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Battle Of Messines (1917)
The Battle of Messines (7–14 June 1917) was an attack by the British Second Army (General Sir Herbert Plumer), on the Western Front, near the village of Messines (now Mesen) in West Flanders, Belgium, during the First World War. The Nivelle Offensive in April and May had failed to achieve its more grandiose aims, had led to the demoralisation of French troops and confounded the Anglo-French strategy for 1917. The attack forced the Germans to move reserves to Flanders from the Arras and Aisne fronts, relieving pressure on the French. The British tactical objective was to capture the German defences on the ridge, which ran from Ploegsteert Wood (Plugstreet to the British) in the south, through Messines and Wytschaete to Mt Sorrel, depriving the German 4th Army of the high ground. The ridge gave commanding views of the British defences and back areas of Ypres to the north, from which the British intended to conduct the Northern Operation, an advance to Passchendaele Ridge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Front (World War I)
The Western Front was one of the main theatres of war during the First World War. Following the outbreak of war in August 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The German advance was halted with the Battle of the Marne. Following the Race to the Sea, both sides dug in along a meandering line of fortified trenches, stretching from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier with France, which changed little except during early 1917 and in 1918. Between 1915 and 1917 there were several offensives along this front. The attacks employed massive artillery bombardments and massed infantry advances. Entrenchments, machine gun emplacements, barbed wire and artillery repeatedly inflicted severe casualties during attacks and counter-attacks and no significant advances were made. Among the most costly of these offensives were the Battle of Verdun, in 1916, with a combined 700 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ypres
Ypres ( , ; nl, Ieper ; vls, Yper; german: Ypern ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres/Ieper and the villages of Boezinge, Brielen, Dikkebus, Elverdinge, Hollebeke, Sint-Jan, Vlamertinge, Voormezele, Zillebeke, and Zuidschote. Together, they are home to about 34,900 inhabitants. During the First World War, Ypres (or "Wipers" as it was commonly known by the British troops) was the centre of the Battles of Ypres between German and Allied forces. History Origins before First World War Ypres is an ancient town, known to have been raided by the Romans in the first century BC. It is first mentioned by name in 1066 and is probably named after the river Ieperlee on the banks of which it was founded. During the Middle Ages, Ypres was a prosperous Flemish city with a population of 40,000 in 1200 A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun (french: Bataille de Verdun ; german: Schlacht um Verdun ) was fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916 on the Western Front in France. The battle was the longest of the First World War and took place on the hills north of Verdun-sur-Meuse. The German 5th Army attacked the defences of the Fortified Region of Verdun (RFV, ) and those of the French Second Army on the right (east) bank of the Meuse. Using the experience of the Second Battle of Champagne in 1915, the Germans planned to capture the Meuse Heights, an excellent defensive position, with good observation for artillery-fire on Verdun. The Germans hoped that the French would commit their strategic reserve to recapture the position and suffer catastrophic losses at little cost to the German infantry. Poor weather delayed the beginning of the attack until 21 February but the Germans captured Fort Douaumont in the first three days. The advance then slowed for several days, despite inflicting many F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Messines Area 1917
Messines may refer to: * Mesen (in French: Messines), a village in Belgium **Battle of Messines (other), World War I battles * Messines, Quebec Messines is a municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec. It includes the population centres of Messines and Farley. Maniwaki Airport is located in Messines. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ypres Salient
The Ypres Salient around Ypres in Belgium was the scene of several battles and an extremely important part of the Western front during the First World War. Ypres district Ypres lies at the junction of the Ypres–Comines Canal and the Ieperlee. The city is overlooked by Kemmel Hill in the south-west and from the east by low hills running south-west to north-east with Wytschaete (Wijtschate), Hill 60 to the east of Verbrandenmolen, Hooge, Polygon Wood and Passchendaele (Passendale). The high point of the ridge is at Wytschaete, from Ypres, while at Hollebeke the ridge is distant and recedes to at Polygon Wood. Wytschaete is about above the plain; on the Ypres–Menin road at Hooge, the elevation is about and at Passchendaele. The rises are slight, apart from the vicinity of Zonnebeke, which has a From Hooge and to the east, the slope is near Hollebeke, it is heights are subtle but have the character of a saucer lip around Ypres. The main ridge has spurs sloping east ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Third Battle Of Ypres
The Third Battle of Ypres (german: link=no, Dritte Flandernschlacht; french: link=no, Troisième Bataille des Flandres; nl, Derde Slag om Ieper), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele (), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by the Allies against the German Empire. The battle took place on the Western Front, from July to November 1917, for control of the ridges south and east of the Belgian city of Ypres in West Flanders, as part of a strategy decided by the Allies at conferences in November 1916 and May 1917. Passchendaele lies on the last ridge east of Ypres, from Roulers (now Roeselare), a junction of the Bruges-(Brugge)-to- Kortrijk railway. The station at Roulers was on the main supply route of the German 4th Army. Once Passchendaele Ridge had been captured, the Allied advance was to continue to a line from Thourout (now Torhout) to Couckelaere ( Koekelare). Further operations and a British supporting attack along the Belgian coast from Nieuport ( Nie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flash Spotting
Flash spotting''Artillery Survey in the First World War''. Field Survey Association, 1971, Sir Lawrence Bragg, Major General A. H. Dowson, Lt Colonel H. H. Hemmings was a military method of detecting the position of enemy guns at long range where the gun could not be observed directly, and was developed during World War I. The flashes could be observed at night as reflections from the sky. The purpose was then to call up friendly guns to destroy the enemy guns' position. Theoretically this could be achieved by several observers spotting the flash from a particular gun and then plotting the intersection of the bearings. This was extremely difficult with multiple guns firing since several observers could not be sure they were all looking at the same gun. The British solved this using a flashboard located at HQ fitted with a combination of buzzers and signal lights connected to the observers by telephone wires. Using this system, after a sequence of observations, all observers could ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mining (military)
Tunnel warfare involves war being conducted in tunnel and other underground cavities. It often includes the construction of underground facilities (mining or undermining) in order to attack or defend, and the use of existing natural caves and artificial underground facilities for military purposes. Tunnels can be used to undermine fortifications and slip into enemy territory for a surprise attack, while it can strengthen a defense by creating the possibility of ambush, counterattack and the ability to transfer troops from one portion of the battleground to another unseen and protected. Also, tunnels can serve as shelter from enemy attack. Since antiquity, sappers have used mining against walled cites, fortresses, castles or other strongly held and fortified military positions. Defenders have dug counter-mines to attack miners or destroy a mine threatening their fortifications. Since tunnels are commonplace in urban areas, tunnel warfare is often a feature, though usually a min ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Creeping Barrage
In military usage, a barrage is massed sustained artillery fire ( shelling) aimed at a series of points along a line. In addition to attacking any enemy in the kill zone, a barrage intends to suppress enemy movements and deny access across that line of barrage. The impact points along the line may be 20–30 yards/meters apart, with the total line length of the barrage zone anything from a few hundred to several thousand yards/meters long. Barrages can consist of multiple such lines, usually about 100 yards/meters apart, with the barrage shifting from one line to the next over time, or several lines may be targeted simultaneously. A barrage may involve a few or many artillery batteries, or even (rarely) a single gun. Typically each gun in a barrage, using indirect fire, will fire continuously at a steady rate at its assigned point for an assigned time before moving onto the next target, following the barrage's detailed timetable. Barrages typically use high-explosive shells, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mines In The Battle Of Messines (1917)
At the start of the Battle of Messines during the First World War, underground explosive charges were detonated by the British Second Army (General Sir Herbert Plumer) beneath the forward position of the German 4th Army near the village of Mesen (''Messines'' in French, historically used in English), in Belgian West Flanders. The mines, secretly planted by British tunnelling units, created craters and killed approximately 10,000 German soldiers. Their joint explosion ranks among the largest non-nuclear explosions of all time. The evening before the attack, General Sir Charles Harington, Chief of Staff of the Second Army, remarked to the press, "Gentlemen, I don’t know whether we are going to make history tomorrow, but at any rate we shall change geography". The Battle of Messines marked the zenith of mine warfare. On 10 August, the Royal Engineers fired the last British deep mine of the war, at Givenchy-en-Gohelle near Arras. Background British mining, 1915–1916 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
24th Saxon Division
The 24th Division (''24. Division''), also known as the 2nd Division No. 24 (''2. Division Nr. 24'') was a unit of the Saxon and then Imperial German Army. The division was headquartered in Leipzig. Until 1899, the division was subordinated in peacetime to the XII (1st Royal Saxon) Army Corps (''XII. (1. Königlich Sächsisches) Armeekorps''); thereafter, it was subordinated in peacetime to the XIX (2nd Royal Saxon) Army Corps (''XIX. (2. Königlich Sächsisches) Armeekorps''). The 2nd Division No. 24 was officially formed on April 1, 1867. However, this was as part of the convention which integrated the division with the Prussian-led army of the North German Confederation. The division already existed as part of the autonomous Saxon Army. It was originally formed in 1849 as the 2nd Division and from July 1, 1850, the 2nd Infantry Division. It became the 2nd Infantry Division No. 24 on April 1, 1867, and the 2nd Division No. 24 on April 1, 1887. On mobilization for World War I i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eingreif Division
Eingreif division (german: Eingreifdivision) is a term for a type of German Army formation of the First World War , which developed in 1917, to conduct immediate counter-attacks () against enemy troops who broke into a defensive position being held by a front-holding division () or to conduct a methodical counter-attack () 24–48 hours later. Attacks by the French and British armies against the on the Western Front had been met in 1915 and 1916 by increasing the number and sophistication of trench networks, the original improvised defences of 1914 giving way to a centrally-planned system of trenches in a trench-position and then increasing numbers of trench-positions, to absorb the growing firepower and offensive sophistication of the Entente armies. During the Battle of the Somme (1 July – 18 November 1916), the use of defensive lines began to evolve into the defence of the areas between them, using the local troops of the trench holding divisions and (relief divisions), he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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