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Ploegsteert Memorial
- 3. The Battle of Messines • 9 mile front between Ypres and Armentieres. • German hands since 1914. • Capture of the high ground allowed the Allies to drive the enemy back.
- 4. The Battle of Messines Continued • 1917 battle, the first substantial Allied victory of WW1. • All Commonwealth forces: Anzacs, Canadians, Irish and British divisions. Captured German trenches on the Messines Ridge
- 5. Battle Strategy • The main attack involved explosions under enemy trenches. • 7th June 1917. • Allied forces rushed forward, capturing German trenches. The Battle of Messines. Charles Wheeler (1923). Men of the 3rd Australian Div
- 6. Largest conventional man made explosion in history • Mines laid by the Royal Engineers • 450 tons of explosive placed 75ft below German trenches. • At 3am the largest conventional, man made, explosion in history, echoed across Europe.
- 7. The Memorial • South of the area of Ypres, is Ploegsteert, known to Allied Forces as "Plugstreet". • Memorial for the missing soldiers of WWI, who fought in the immediate area of Ypres.
- 8. Ploegsteert Memorial Any Questions?
- 9. Ploegsteert Memorial • Memorial for the missing soldiers of WW1, who fought in the immediate area of Ypres. • Battle of Messines 1917 • Largest conventional man-made explosion ever.
Editor's Notes
- The Battle of Messines was fought over a nine mile front situated between Ypres and Armentieres. Since 1914, Messines Ridge had been in the hands of the Germans since 1914 and in some areas of the front line trenches had hardly moved. The front line formed a curve around Ypres city, held by the allies in at the northern edge of the sector, with the high ground of the ridge being held by the Germans. The planned assault was aimed to the drive the enemy from the high ground, thus straightening the front line (the dotted line on the map marks the battle objective) which would place the advantage of the high ground in Allied hands, making ready for the next planned battle of Passchendale, just to the north, in the autumn of 1917. Passchendale Ridge is situated to the east of Ypres and was a major strategic aim. The capture of this high ground would result in the Allies in a positions to drive the enemy back across the flat expanse of Flanders. If the capturing of Messines Ridge wasn’t achieved, the attack would be foolhardy. If the curve of Messines Ridge was still in German hands, pushing the front line eastwards of Ypres, would transform the bulge in the front line into a loop and the door would have been left open for the enemy to attack from the north and south, cutting off the Allied troops and capturing the city of Ypres, which had stood as a symbol of defiance from the first days of the war.
- The 1917 battle was the first substantial Allied victory of the First World War, the attack brought together all the commonwealth forces, The attack brought together all the Commonwealth forces; Anzacs, Canadians, Irish and many of the British divisions, famous for actions on The Somme the previous summer. What was significant about this battle was that it employed the skills of all branches of the land forces to break through the enemy line with brutal force.
- The main attack involving 450 tons of explosive placed 75 feet below enemy lines at intervals along the front, was launched on the 7th of June 1917. At 3am this explosion, the largest conventional man made explosion in history, echoed across Europe. Earth erupted skywards in nineteen locations along the nine mile front stretching from the well known hill 60, close to the French border. The commonwealth forces then rushed forward, capturing trenches, which had been held by their now stunned enemy. the Allies.
- A village to the very south of the area associated with Ypres, a small village and nearby wood, is Ploegsteert, but to those who served here during the Great War it became known as "Plugstreet". It is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) memorial for the missing soldiers of World War I who fought in the immediate area of the Ypres Salient on the Western Front. The grounds were assigned to the United Kingdom in perpetuity by King Albert I of Belgium in recognition of the sacrifices made by the British Empire in the defence and liberation of Belgium during the war. The memorial lists the 11,367 missing Commonwealth soldiers from battles in the area. The memorial stands in the middle of Berks Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery Extension, which was founded by Commonwealth troops in June 1916 as an extension to Hyde Park Corner (Royal Berks) Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery which lies across the road.