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World War One’s 1917 Battle of Passchendaele was in many ways symbolic of the utter devastation and waste of the years between 1914 and 1918. How did the town of Passchendaele in Belgium fair after the battle?

Answer: Aerial photographs taken after the battle showed that none of the town’s farms, houses or commercial buildings remained. Even the majority of the roads were pulverised, becoming at one with the monotonous, featureless , moon-like landscape. All that was left were the vague outlines of one or two more prominent roads and the gutted remains of the town centre.

Source: History’s Greatest Headlines by James Inglis and Barry Stone

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