History Time, Messines Ridge, Northern france

During World War 1 the war had bogged down to trench warfare. In order to break the lines, the British decided to try Earthquaking. This is done by tunneling from their trenches, 500 feet to under the German trenches. The idea being to blow the lines open by detonating underground explosives.

Tunnels were dug in multiple locations each ending under the German lines, The plan was for the charges to be set off, a major artillery barrage and infantry attack to all go off in succession. Each tunnel end was filled with 447 long tons of Amonal.

What they found was that the Germans had become aware of this action and was creating its own tunnels to thwart the British tunnels.

On the day the charges went off they became the largest explosions in the world up to that time, July 1, 1916.

The explosions were set to go off all at once, all along the ridge-lines. They were detonated creating 19 craters and within the span of that day the British took the trenches and the town beyond. That is where the assault bogged down. The land behind was so torn up by the massive artillery attacks it had turned into a giant mud bog severely hampering any advance. 

It is estimated that 10,000 Germans simply vaporized in a mass of flame and debris that the mines created.

Today the area is private property, but often open to the public, and has become a memorial. A short distance away is the cemetery of the fallen from the entire battle at Messines.

The Lochnager Crater

Messines

One of the tunnel mines never went off, under a farm along the ridge sits a tunnel which to this day ( almost a hundred years later), contains the 447 long tons of Amonal explosives. 

There is also an excavation going on of the German trenches where they have found concrete bunkers, rifle stands, original trench floor boards, ammunition, grenades, and phosgene gas canisters, all of which are still live. Very old, and very dangerous.