 On 7 June 1917 , the II Anzac Corps — along with two British corps — launched an operation in Flanders to eliminate a salient south of Ypres . The attack commenced with the detonation of a million pounds ( 454 @,@ 545 kg ) of explosives that had been placed underneath the <unk> ridge , destroying the German trenches . The advance was virtually unopposed , and despite strong German counterattacks the next day , it succeeded . Australian casualties during the Battle of <unk> included nearly 6 @,@ 800 men . I Anzac Corps then took part in the Third Battle of Ypres in Belgium as part of the campaign to capture the <unk> Plateau , between September and November 1917 . Individual actions took place at <unk> Road , <unk> Wood , <unk> , <unk> and Passchendaele and over the course of eight weeks fighting the Australians suffered 38 @,@ 000 casualties . 
