As annually, on occasion of the anniversary of the 3rd Battle of Ypres, the Tank Memorial Ypres Salient Friends commemorated and paid tribute to the fallen tank crew members of the Great War and the only one of the 2nd World War at the Tank Memorial in Poelkapelle.

This was followed at Hooge Crater Cemetery with a tribute to six soldiers who were especially remembered at their graves during the afternoon of the 1st August and to two soldiers of the Tank Corps who served with‘A’ Battalion, No. 2 Company, 6 Section, who died on 31 July 1917: 2nd Lieutenant Walter Lennox Blackwood, Royal Scots Fusiliers attached Tank Corps and  Gunner James Edward Leader. Fear Naught. 

The Third Battle of Ypres, The Opening Battle, Battle of Pilckem Ridge.  

Following on from the successful British attack on the Messines Ridge on 7 June by the Second Army, the next phase in the grand plan was the main attack towards the Passchendaele Ridge and the clearing of the Gheluvelt Plateau, behind which were the massed guns of the German artillery.

The British Fifth Army, supported by three brigades of the Tank Corps, six battalions of 172 tanks; together with the French First Army, on the left flank, attacked the German Fourth Army with 11 divisions along a 16km (10 mile) front, supported by some 3,000 guns, firing almost 4 million shells, with the resultant shell craters and damage to the already fragile drainage system. The weather in the intervening weeks between Messines had been fairly dry but on 29 July the weather broke, making the churned surface slippery, and from then on to 4 August, 75mm or 3 inches of rain fell, turning the ground into a morass of mud, broken trees, barbed wire and water-filled craters. The most difficult part of the front to be attacked was on the right flank - the Gheluvelt Plateau - this was to be attacked by three infantry divisions of the II Corps, with 1,000 guns supported by ‘A’ and ‘B’ Battalions of 2nd Tank Brigade.

The whole attack proceeded well on the left and in the centre but German counter-attacks forced the centre back during the afternoon, when the weather changed and heavy rain fell again. On the right on the Gheluvelt Plateau the infantry and tanks made little headway against the strong  German defences. By the end of the battle, Tank Corps casualties amounted to 67 of the 952 crewmen committed. As predicted by the commander of the Tank Corps, Brigadier-General Hugh Elles, the preliminary bombardment created an almost impossible task for the tanks over the churned, cratered and slippery ground, with only 16 tanks rallying at the end of the day from a total of 119 committed to battle. The campaign would continue until Passchendaele was captured on 10 November with the last tanks committed to the attack a month earlier.









opening address was given by René Declercq our Master of Ceremonies





The RTR Wreath was laid by the Chairman of the TMYS friends





The Friends of the TMYS Wreath was laid by Albert Denturck
Chairman Royal Federation of Military who served Abroad (Ypres Branch).







The Exhortation was recited by the Chairman of the Friends of the TMYS, Col. Clooney.













The Kohima Epitaph was recited by Mr. Jef Verschoore, Hon Deputy Mayor of Ypres



A photo shoot was then arranged with Regimental and Corps Music sounding.



(the two last photos: made by Bjorn)



At Hoge Crater Cemetery (2 photos by Bjorn) tribute to was paid to 2nd Lieutenant Walter Lennox Blackwood, Royal Scots Fusiliers attached Tank Corps and Gunner James Edward Leader. The TMYS Standard and the Tank Corps Battle Flag were draped over their headstones.



pagina aangemaakt door / page made by Frank Mahieu