I went looking for a picture of it today and got very confused when maps sent me to Australia. There is a rural locale in Australia, named after the battle - Australian soldiers fought in the battle, so that does make sense. What threw me is that the road in the Australian version has a curvature that is very similar to the pictures in the OP:
And yet, this is not the actual Passchendaele. That short circuited my brain for a few seconds this morning, imagining that it had just… never been rebuilt? Wait… part of WWII was fought in Australia? wtf?
Anyway, no. The real deal is in Belgium. It was rebuilt. Here it is (lol):
How weird is that?
I wonder if the name was due to someone recognising the striking similarity of the roads.
something not taught in school, but Iron Maiden taught me of Paschendale
Most battles aren’t taught specifically in school though.
The trenchwar on the Western Front of WW1 is definitely in schools though. And Ypres (Paschendaele is the 3rd battle of Ypres) and the Somme are pretty well-known areas of that front.
Ole Downton Abbey wasn’t joking around. That place got nuked. Thank you for the share and perspective. May we end all war some day.
This is awesome! If you feel like sharing it over at [email protected] i think it would fit right in there!
Bringing a new scale to the term ‘cratered’
