Research Catalog

Title

A moonlight massacre : the night operation on the Passchendaele Ridge, 2 December 1917 : the forgotten last act of the Third Battle of Ypres / Michael LoCicero.

Author

LoCicero, Michael.

Publication

Solihull, West Midlands, England : Helion, 2014.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xxxvi, 517 p., xvi p. of plates : ill. (some col.), maps (some col.); 25 cm.

Summary

The Third Battle of Ypres was officially terminated by Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig with the opening of the Battle of Cambrai on 20 November 1917. Nevertheless, a comparatively unknown set-piece attack the only large-scale night operation carried out on the Flanders front during the campaign was launched twelve days later on 2 December. This volume is a necessary corrective to previously published campaign narratives of what has become popularly known as Passchendaele . It examines the course of events from the mid-November decision to sanction further offensive activity in the vicinity of Passchendaele village to the barren operational outcome that forced British GHQ to halt the attack within ten hours of Zero. A litany of unfortunate decisions and circumstances contributed to the profitless result. At the tactical level, a novel hybrid set-piece attack scheme was undermined by a fatal combination of snow-covered terrain and bright moonlight. At the operational level, the highly unsatisfactory local situation in the immediate aftermath of Third Ypres post-strategic phase (26 October-10 November) appeared to offer no other alternative to attacking from the confines of an extremely vulnerable salient. Perhaps the most tragic aspect of the affair occurred at the political and strategic level, where Haig's earnest advocacy for resumption of the Flanders offensive in spring 1918 was maintained despite obvious signs that the initiative had now passed to the enemy and the crisis of the war was fast approaching. A Moonlight Massacre provides an important contribution and reinterpretation of the discussion surrounding Passchendaele, based firmly on an extensive array of sources, many unpublished, and supported by illustrations and maps.

Series Statement

Wolverhampton military studies ; No. 5

Uniform Title

Wolverhampton military studies ; no. 5.

Subject

• 1917
• Belgium > Ieper
• Ieper (Belgium) > History, Military
• Ypres, 3rd Battle of (Ieper, Belgium : 1917)
• Ypres, 3rd Battle of, Ieper, Belgium, 1917

Genre/Form

Military history

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

1.Antecedents -- 2.Divisional Instructions & Orders -- 3.A Moonlight Massacre -- 4.Dawn and Denouement -- 5.Counterblow & Aftermath -- 6.Conclusion -- Appendices -- I.Second Army Infantry Orders of Battle: II Corps & VIII Corps: November/December 1917 -- II.Infantry Orders of Battle: 25th Division & 38th Division -- III.Second Army Order No. 14 -- IV.VIII Corps Orders No. 52 & No. 54 -- V.II Corps Operation Orders No. 167 & No. 168 -- VI.8th Division Instructions No. 1 -- VII.32nd Division Instructions No. 1: Outline Plan of Operations -- VIII.32nd Division Instructions No. 11: Special Instructions to GOC Brigade in Divisional Support [14th Infantry Brigade] and GOC Brigade in Divisional Reserve (96th Infantry Brigade) -- IX.100th Brigade Order No. 293 -- X.97 Brigade Operation Order No. 181 -- XI.97 Brigade Operation Order No. 182 -- XII.97 Inf. Bde. Operation Order No. 183 -- XIII.Battalion Commanders' Response to 25 Brigade Questionnaire G 1/79 -- XIV.GHQ Instructions for the Defence of the Flesquieres and Passchendaele Salients -- XV.Lieutenant-General Aylmer Hunter-Weston's Confidential Correspondence -- XVI.Night Operation on the Passchendaele Ridge: The German Experience from Published Regimental Accounts -- XVII.Casualties: KIA & DOW (30 November -- 10 December 1917) -- XVIII.German Interrogation Report, 8 December 1917 -- XIX.Lieutenant-Colonel T.E Tweed War Office Correspondence -- XX.Official History Correspondence: General Cameron Shute -- XXI.How Untrained were the Troops in Late 1917?

ISBN

• 190998292X
• 9781909982925

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library