THE battle of Passchendaele – also known as the Third Battle of Ypres – was fought between July 31 and November 10 in 1917 and turned into one of the bloodiest battles on the Western Front during the First World War.

This major offensive was led by the British Army with the aim to break out of the Ypres Salient in Belgium.

At 3.50am on July 31, the battle started with 2,000 guns opening fire up on the German trench lines.

A total of 14 British and two French divisions attacked along a 15-miles front.

The offensive did see the capture of Pilckem Ridge but forward advance slowed in the face of rain and fierce German resistance.

Drier conditions in September and October saw some small successes by troops from Britain, South African, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

By October the heavy rain returned and turned the battlefields into a muddy morass.

The offensive was eventually halted after the capture of Passchendaele in November.

By the end of the battle, around 500,000 soldiers from both sides were listed as wounded, killed or missing.

CWGC Fact file

The age range of those killed was from 15-year-olds Pte Clifford Oulton, of 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles, and Pte John Smith, of 14th Battalion Canadian Infantry to 56-year-old Pte Guiseppe Pitello, of 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles Battalion.