The Ypres salient 'was the favourite battle ground of the devil and his
minions' wrote one returned serviceman after the First World War. Few
who fought in the infamous third battle of Ypres - now known as
Passchendaele - in 1917 would have disagreed. All five of the Australian
Imperial Force's (AIF) infantry divisions were engaged in this bloody
campaign. Despite early successes, their attacks floundered in front of
the devastated Belgian village of Passchendaele when autumn rains
drenched the battlefield, turning it into an immense quagmire. By the
time the AIF withdrew, it had suffered over 38,000 casualties, including
10,000 dead, far outweighing Australian losses in any other Great War
campaign. Given the extent of their sacrifices, the Australians'
exploits in Belgium ought to be well known in a nation that has
fervently commemorated its involvement in the First World War. Yet,
Passchendaele occupies an ambiguous place in Australian collective
memory. Tracing the commemorative work of official and non-official
agents--including that of C.E.W. Bean; the Australian War Memorial;
returned soldiers; battlefield pilgrims; and, more recently, the
Department of Veterans' Affairs, working in collaboration with Belgian
locals-- The Battlefield of Imperishable Memory explores why these
battles became, and still remain, peripheral to the dominant First World
War narrative in Australia: the Anzac legend.
