À l'attaque !
31 July 1917 marked the start of what we now know as the Battle of Passchendaele. Temperatures barely reached 20°C. Clouds hung low over the desolate land, heavy with rain. Not the ideal weather conditions for launching an all-decisive offensive.
The French, British, Australians and New Zealanders attacked from north to south over a front of about 25 km.
Impact and results
On 27 October the last pockets of resistance were cleaned out, but the French would not advance any further. The 1st Army stayed for another few weeks in Flanders. Between 25 June 1917 and 5 January 1918, when the last French troops left, more than 3,200 Frenchmen died in Belgium, roughly the same number as New Zealand lost in the same period.