Capture of Wurst Farm 1917
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 20 September 1917 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1917 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | World War I era (1914–1918) | derived from year |
| Location | Belgium | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Third Battle of Ypres | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 50.9167, 2.9167 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Capture of Wurst Farm was an attack by the British 58th (2/1st London) Division against the German 36th Division on 20 September 1917, near Ypres, Belgium, during the Battle of the Menin Road Ridge, part of the Third Battle of Ypres (Battle of Passchendaele). Wurst Farm was at the lower end of Gravenstafel Ridge and several British attacks in the area since 31 July had been repulsed by the Germans. The British began a desultory bombardment on 31 August and the shelling became intense from 13 September, to "soften" the German defences, except in the area of the Fifth Army (General Hubert Gough), where the slow bombardment continued until 24 hours before zero hour, when a surprise hurricane bombardment was to be fired.
XVIII Corps (Lieutenant-General Ivor Maxse) of the Fifth Army was to advance onto the Gravenstafel Spur, an area held by the German 36th Division since 8 September. The 58th (2/1st London) Division (Major-General Hew Fanshawe) was to conduct the attack, between the 55th (West Lancashire) Division on the right flank and the 51st (Highland) Division on the left. The 58th (2/1st London) Division objective was 1,000 yd (910 m) ahead, among German strongpoints on Wurst Farm Ridge, at the west end of Gravenstafel Spur.
The right-hand brigade made a decoy attack and the left-hand brigade attacked from the left flank, concealed by mist.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Capture of Wurst Farm (revision 1380154914), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Pilckem Ridge 1917 · 0 km
- Battle of Langemarck (1917) 1917 · 0 km
- Action of 22 August 1917 1917 · 0 km
- Second Battle of Ypres 1915 · 3 km
- Battle of Kitcheners' Wood 1915 · 3 km
- Battle of Poelcappelle 1917 · 3 km
Other battles of the Third Battle of Ypres
- Action of 22 August 1917 1917
- Action on the Polderhoek Spur 1917
- Battle of Broodseinde 1917
- Battle of Langemarck (1917) 1917
- Battle of Pilckem Ridge 1917
- Battle of Poelcappelle 1917
- Battle of Polygon Wood 1917
- Battle of the Menin Road Ridge 1917
- Capture of Westhoek 1917
- First Battle of Passchendaele 1917
All 13 battles of the Third Battle of Ypres →
Browse more: battles in Belgium · Europe · World War I era battles