Polygon Wood

By Nigel Cave

This wood featured significantly in the First and Third Battles of Ypres and was the scene of numerous deeds of heroism, such as that which won young Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Bent the VC. The courage of individuals and units from Britain and Australia is described in this latest edition to the series covering Ypres.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Feb 28, 2011
• ISBN: 9781783830244

Nigel Cave

Nigel Cave is the founder editor of the Battleground Europe series; his association with the Company goes back some thirty years.

Book preview

Chapter One

THE CAPTURE OF POLYGON WOOD 26 SEPTEMBER 1917

Prelude: 20 September 1917

One of the determining factors in the geographical boundaries laid down for this book has been the construction of the A 19 motorway, running to the south west of Polygon Wood. This makes it quite difficult to follow on the ground the various movements of the troops, so it has been decided that this part of the action will be included in a later work on the Battle of the Menin Road.

What undoubtedly has been lost to most people in the persistence of the association of Third Ypres with the village of Passchendaele and rain, mud, more mud and desolation, are the considerable developments in a whole range of areas in both the offensive and the defensive. In the offensive there was further work on the artillery, the use of wireless, continued progress in the matter of logistics, developing battalion, company, platoon and section formations and tactics – and so it continues. In the defence there was further experimentation with the idea of counter-attack (or Eingreif) divisions and the use of low-flying aircraft. There were also a number of limited, bite and hold, offensives which were extremely successful – and this applies to both the Battle of the Menin Road and the Battle of Polygon Wood. The weather was full of contrasts – whereas August was a month notable for the quite appalling and unusual level of rainfall, September was very dry. So, undoubtedly, conditions were absolutely abysmal for much of the battle, especially at its beginning and in the final weeks, and the landscape was transformed from what is actually pretty bleak most of the time into utter devastation. Yet the Third Battle of Ypres was also vitally important in the continuing evolution and development of both armies, British and German.

Fatigue party (in more ways than one) during the Third Battle of Ypres.

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The offensive came to a temporary halt on 28 August, and Plumer’s Second Army moved into the southern half of the Salient to take over the offensive there, heading for the Gheluvelt Plateau; as the battle progressed his left extended further and further to the left, taking on the responsibility for capturing the Broodseinde Ridge and Passchendaele, securing the right flank whilst Gough’s Fifth Army worked its way north eastwards.

The Official History summarises the situation at the end of