<– Part 158 – July 29, 1917  | Part 159 – August 5, 1917 |  Part 160 – August 12, 1917 –>

Lines at Ypres

German defensive lines

The Allies launched a major offensive at Passchendaele at 3:50am on July 31, the third major battle near Ypres. An artillery barrage began the fighting, with infantry advancing closely behind the advancing bombardment. The Second Army front lines advanced approximately 600 years along a front of 2,500, less than hoped for due to seasonal rains and German counterattacks. The Allied  Fifth Army, however,advanced nearly 3,500 yards in the center of the front and achieved its objectives. French forces also achieved their goals, although intense rains are still slowing the advance. Altogether, 13 Allied divisions lost 33,000 men, while the defending 7 German divisions lost 30,000, with an additional 5,500 taken prisoner. British General Haig has praised the low number of casualties and the success of a 3,000 yard advance. German counterattacks have been halted, but British forces in the center are exposed to heavy enfilading fire.

Details of German lines

On August 1, the Romanian forces at Marasti achieved a large victory the largest offensive advance of the war.

On August 2, a combined British-Portuguese force of 6,000 defeated German defenders at Rumbo, in German East Africa.

The German warship SMS Seeadler, a merchant raider, has wrecked in French Polynesia. Her captain and 5 crewman have sailed for Fiji, while the rest of the crew has been left to scuttle the vessel.

German pillbox diagram in Flanders

SMS Seeadler