Battle of Messines
Encyclopedia : B : BA : BAT : Battle of Messines
The Battle of Messines was launched on June 7 1917 by British General Herbert Plumer's second army, which included the 16th (Irish) Division and the 36th (Ulster) Division, near the villages of Mesen (in French Messines, as it was on most maps at that time) and Wytschaete. The target of the offensive was the Messines Ridge, a natural stronghold southeast of Ypres, a town in the West Flanders province of Belgium. General Plumer had begun plans to take the Messines Ridge a year before, in early 1916. The attack was also a harbinger to the much larger Third Battle of Ypres, known as Passchendaele, which began on July 31 1917.
Over a period beginning more than a year before the attack, the attackers had tunnelled under the German trenches and planted almost 455 tonnes (1,000,000 lb) of ammonal there. A heavy bombardment of the German positions was initiated and then halted. The defenders returned to their positions expecting an assault to follow. The detonation of the explosives all timed for 3:10am, killed approximately 10,000 German soldiers and was said to have been heard as far away as London. In Switzerland the explosions registered as an earthquake. The real attack then followed.
Not all of the explosives went off. Four of the original 21 mines failed to ignite [[Citing sources citation needed]] due to one reason or another. On July 17 1955, a lightning strike set off one of the remaining mines. No one was killed. Several unexploded mines still remain in the area. Several large water-filled craters still mark the original positions of the German trenches.
A New Zealand War Monument and the Island of Ireland Peace Park War Memorial are located on the south side of the Messines village (connect on external link below).
Quotes
"Gentlemen, we may not make history tomorrow, but we shall certainly change the geography."
Remark by General Plumer to his staff the evening before the attack
External links
- [The Battle for Messines Ridge]
- [First World War.com - A more detailed overview of the battle with links to present day pictures of the battlefield]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.