The model depicts a company assault by the Rifle Brigade that took place in Sept 1917, in an area north east of the destroyed village of Langermarck, to capture a strongly defended area of German trenches situated on high ground and known on British Maps as the Eagle trench system.

Between July 31st and the 10th November 1917, the British and Commonwealth troops attacked in an area to the east of the Belgian town of Ypres bordered on 3 sides by the German front lines. This bulge commonly known as the Ypres salient, became the scene of terrible fighting where exceptionally wet weather and heavy shelling created extremely muddy conditions which hindered the Allied advance. The compact nature of the battlefield made all combatants continually under the range of artillery fire which destroyed the natural drainage system and reduced the area to muddy bog. Consequently advances were made in yards and fresh troops were worn out or destroyed within a matter of days.

A general history of the battle of Passchendael can be found here

While focusing on a particular area of the battlefield, the diorama is intended to provide a composite picture of the fighting that took place over the whole area of the salient, illustrating the difficulties the allied troops faced in trying to advance in such conditions and the nature of the German defences they faced.

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The model is made up of eight 2 feet square tiles. Each tile tells it's own story with an accompanying script describing the action including resupply, evacuation of wounded, artillery/tank support and platoon assaults.

Information on each tile can be found here

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You can read how the model was constructed here

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