A century ago today was the mid-point of the third British Ypres offensive on the western front. It was not then popularised as the Battle of Passchendaele, because the taking of that pulverised former village (by Canadian soldiers) was more than six weeks away.

Ordered by King George V’s friend and working-class enemy commander-in-chief Sir Douglas Haig but carried out — with vast casualties — by his troops, the campaign began on July 31 (after 10 days of artillery bombardment) and was concluded on November 10, without any confession of guilt for another bloody failure.

Haig had believed that the German armies were close to breaking point, that attacks aimed at extending the Ypres bulge at the front would pierce the German lines, and enable the British armies to swing northwards and on to the Belgian coast.