Battle of the Menin Road Ridge
The Battle of the Menin Road Ridge, sometimes called "Battle of the Menin Road", was the third British general attack of the Third Battle of Ypres in the First World War. The battle took place from 20 to 25 September 1917, in the Ypres Salient in Belgium on the Western Front. During the pause in British and French general attacks from late August to 20 September, the British changed some infantry tactics, adopting the leap-frog method of advance.
A British Vickers machine gun crew during the battle
The British front line and the German defences in the area east of Ypres, mid-1917
German troop dispositions opposite 1 ANZAC Corps, 1 Sept 1917.
Men of the 13th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, 23rd Division, resting in trenches during their advance on Veldhoek, 20 September 1917
The Third Battle of Ypres, also known as the Battle of Passchendaele, was a campaign of the First World War, fought by the Allies against the German Empire. The battle took place on the Western Front, from July to November 1917, for control of the ridges south and east of the Belgian city of Ypres in West Flanders, as part of a strategy decided by the Allies at conferences in November 1916 and May 1917. Passchendaele lies on the last ridge east of Ypres, 5 mi (8 km) from Roulers, a junction of the Bruges-(Brugge)-to-Kortrijk railway. The station at Roulers was on the main supply route of the German 4th Army. Once Passchendaele Ridge had been captured, the Allied advance was to continue to a line from Thourout to Couckelaere (Koekelare).
Australian gunners on a duckboard track in Château Wood, near Hooge, 29 October 1917. Photo by Frank Hurley.
The Eastern Front in 1917
The progression of the battle and the general disposition of troops
The British front line and the German defences in the area east of Ypres, mid-1917