Battle of the Menin Road Ridge

Battle of the Menin Road Ridge
Part of the Battle of Passchendaele (World War I)
Wounded men at the side of a road after the Battle of Menin Road
Date 20–26 September 1917 Location Gheluvelt Plateau, Flanders 50°54′01″N 03°01′00″E / 50.90028°N 3.01667°E / 50.90028; 3.01667Coordinates: 50°54′01″N 03°01′00″E / 50.90028°N 3.01667°E / 50.90028; 3.01667 Result British victory
Belligerents
British Empire  Australia  Newfoundland  South Africa  United Kingdom	German Empire  Bavaria  Prussia  Saxony
Commanders and leaders
Douglas Haig Herbert Plumer Hubert Gough	Erich Ludendorff Crown Prince Rupprecht Sixt von Armin
Units involved
Second Army, Fifth Army	4th Army
Strength
11 divisions	5 divisions
Casualties and losses
20,255	11–20 September: 25,000 20 September: 3,243 prisoners

 British Empire

German Empire

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 20–25 September 1917, in the Ypres Salient in Flanders on the Western Front. During the pause in Allied general attacks between late August and 20 September, the British changed some infantry tactics, by adopting the "leap-frog" method of advance, when waves of infantry stopped once they reached their objective, then consolidated the ground while other waves passed through the objective to attack the next one and the earlier waves became the tactical reserve. General adoption of the method was made possible when more artillery was brought into the salient, by increasing the number of aircraft involved in close air support of the attackers and by specialising the tasks of air defence, contact-patrol, counter-attack patrol, artillery observation and ground-attack.

In early September, optimism increased among German commanders that the Flanders offensive had ended. Drier weather and extensive road repairs made it much easier for the British to move vast amounts of supplies forward from the original front line. Visibility increased except for frequent ground fog around dawn, which helped conceal British infantry during the attack, before clearing to expose German troop movements to British observation and attack. The British infantry succeeded in capturing most of their objectives and then holding them against German counter-attacks, inflicting many casualties on the local German defenders and Eingreif divisions sent to reinforce them, with massed artillery and small-arms fire. German defences on the Gheluvelt Plateau, which had been retained or quickly recaptured in July and August were lost and the British were able to attack again on 26 September.

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