A British offensive failure that ended a run of successful attacks at Ypres and fed flawed intelligence into planning for the First Battle of Passchendaele.
Key Facts
- Date
- 9 October 1917
- Theater
- Flanders, Belgium
- British forces involved
- Second Army and Fifth Army
- German force
- 4th Army
- Rain restart date
- 3 October 1917
- Outcome
- German defensive success; most captured ground lost to counter-attacks
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
After a string of successful British attacks in late September and early October 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres, renewed rains from 3 October severely degraded the ground and hampered British efforts to move artillery and ammunition forward in sufficient quantities to support another major assault.
On 9 October 1917, British Second and Fifth Armies attacked the German 4th Army at Poelcappelle. Only the supporting assault in the north achieved any meaningful advance; on the main front, German defences held firm against the reduced British artillery barrage, and waterlogged terrain stranded many wounded soldiers on the battlefield.
The battle proved a defensive success for the German 4th Army, ending the British run of successful step-by-step advances. Misleading early reports and communication delays led commanders Plumer and Haig to believe a greater advance had occurred than was the case, directly shaping the flawed planning of the First Battle of Passchendaele on 12 October.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
2 belligerents
Herbert Plumer, Douglas Haig.
Side B
1 belligerent