100 years after Passchendaele, Canadians are reminded to remember
RED DEER, AB — An entire century has passed since 16,000 Canadians were killed or wounded fighting to secure the Belgian village of Passchendaele from German forces during WWI.
Many historians have described the two-week battle as ‘Hell on Earth.’
Rob Porkka, a former history teacher and vice principal at Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School, says conditions during what is also known as the Third Battle of Ypres were not what people had signed up for. It was desolation and a cratered swamp which not only consumed soldiers in the fall of 1917, but was home to hundreds, if not thousands of unburied ones from past hostilities there.
“There weren’t supplies and it was difficult to get food and support to the front lines. One of the difficulties during that battle was the communications were very poor,” Porkka explains. “It wasn’t very well planned. This is what led to many difficulties and many casualties. There were also different views by the Canadian command about what should happen.”