Messines Model featured on Inside Out

Last night 21st October 2013, Inside Out West Midlands featured our work on the Cannock Chase Model of Messines. If you missed it you can catch it on iPlayer until next Monday. Inside Out on iPlayer

A Busy Day

Sunday was a very busy day at the Messines Model with a lot of visitors from near and far, quite a few also had personal connections to Brocton Camp or the New Zealand Rifle Brigade and it was great to hear their stories as we worked. For part of the day we also had musical accompaniment from Robert Owen, who played tunes from the Great War and New Zealand. In the afternoon we had an aerial visit from Peter Martin who kindly agreed to take some air photos for us. We were also visited by a birthday party group of youngsters who enjoyed Martin's explaination of the Battle of Messines and the model.

Progress on the excavation is going well, with some key points in the geography of the battle being revealed.

 

This part of the model shows the trenches at what is now the New Zealand Memorial.

Charlie keeping watch.

7th June 1917 - The Battle Begins

At 3.10am on the 7th of June 1917, nineteen of the huge mines planted beneath Messines Ridge were detonated. The huge explosions signaled the start of the attack and along the ten mile front, Allied soldiers who had moved into position during the night, got to their feet and advanced behind the creeping barrage of their artillery. Unlike many other battles, the first wave of troops did not climb out of the trenches in the classic "over the top", the effect of the shock wave of the explosions was expected to cause damage to the trenches, as the front lines were so close together. Rather than wait in the trenches, the men waited lying flat on the ground close to the trenches.

The advance to the front lines during the night did not go completely as planned. The enemy were well aware of the impending attack and in most cases of the tunneling work to lay the mines. In the Australian sector, the men of the 33rd Battalion made their way through the tracks of Plugstreet Wood and were subjected to bombardment of German gas shells, which resulted in a number of casualties, including some dead, who now lie side by side in Toronto Avenue Cemetery within the wood.

Over the months leading up to the battle, the German's had dug their own tunnels in an attempt to prevent the Allies from laying the mines. In the New Zealand sector, the mine at Petite Douve Farm was discovered by the enemy and the river diverted to flood the underground workings and render the explosives useless. At the northern end of the salient, the hand to hand fighting in the vast tunnel network beneath Hill 60 is well documented. At the southern end, the team from No Man's Land, have been undertaking archaeological investigations in the area attacked by the Australian 3rd Division and in 2011 uncovered the entrance shaft to a German counter tunnel.

 Members of No Man's Land excavating a German tunnel shaft.

For the troops of the British Second Army, the blowing of the mines was an awesome sight, for the enemy just a few hundred yards away, it was terrifying. Reports tell of the once stoical men of the German Imperial Army so badly shaken that they were reduced to tears, disorientated and deafened.

However not all had been disabled by the blasts. The geology of the land restricted the placement of the mines and the fortified towns of Messines and Wytschaete escaped the destruction from underground, the mines being placed on the German front line down slope of the towns. Here the New Zealanders and Irish men were engaged in fierce fighting to secure the ruined houses and their fortified cellars.

Twin craters from the mines near to Wytschaete

Due to the loss of the mine at Petite Douve, the New Zealander Division only had one mine in their sector, at Ontario Farm close to the Wulverghem to Messines Road. Here the soil is very sandy and the explosion had very different effects, the shockwave causing the enemy fortifications to sink due to liquefaction, instead of a distinct crater, the sand settled back and the men reported the site of  the explosion bubbled like porridge for many days as trapped gases found their way to the surface. 

Why Messines?

Messines is the smallest town in Belgium, situated on a small ridge in the rolling landscape, not far from the border with France. Today it is a quiet place, the red brick houses, rebuilt on the foundations of those destroyed during the Great War, at first glance appear to be more than 90 odd years old. Only the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery on the eastern edge, the Irish tower and New Zealand Memorial on the southern edge, the multitude of flags international fluttering outside the Peace Village and the musical chime of the Peace Bells marking the passing of time from the church tower, provide any indication of events almost a century ago.

 The New Zealand Memorial at Messines.

About ten miles to the north is the city of Ypres, famous during the Great War for remaining in allied hands, the fiercely defended symbol of defiance against the invading army. A few miles to the south is Armentières, also in Allied hands, between the two the front lines sweep in a wide curve with the German Imperial Army holding the ridge and the towns of Messines and Wytschaete with their excellent views over the surrounding countryside. 

This was the situation from October 1914 onwards. The Allies had halted the advance, but were unable to push the enemy back. Both sides dug in, fortifying the lines, using farm houses and town houses as shelter from the shelling and defensive points against infantry attack . In the towns on the ridge the German's had the advantage of the cellars beneath the houses and in Messines the large cellars beneath the Institution Royale were ideal.

Despite appearances, the Allies did not just hold the line for the next three years, plans were afoot to break the enemy's hold on Flanders, and Messines was central to that plan.