Battle of Messines (10–11 April) ... Total casualties since 21 March were British: c. 240,000, French: 92,004 and German: 348,300. 10,000 casualties were sustained in the first two weeks. The Battle of Messines was fought on June 7th ~ 14th, 1917. It took place at the western front near the village of Messines in Flanders, Belgium. German forces break through the Allied Front to Éstaires, causing very high casualties to two Portuguese divisions. This order illustrated… These were from Hill 60 in the North to Ploegsteert in the South. 2 talking about this. Battle of Messines – planning map (cropped). Two mines remained undetonated on 7 June, with the details of their exact location lost after the war, much to the discomfort of local townspeople. The Battle of Messines was remarkably successful with, unusually for the First World War, the attackers taking fewer casualties than the defenders (24,562 British as opposed to 26,087 Germans). Battle of Éstaires. Even though the Battle of the Messines is regarded as officially beginning on June 7, 1917, and ceasing on June 14, 1917, there was still “action” involving Australian and New Zealand troops just prior to these dates. At Any Price The Anzacs in the Battle of Messines 1917 By Craig Deayton Published by Big Sky Publishing RRP $34.99 in hardcover • ISBN 9781925520514 “The enemy must not get the Messines Ridge at any price” was the order sent to the German troops stationed on the high ground south of Ypres. Date from: 07 June 1917: Date to: 14 June 1917: Places: Messines; Wytschaete; Category: Battle: Conflict: First World War, 1914-1918: Description. The Messines battle, which greatly boosted morale among the Allies, signified the first time on the Western Front that defensive casualties actually exceeded attacking losses: 25,000 against 17,000. In 1978 Middlebrook wrote of 160,000 British casualties, 22,000 killed, 75,000 prisoners and 63,000 wounded. Regarded a triumph, Messines also marked the first major battle for the 3rd Australian Division under Major General John Monash. Hundreds of casualties resulted, many from shell-fire. German forces attack north of Armentieres and capture Messines. Or did the British attack positions from which the Germans had already withdrawn? 10-Apr-1918— 11-Apr-1918. suffered 6,800 casualties and the New Zealand Division lost 5,000 men at Messines, which at the time was considered the greatest Allied victory of the war. Men of the 13th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, in trenches just prior to their attack towards Veldhoek during the Battle of Menin Road, 20 September 1917. Casualties of the Battle of Messines: Australia and New Zealand only . Did the nineteen British mines detonated at the start of the Battle of Messines really result in the death of 10,000 German soldiers? New Zealanders played a prominent role in the successful action at Messines but paid a heavy price: 3700 casualties, including 700 dead. Battle of Messines, 1917 (Geographx) ... By the time the New Zealand Division was relieved on 9 June, it had suffered 3700 casualties, including 700 dead. The battle for the Messines Ridge was an attempt by the Allies to capture land to the southeast of Ypres to gain control of the higher land in the Ypres Salient. Such success, however, did lead to a level of overconfidence in the British High Command as they prepared for the Third Battle of Ypres. What counted as a lull in the Third Battle of Ypres would seem like devastating carnage by the standards of most wars. Of the two mines which remained undetonated on 7 June, the details of their precise location were mislaid by the British following the war, to the discomfort of local townspeople. Although not part of Third Ypres the preliminary action in the south, known as the Battle of Messines, was stated as being the most successful campaign of the war. (Laffin 1992, 33) Two soldiers from Stanthorpe were killed in action on 10 June at the Battle of Messines. Battle of Messines; Part of the Race to the Sea on the Western Front (First World War) Messines area, 1914: Date: 12 October – 2 November 1914: Location: Messines. The battle was viewed as an operational and tactical success, with the victory boosting the morale of the British forces before embarking upon their next major attack - the Battle of Passchendaele. Casualties and losses; Total: 20,000 Australian: 6,423 New Zealand: 1,853: 35,000: 1–10 October, including 5,000 prisoners on 4 October: The Battle of Broodseinde was fought on 4 October 1917 near Ypres in Belgium, at the east end of the Gheluvelt plateau, by the British Second and Fifth armies against the German 4th Army. 677 likes. Battle of Messines 1918. Messines was an important success for the British Army leading up to the beginning of the Third Battle of Ypres several weeks later. 1918, air raid, Bailleul, Battle of Messines, Battle of the Lys, civilian casualties, France, Germany, Great Britain, Lawe, Messines, Neuve Eglise, St Venant, Zeppelin In the north Germans gain ground towards Bailleul, enter Neuve Eglise, and again fight their way into Messines; in the centre they force the passage of the Lawe, threatening St. Venant. 676 likes. In the aftermath of the first battle of the Marne, it was decided to move the BEF back north to Flanders, to shorten its supply lines back to the channel ports. The battle of Messines fought on 7 June 1917 was the first large-scale action involving Australian troops in Belgium and it also marked the entry of the 3rd Division into a major battle. The Battle of Messines (7–14 June 1917) was an offensive conducted by the British Second Army, under the command of General Sir Herbert Plumer, on the Western Front near the village of Messines in Belgian West Flanders during the First World War. These contrasting assertions have both been made in respect of the week-long Battle of Messines which opened on 7th… The ‘Diggers’ spent the winter and spring of 1917 here, periodically raiding German positions and repelling raids in return. The idea of such an offensive dated from July 1915. In 1940, C. R. M. F. Cruttwell recorded 300,000 British casualties and 400,000 German. Battle of Messines. Messines Ridge Military Cemetery . … The battle of Messines, 12 October-2 November 1914, was part of the Race to the Sea, the series of battles that decided the line of the western front. The Battle of Messines commenced on 7th June 1917, but had been planned for some time. Two of his men, Private John Carroll and Captain Robert Grieve, won the Victoria Cross during the fighting. This battle was an offensive conducted primarily by the British Second Army, led by General Sir Herbert Plumer, against the German XIX corps also known as the Second Royal Saxon corps, which was led by Crown Prince Rupprecht and Sixt von Armin. The Battle of Messines and Mine Warfare. Commemorating the Centenary of the Battle of Messines, 7 June 1917 From September 1915, 24 mines tunnels were started. Casualties 24,562 losses 35,000 losses The Battle of Messines was fought from 7 to 14 June 1917 on the Western Front of World War I when the British launched an offensive against the Imperial German Army amid the Nivelle Offensive. 09-Apr-1918— 11-Apr-1918. Successful British assault on the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge, a strongly held strategic position on the Western Front, which had been held by the Germans since late 1914. It records that the Division suffered around 3,700 casualties, taking 438 prisoners and that Messines is since 1975 associated with the New Zealand town of Featherston, where soldiers trained for the Great War. Passchendaele is the name given to a series of 11 consecutive battles fought in the Ypres Salient in Belgium between 31 July and 30 November. The British situation is desperate. Messines100, Sunshine Coast, Queensland. The Messines battle, which greatly boosted morale among the Allies, signified the first time on the Western Front that defensive casualties actually exceeded attacking losses: 25,000 against 17,000. The Germans eventually had casualties of 25,000 men and the victory at Messines boosted Allied morale but it became relatively forgotten as it immediately preceded the brutal Battle of Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres) the following month. In the early spring of 1916, ... casualties numbered 17,000. The British planned to advance on a 17,000-yard (16,000 m) front, from St. Yves to Mt. The Battle of Messines The New Zealand Division was sent to hold 1½ kilometres of frontline below Messines in November 1916, relieving the Canadian forces. The Battle of Messines was a prelude to the much larger Third Battle of Ypres, better known as Passchendaele. Sorrel east to the Oosttaverne line, a maximum depth of 3,000 yards (2,700 m). Various casualty figures have been published for the Third Battle of Ypres, sometimes with acrimony; the highest estimates for British and German casualties appear to be discredited but the British claim to have taken 24,065 prisoners has not been disputed. Leslie Andrew won a VC at La Basseville (ATL, 1/2-031680-F) The Third Battle of Ypres, as General Haig’s offensive was called, began on 31 July 1917. With the capture of the Messines ridge in June 1917, General Douglas Haig, Commander in Chief of the British forces, had the Allied front line set for the major offensive planned for the summer of 1917. Top. Messines100, Sunshine Coast, Queensland. Third Battle of Ypres. The Battle of Messines was fought in October 1914 between the armies of the German and British empires, as part of the Race to the Sea, between the river Douve and the Comines–Ypres canal. Despite the success, the battle cost 6,000 Australian casualties. The Battle of Messines was fought on June 7 th 1917. Middlebrook estimated French casualties as 80,000 and German as c. 250,000 with 50–60,000 lightly wounded. Commemorating the Centenary of the Battle of Messines, 7 June 1917 The A.I.F. Three intermediate objectives to be reached a day at a time became halts, where fresh infantry would leap-frog through to gain the ridge in one day. 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