Passchendaele The Sacrificial Ground Author:Nigel Steel, Peter Hart On July 31, 1917 British troops began their attempt to break out of the Ypres Salient. The ensuing battle encompassed some of the most wretched conditions endured by any of the belligerent armies, and came to epitomize the futility and pathos of the whole of the First World War. — In this new account, Steel and Hart intimately bind into their his... more »tory the graphic and intensely moving words of the soldiers themselves.? Rising above the din of battle, they give voice to the vanished legions of men who fought and died at Passchendaele.« less