13 October 1917: Skipton POW Dietrich von Laak captured

The British decided to postpone their offensive until the weather improved. The muddy ground conditions were making it impossible to move the heavy artillery forward to positions where they could become effective.

Just one Skipton prisoner was captured. He was 2nd Lieutenant Dietrich von Laak who was in charge of a machine-gun company in the 471st Infantry Regiment. He was born in Hiesfeld in the Rhineland in October 1889.

He married Anne Helene Mölleken in 1922. He died in Hiesfeld in 1949. He had been a teacher.

THE BATTLE OF PASSCHENDAELE, JULY-NOVEMBER 1917 A knocked out British tank half submerged in mud and water near St Julien, 12 October 1917. Copyright: © IWM (Q 6327).