When the
3rd Battle of Ypres (or Passchendaele) began on 31st July at Pilckem Ridge the battalion moved out, following the assaulting battalions.
A nother majestic dragon it stands at Pilkem Ridge where the Welsh acquitted themselves well in the Battle of Passchendaele, also known as the
3rd Battle of Ypres.
As a result of the horrendous casualties suffered, and no doubt by the Commander in Chief's unflattering remarks, the 38th (Welsh) Division did not see further action until the
3rd Battle of Ypres, known as the battle of Passchendale, on July 31, 1917.
Private Jimmy Edmonds died as a teenager in 1916 in Northern France on the battlefield and Private Thomas Henry Watts, of the Gloucestershire Regiment, died in the
3rd Battle of Ypres in October, 1917, aged 19.
The 90-year-old document refers to James McPartland, a South Bank man killed during the
3rd Battle of Ypres in 1917.
The
3rd Battle of Ypres had been raging for two months and the ground was full of water-logged shell holes, which had to be negotiated over duckboards.
They provided support at the battle of Mametz Wood on the Somme in July 1916, and at Pilkem Ridge during the
3rd Battle of Ypres in 1917.
The war diary for July 1917 has been lost, but the Brigade is known to have taken part in the Battle of Pilckem Ridge from 31st July - 2nd August, the opening attack of the
3rd Battle of Ypres.