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Messines Ridge (New Zealand) Memorial, Messines Ridge British Cemetery
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 ( Dutch: 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Front (World War I)
The Western Front was one of the main Theatre (warfare), theatres of war during World War I. Following the outbreak of war in August 1914, the Imperial German Army, German Army opened the Western Front by German invasion of Belgium (1914), invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in Third Republic of France, France. The German advance was halted with the First Battle of the Marne, Battle of the Marne. Following the Race to the Sea, both sides dug in along a meandering line of fortified trench warfare, trenches, stretching from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier with France, the position of which changed little except during early 1917 and again in 1918. Between 1915 and 1917 there were several offensives along this Front (military), front. The attacks employed massive artillery bombardments and massed infantry advances. Entrenchments, machine gun emplacements, barbed wire, and artillery repeatedly inflicted severe casualties ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
4th Army (German Empire)
The 4th Army () was an army level command of the German Army in World War I. It was formed on mobilisation in August 1914 from the VI Army Inspection. The army was disbanded in 1919 during demobilization after the war. History At the outset of war, the 4th Army, with the 5th Army, formed the center of the German armies on the Western Front, moving through Luxembourg and Belgium in support of the great wheel of the right wing that was to pin down and defeat the French armies. The 4th Army defeated Belgian forces on the frontier, drove the French out of the Ardennes and then encountered the British Expeditionary Force in the "Race to the Sea" at the First Battle of Ypres. The 4th Army faced the British in Flanders for the rest of the war, notably defending in the Battle of Passchendaele (1917), attacking in the 1918 German spring offensive and finally being pushed back in the Hundred Days Offensive from August 1918. At the end of the war it was serving as part of '' Heeresg ... [...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 a major part of the Western Front during World War I. Location 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 and one is particularly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Third Battle Of Ypres
The Third Battle of Ypres (; ; ), 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 Entente 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 ( Nieuwpoort), combined with an amphibious landing ( Operation Hush), were to have reached Bruges and then the Dutch fr ... [...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 coul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mining (military)
Tunnel warfare refers to aspects of War, warfare relating to Tunnel, tunnels and other underground cavities. It includes the construction of underground facilities 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. 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 minor one, of ... [...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 to 30 yards apart, with the total line length of the barrage zone anything from a few hundred to several thousand yards long. Barrages can consist of multiple such lines, usually about 100 yards 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, but may a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mines In The Battle Of Messines (1917)
Several underground explosive charges were fired during the First World War at the start of the Battle of Messines (1917), Battle of Messines . The battle was fought by the British Second Army (United Kingdom), Second Army (General Sir Herbert Plumer, 1st Viscount Plumer, Herbert Plumer) and the German 4th Army (German Empire), 4th Army (General Friedrich Sixt von Armin) near Mesen (''Messines'' in French language, French, also used in English language, English and German language, German) in Belgian West Flanders. The mines, secretly planted and maintained by tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers beneath the German front position, killed many German soldiers and created craters. The explosions rank among the Largest artificial non-nuclear explosions, largest non-nuclear explosions. Before the attack, General Sir Charles Harington (British Army officer, born 1872), Charles Harington, Chief of Staff of the Second Army, told the press, "Gentlemen, I don't know whether ... [...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 in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eingreif
Eingreif division () is a term for a type of German Empire, German German Army (German Empire), Army formation of the First World War, which developed in 1917, to conduct immediate counterattack, 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 (World War I), 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 troop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
II Anzac Corps
The II ANZAC Corps (Second Anzac Corps) was an Australian and New Zealand First World War army corps. Formed in early 1916 in Egypt in the wake of the failed Gallipoli campaign, it initially consisted of two Australian divisions, and was sent to the Western Front in mid-1916. It then took part in the fighting in France and Belgium throughout 1916 and 1917, during which time it consisted of New Zealand, Australian and British divisions. In November 1917, the corps was subsumed in to the Australian Corps, which concentrated all five Australian infantry divisions. After this, the corps was reformed as the British XXII Corps. History The corps was formed in Egypt in February 1916 as part of the reorganization of the Australian Imperial Force following the evacuation of Gallipoli in December 1915, under the command of William Birdwood. This corps, along with the I ANZAC Corps, replaced the original Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), following the expansion of the Aus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
