Strategy of the Lloyd George Coalition 1916–1918. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205593.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A typically incisive examination of the twists and turns of Lloyd George’s strategy.
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Liddell Hart, B. H. “The Basic Truths of Passchendaele.” Journal of the Royal United Service Institution 104 (1959): 433–439.
DOI: 10.1080/03071845909430943Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Liddell Hart helped Lloyd George on the military sections of his memoirs. It is interesting to compare this article with the account in the prime minister’s memoirs.
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Liddell Hart, B. H. “How Myths Grow: Passchendaele.” Military Affairs 28 (1961): 184–186.
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Or how they can be created!
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Lloyd George, David. War Memoirs. London: Odhams, 1938.
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See in particular the chapter titled “The Campaign in the Mud.” The conclusion to be drawn is that if Lloyd George had had the power he would have sacked Haig. But, of course, he did have the power. Essential reading for the political battle. It is also worth consulting the index of these volumes for the entries under Haig and Robertson. They leave little doubt that the index was compiled by Lloyd George.
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Riddell, Lord. Lord Riddell’s War Diary 1914–1918. London: Ivor Nicholson and Watson, 1933.
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The diaries of a newspaper proprietor who was a confidant of Lloyd George has many revealing entries about the state of mind of the prime minister.
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Roskill, Stephen. Hankey: Man of Secrets. Vol. 1. London: Collins, 1970.
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Based on the diaries of the cabinet secretary, this essential work explains much about the machinations of the cabinet during the battle.
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Woodward, David. Lloyd George and the Generals. East Brunswick, UK: Associated University Presses, 1983.
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A pioneering work which is especially important for the relationship between Lloyd George and Haig during the Passchendaele campaign.
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Casualties

As with most battles on the Western Front, controversy has raged over which side suffered the most. The figures given in Edmonds 1948 (cited under General Overviews) have been thoroughly discredited by recent works such as Williams 1964 and Mc Randle and Quirk 2006. Two less controversial works on the cemeteries around Passchendaele and the list of officers lost are included here (Bostyn and Fraenen 2007; Perry 2009).

Bostyn, Frank, and Jan Van Der Fraenen. Passchendaele 1917: The Story of the Fallen and Tyne Cot Cemetery. Barnsley, UK: Pen and Sword, 2007.
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The moving story of the creation and maintenance of the war graves around Passchendaele.
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Churchill, W. S. The World Crisis. Vol. 3. London: Thornton Butterworth, 1927.
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Churchill was rightly skeptical about the official casualty figures for Passchendaele. See pp. 950–967.
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Mc Randle, James, and James Quirk. “The Blood Test Revisited: A New Look at German Casualty Counts in World War 1.” Journal of Military History 70 (2006): 667–702.
DOI: 10.1353/jmh.2006.0180Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Establishes that Churchill’s figures were accurate for this battle.
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Perry, Keith. With a Poppy and a Prayer: Officers Died at Passchendaele: 31st July–10th November 1917. London: Naval and Military Press, 2009.
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A complete list of British officer casualties.
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Terraine, John. The Road to Passchendaele: The Flanders Offensive of 1917: A Study in Inevitability. London: Leo Cooper, 1977.
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The “Note on Casualties” at the back of the book is a rather desperate attempt to justify the figures in the British official history (see Edmonds 1948, cited under General Overviews).
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Williams, M. J. “Thirty Percent: A Study in Casualty Statistics.” Journal of the Royal United Service Institution 109 (1964): 51–55.
DOI: 10.1080/03071846409419704Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Demonstrates conclusively that the casualty figures given in the British official history (Edmonds 1948, cited under General Overviews) are based on false assumptions.