Passchendaele: Day by Day Misery

Posted by Susanna McLeod Oct 14, 2007

People, Canadians in particular, must be so durable, so tough, to endure war and the horrors that accompany it. The soldiers of the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917 survived while death sank into the thick mud all around them. They clambered over the decomposing bodies of horses and fellow soldiers killed in battle. Grotesque hordes of rats feasted on the remains. Those brave men must have had nightmares and night terrors, if they could have gotten to sleep at all.

Adding to the utter misery of battle, according to NM Christie, author of Slaughter in the Mud: The Canadians at Passchendaele, 1917, six battalions of Canadian soldiers wore kilts into combat. Kilts! How uncomfortable! Since the whole area was flooded with rain water that could not drain and in mud three feet deep, their kilts became like tartan-wool sponges. The hems dragged through the muck, making the clothing heavy and cumbersome. Then when the mud dried, the fabric became sharp and rough, scraping and gouging at the men’s legs. The kilt hems “swayed back and forth causing wounds that often festered.” The despair must have been palpable.

The Canadians found food rations in short supply, everything they had was soaked from the rains that fell more than usual that season, and sleep was a rare, treasured commodity. While the wounded were removed as soon as possible from the battle field, some were unable to move and drowned in the deep ooze of mud. It must have been unimaginably horrific and brings tears to my eyes just to think about it.

But the Canadians persevered through steep casualties and death to help secure the Passchendaele Ridge for the Allies. The Canadians did wonders once again.