British tunnelling under the Messines Ridge had commenced in 1915, and on 7th June 1917, 19 of the 22 mines laid, were detonated under the German front line.
The devastation to the German lines of resistance was immense and within the morning, the attacking British divisions had captured all of their objectives with relatively few casualties. This attack was the prelude to the 3rd Battle of Ypres, or Passchendaele, as it is better known which opened on 31st July 1917.
Only Sir Douglas Haig’s over ambitious decision to push his infantry forward to the Oostaverne line with sufficient artillery support, took the edge off this great British success.
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