Reputed for their courage, the 16th (Irish) and 36th (Ulster) were transferred to General Gough's 5th Army as Storm Troopers in June 1917. Constant rain turned the Passchendaele battlefields to mud and conditions were appalling. Shelling and gas attacks were continuous.

The 16th (Irish) and 36th (Ulster) had been at the front for a considerable time - the Ulstermen were there for thirteen days, before being sent over the top on August 16th and were only at half strength going into battle. Already exhausted, the 48th and 49th Irish Brigades led the assault, the 47th in reserve. The 7th Royal Irish Rifles and the 9th Dublins were first into battle, with the 2nd Dublins supporting. Machine guns laid waste to the 48th Brigade: of the 2nd Dublin's B Company, two officers and three others survived.

Of the 2nd Dublins' C Company supporting the 9th Dublins, all but two officers and ten men, were killed or wounded. The 9th Royal Dublin Fusiliers ceased to exist.

The Third Battle of Ypres, or Passchendaele, cost the 36th and 16th Divisions 7,800 casualties. General Gough reported to Haig, who dismissively noted that,

'The men are Irish and apparently did not like the enemy's shelling.'

As November 1917 ended, the 16th (Irish) again had some success in a diversionary assault for the Cambrai offensive. The costly territory won over four months, was lost in just three days in the German's Spring Offensive of 1918.

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