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The
gentle escarpment that runs south from Ypres through St Eloi,
Wytschate and Messines was the scene of desperate fighting
in late 1914 (when the German Army pushed the British off
the heights) and of Plumer's "magnum opus" on 7th
June 1917, when 19 great mines blew the defenders off the
ridge, allowing for virtually flawless recapture. The mine
craters are there still, marking the old German front line.
This one, water-filled as they all are in this area, is at
a position called Peckham, a little way down the slope in
front of Wytschaete. This view looks North. |
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The
June 1917 battle was preceded by and included one of the heaviest
concentrations of British artillery fire; millions of shells
fell here - and many remain. |
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The
mine craters still exist. In this area they are now deep
pools. This is Kruisstraat numbers 1 and 4 mines. Tunnellers
of the Royal Engineers had dug a mine 1500 feet - from behind
the British line - to reach this strong point under the enemy
lines. 49500 pounds of explosive, mostly ammonal, buried 57
feet below the surface, blew on 7 June 1917. This
photo kindly supplied by Iain McHendry. |
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The
nearby craters at Petit Bois. Dug and blown by 250 Tunneling
Company RE, the gallery was over 2000 feet long and to a
depth of 70 feet. The larger crater is No 2 Left, which was
made by 24000 pounds of explosive; No 1 Right was deeper and
made by 30000 pounds. This photo
kindly supplied by Iain McHendry. |
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Spanbroekmolen
British Cemetery
Wytschaete
can be seen on the ridge skyline (top left); the German front
line ran in front of it and snaked around a prominent position
that in 1914 was marked by a windmill. The Spanbroekmolen
position was destroyed by a large British mine, allowing
troops to capture it. Between the mine crater and the final
slope up to village is this small battlefield cemetery, tidied
but otherwise as created by troops shortly after the attack.
58 British soldiers lie here, all but one from the 36th (Ulster)
Division. The British advance ran bottom-left to top-right
in terms of orientation to this view. |
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Lone
Tree Cemetery
This
photograph is taken from the lip of the crater blown under
the Spanbroekmolen position. A few yards down the slope from
the crater lip, Lone Tree cemetery lies in a farmyard; it
marks the battlefield burial of 88 men of the Royal Irish
Rifles who were killed by the falling debris from the explosion. |
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The
ground of the Spanbroekmolen crater is now owned by Toc H,
and is called 'The Pool of Peace'. It was the largest crater
blown on 7 June 1917. 91000 pounds of ammonal buried 88 feet
down opened a crater 250 across, and destroyed everything
within a radius of 215 feet. The eenmy strong point on the
small eminence here was utterly devastated. Lone Tree cemetery
is a little way to the bottom right of the photograph. This
photo kindly supplied by Iain McHendry. |
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Wytschaete
village was captured by the 16th
(Irish) Division on 7 June 1917,
attacking alongside the 36th (Ulster) Division. The memorial to
the former Division lies alongside Wytschaete Military Cemetery. |
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On
the summit of the ridge just outside Messines, alongside the
main Ypres-Armentieres road, is this memorial to the
1/14th Battalion, the London Regiment (London Scottish).
Thrown into the desperate defence of the heights in 1914, they
were the first infantry of the Territorial Force to see action. |