In the summer of 1917, the Allied offensive shifted back north to the Ypres Salient. What began as a strategic push quickly deteriorated into one of the most infamous nightmares of military history. The heaviest rainfall in decades turned the artillery-pulverized battlefield into a bottomless, liquefied wasteland of glutinous mud.
The Monmouthshires were tasked with the impossible job of laying duckboards and maintaining supply tracks under relentless German shelling. Simply surviving the environment required superhuman effort, with every yard of progress paid for in blood and sheer exhaustion. ► Read more...
The tragedy of Passchendaele struck deeply into the heart of Oakdale, as families received news that their sons had been swallowed by the Flanders mud. In these apocalyptic conditions, local men including Private Gilbert Phillips, Private Thomas G. Coombs, and Private David J. Rees gave their lives.