Messines, morning of the offensive

Following the success of the Battle of Messines (7–14 June 1917), where British forces captured a strongly held strategic position on the Western Front, preparations were begun for an even larger offensive. The aim of this offensive was to displace German forces from the surrounding ridges and capture the town of Passchendaele near the Belgian coast. Although all five divisions of the AIF would eventually play a role in the offensive, the Australian 3rd Division was the only division to play an active part on the morning of the offensive. Conceived as a 'feint' designed to mislead the German command into believing that a large attack force was approaching from the South. Soldiers from the 42nd and 43rd Battalions, fighting alongside other divisions within the II ANZAC Corps, attacked and captured German outposts on Warneton Ridge at the same time that the main British force was launching the much larger attack on Pilckem Ridge.