{
 "slug": "messines-1917",
 "title": "Battle of Messines (1917)",
 "status": "draft",
 "era": "1900–1918",
 "date_text": "7–14 June 1917",
 "start": "1917-06-07",
 "end": "1917-06-14",
 "war": "World War I",
 "cdb90_war": "WORLD WAR I",
 "place": {
  "name": "The Messines–Wytschaete (Mesen–Wijtschate) ridge, south of Ypres, West Flanders, Belgium",
  "lat": 50.78,
  "lon": 2.8639,
  "wikidata": "Q1144824"
 },
 "lede": "On 7 June 1917 Plumer's Second Army fired nineteen huge mines under the Messines–Wytschaete ridge and took it in a day behind a massive barrage: the war's most celebrated set-piece attack, and the prelude to Passchendaele.",
 "result": "Decisive British victory: the ridge was taken in a day and held",
 "result_cdb90": "attacker win",
 "belligerents": [
  {
   "role": "attacker",
   "name": "British Empire (BEF Second Army: X, IX and II Anzac Corps, with British, Irish, Australian and New Zealand divisions)",
   "commanders": [
    "General Sir Herbert Plumer",
    "Major-General Charles Harington (chief of staff)",
    "Lieutenant-General Sir Alexander Godley (II Anzac Corps)",
    "Lieutenant-General Sir Alexander Hamilton-Gordon (IX Corps)",
    "Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Morland (X Corps)"
   ],
   "strength": {
    "value": null,
    "low": null,
    "high": null,
    "source": "s1"
   },
   "casualties": {
    "value": 24562,
    "low": 24562,
    "high": 28000,
    "source": "s1"
   }
  },
  {
   "role": "defender",
   "name": "German Empire (4th Army: Gruppe Wijtschate, with Eingreif divisions behind it)",
   "commanders": [
    "General Friedrich Sixt von Armin (4th Army)",
    "General Maximilian von Laffert (Gruppe Wijtschate)",
    "Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria (army group)"
   ],
   "strength": {
    "value": null,
    "low": null,
    "high": null,
    "source": "s1"
   },
   "casualties": {
    "value": 26087,
    "low": 21886,
    "high": 26087,
    "source": "s1"
   }
  }
 ],
 "sections": {
  "background": "By the spring of 1917 the British had long wanted to fight in Flanders, to clear the Belgian coast and deny the Germans its ports. In January 1916 General Sir Herbert Plumer, commanding the Second Army in the Ypres Salient, had recommended taking the Messines Ridge first, before any attack on the Gheluvelt plateau further north. Verdun and the Somme put the plan off. When the French Nivelle Offensive on the Aisne failed in April and May 1917, and mutinies broke out in the French army, Haig ordered the Second Army to take the Messines–Wytschaete ridge as soon as possible, partly to take pressure off the French.\n\nThe ridge mattered out of all proportion to its height, about 80 metres at Messines. It formed the southern arc of the salient and gave the Germans observation over the British positions behind Ypres. Taking it would shorten the line, blind the Germans on that flank and give the British a view of the southern slopes of the Gheluvelt plateau, ready for the main offensive.\n\nThe attack had been a long time in preparation. British tunnellers had been working under the Wytschaete salient since 1915, and from 1916 a deep mining offensive drove galleries into a layer of blue clay far below the German front, despite German counter-mining. Plumer and his chief of staff, Charles 'Tim' Harington, who worked in close understanding, planned the battle with unusual thoroughness. The British preliminary bombardment began on 8 May and grew much heavier from 23 May.",
  "forces": "Plumer attacked with three corps. In the north X Corps (Morland) had the 23rd, 47th and 41st Divisions, with the 24th in reserve. In the centre IX Corps (Hamilton-Gordon) had the 19th (Western), the 16th (Irish) and the 36th (Ulster) Divisions, with the 11th (Northern) behind. In the south II Anzac Corps (Godley) had the 25th, the New Zealand and the 3rd Australian Divisions, with the 4th Australian in reserve. The 3rd Australian, under John Monash, was fighting its first big battle. The nationalist 16th and the unionist 36th went in side by side.\n\nArtillery was the main weapon: 756 medium and heavy guns and 1,510 field guns, controlled centrally from Second Army headquarters by Major-General George Franks, with a dedicated counter-battery staff, flash-spotting and sound-ranging. Some 700 machine-guns would fire an overhead barrage, 72 Mark IV tanks supported the infantry and about 300 aircraft watched the rear slopes. Nineteen mines would open the attack.\n\nThe German 4th Army's Gruppe Wijtschate, under Maximilian von Laffert, held the ridge with five divisions in successive lines: forward breastworks, the Sonne line, the Höhenstellung on the crest and the Sehnenstellung, the British 'Oosttaverne line', on the far slope. Two Eingreif divisions waited behind to counter-attack. Rupprecht and his chief of staff Kuhl had considered withdrawing, but local commanders believed their counter-mining had dealt with the mines, and the ridge was held.",
  "course": "**The mines, 03:10, 7 June.** A thunderstorm on the evening of 6 June cleared by midnight. British aircraft flew over the lines at 02:00 to drown the noise of the tanks, and by 03:00 the infantry were in their jumping-off positions, mostly unseen, though a German gas bombardment of Ploegsteert Wood cost the 3rd Australian Division about 500 men on the approach. At 03:10 the mines began to go off, over about twenty seconds, from one end of the front to the other. An Australian account describes a huge glowing bubble swelling from the earth near Wytschaete, then another and another, as seen from the New Zealand lines. Some fired early, some late: men of the 36th Division were knocked over by Spanbroekmolen, and the Petit Bois mines were about 12 seconds late. The craters were up to 300 feet across, and each buried the garrison of a stretch of trench. The barrage opened at once.\n\n**The ridge, 03:10–09:00.** The nine divisions went forward behind a creeping barrage moving 100 yards in two minutes, with mopping-up parties to clear by-passed dug-outs. The German forward zone fell in the 35 minutes allotted, the surviving garrison stunned by the mines and the barrage. In II Anzac Corps the 3rd Australian Division formed the southern flank astride the Douve, and the New Zealand Division took Messines village, a fortress of cellars and pillboxes, whose garrison surrendered when its commander was captured. In IX Corps the 36th (Ulster) and 16th (Irish) Divisions took Wytschaete together. Major Willie Redmond MP, 56, of the 6th Royal Irish Regiment, 16th Division, was hit near the Maedelstede Farm crater; Private John Meeke of the 36th Division carried him back, and he died that evening at Dranoutre. In X Corps the 41st Division took the Dammstrasse and the 47th fought for the White Château and the Spoil Bank by the Ypres–Comines canal, which held out. By about 09:00 the black line, the crest and the observation line beyond it, was taken, with far fewer losses than planned for, so the crest became crowded under German long-range fire.\n\n**The Oosttaverne line, 15:10.** The planners had allowed a long pause for the German counter-attack. The Eingreif divisions came late and were caught by British artillery; the 1st Guard Reserve Division reached the area east of Messines about 15:00, just as the barrage resumed. Plumer postponed the afternoon attack by two hours to 15:10, and the 4th Australian Division's leading brigade lay in the open under fire while it waited. The reserve brigades then went down the eastern slope. Australians, the 57th Brigade of the 19th Division and the 24th Division took most of the Oosttaverne line, but 1,000 yards across the Blauwepoortbeek valley, between the Anzac and IX Corps, stayed in German hands. Bean judged that the postponement saved the attack.\n\n**Friendly fire and consolidation, 7–14 June.** That evening, fearing counter-attacks, British gunners fired SOS barrages that fell on the 12th Australian Brigade, dug in beyond its objective, and on IX Corps troops; New Zealand observers brought the fire closer still. The shelling went on until about 22:00 and the Australians fell back. On 8 June observers mistook a relief for a counter-attack and both sides shelled the area for two hours. The confusion came from the divisions on the ridge controlling the guns that covered the reserve divisions below. German shelling caused most of the British losses in these days. The Germans gave up the Blauwepoortbeek on 11 June, and by 14 June British posts were pushed forward without resistance.",
  "aftermath": "The ridge was taken in less than twelve hours. The British took 7,354 prisoners, 48 guns, 218 machine-guns and 60 trench mortars. British losses for 1–12 June were 24,562, about half of them in II Anzac Corps; German losses were about 22,000–26,000. Laffert was sacked two days after the battle. Whether the mines killed the often-quoted 10,000 Germans is doubted: the figure comes from the German official history's total, and Simon Jones has argued from primary sources that the mines killed no more than about 500.\n\nHaig wanted rapid exploitation towards the Gheluvelt plateau, but Plumer said he needed three days to move his guns. Haig gave the next step to Gough's Fifth Army, and the main offensive did not open until 31 July. That pause is part of the Passchendaele argument: Prior and Wilson called Messines a noteworthy success but criticised the delay, while Ian Brown and Andy Simpson argue that the roads and supply lines had to be rebuilt across the devastated ridge first.\n\nEdmonds called it a great victory; Lloyd George, an aperitif; Liddell Hart thought it inflated expectations for Third Ypres. The Lone Tree crater at Spanbroekmolen is now a Pool of Peace, and the Island of Ireland Peace Park at Messines remembers the two Irish divisions. Not every mine went off: one exploded in a thunderstorm in 1955, and another is believed still to lie under the fields.",
  "wargaming": "Messines is the model set-piece attack, which makes it a fine game about planning and timing rather than manoeuvre. At brigade or battalion scale (a stand as a company) the whole morning attack fits on a table: a front of about 17,000 yards, a ridge rising gently to 80 metres, woods, farms and the two fortified villages of Wytschaete and Messines as the key terrain.\n\nThe interesting rules problems are the mines and the barrage. Mines should be random in timing and effect, stunning defenders near the craters but breaking up the attacker's formations too; several commanders felt the craters caused as much trouble as they solved. The barrage moves on a fixed timetable that the attacker cannot easily change.\n\nThe best scenario is probably the afternoon: reserve brigades advancing down the forward slope to the Oosttaverne line's pillboxes, with Eingreif divisions arriving late and both sides' SOS barrages liable to fall on their own men. For the defender the what-if is Rupprecht's rejected withdrawal from the ridge before the attack. For the attacker it is the 13:10 start Plumer postponed, and Haig's wish for immediate exploitation towards the Gheluvelt plateau. A small grand-tactical game, a division a counter, can test whether going on at once on 8 June could have shortened Third Ypres."
 },
 "images": [
  {
   "file": "File:Battle of Messines - Map.jpg",
   "kind": "map",
   "caption": "The Battle of Messines, 7 June 1917: the mines and the line of the British advance.",
   "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Battle_of_Messines_-_Map.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original",
   "thumb": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Battle_of_Messines_-_Map.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled",
   "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_Messines_-_Map.jpg",
   "licence": "Public domain",
   "licence_url": "",
   "artist": "",
   "credit": "",
   "width": 604
  },
  {
   "file": "File:Battle of Messines - planning map (cropped).jpg",
   "kind": "map",
   "caption": "A British planning map of the attack, with the objective lines down to the Oosttaverne line.",
   "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Battle_of_Messines_-_planning_map_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original",
   "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/Battle_of_Messines_-_planning_map_%28cropped%29.jpg/960px-Battle_of_Messines_-_planning_map_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail",
   "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_Messines_-_planning_map_(cropped).jpg",
   "licence": "Public domain",
   "licence_url": "",
   "artist": "Field Service Battalion, Royal Engineers",
   "credit": "http://www.awm.gov.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/maps/Messines.pdf",
   "width": 2598
  },
  {
   "file": "File:NLS Haig - Smashed up German trench on Messines Ridge with dead.jpg",
   "kind": "photo",
   "caption": "A smashed German trench on Messines Ridge, with German dead, June 1917.",
   "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/NLS_Haig_-_Smashed_up_German_trench_on_Messines_Ridge_with_dead.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original",
   "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/NLS_Haig_-_Smashed_up_German_trench_on_Messines_Ridge_with_dead.jpg/960px-NLS_Haig_-_Smashed_up_German_trench_on_Messines_Ridge_with_dead.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail",
   "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NLS_Haig_-_Smashed_up_German_trench_on_Messines_Ridge_with_dead.jpg",
   "licence": "Public domain",
   "licence_url": "",
   "artist": "John Warwick Brooke",
   "credit": "This image is available from the National Library of Scotland under the sequence number or Shelfmark ID D.1520 . You can see this image in its original context, along with the rest of the Library's digital collections, under digital.nls.uk/74547058 in the NLS Digital Gallery",
   "width": 2318
  },
  {
   "file": "File:George Edmund Butler - Messines Ridge from Hill 63.jpeg",
   "kind": "painting",
   "caption": "George Edmund Butler, Messines Ridge from Hill 63.",
   "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/George_Edmund_Butler_-_Messines_Ridge_from_Hill_63.jpeg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original",
   "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/George_Edmund_Butler_-_Messines_Ridge_from_Hill_63.jpeg/960px-George_Edmund_Butler_-_Messines_Ridge_from_Hill_63.jpeg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail",
   "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:George_Edmund_Butler_-_Messines_Ridge_from_Hill_63.jpeg",
   "licence": "Public domain",
   "licence_url": "",
   "artist": "George Edmund Butler",
   "credit": "This image is available from Archives New Zealand under the records number NCWA 470 and under the record code R22498087 This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information. Archives New Zealand does not allow free use of its copyrighted works. See Category:Images from Archives New Zealand .",
   "width": 1280
  },
  {
   "file": "File:Lone Tree Crater 2009.jpg",
   "kind": "photo",
   "caption": "The Spanbroekmolen (Lone Tree) mine crater, now the Pool of Peace, in 2009.",
   "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Lone_Tree_Crater_2009.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original",
   "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b3/Lone_Tree_Crater_2009.jpg/960px-Lone_Tree_Crater_2009.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail",
   "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lone_Tree_Crater_2009.jpg",
   "licence": "Public domain",
   "licence_url": "",
   "artist": "en:User:MisterBee1966",
   "credit": "en:User:MisterBee1966 Originally uploaded to EN Wikipedia as en:File:Lone Tree Crater 2009.jpg by en:User:MisterBee1966 14 November 2009",
   "width": 2816
  },
  {
   "file": "File:Gen sir herbert plumer.jpg",
   "kind": "portrait",
   "caption": "General Sir Herbert Plumer, commander of the Second Army.",
   "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Gen_sir_herbert_plumer.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original",
   "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Gen_sir_herbert_plumer.jpg/960px-Gen_sir_herbert_plumer.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail",
   "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gen_sir_herbert_plumer.jpg",
   "licence": "Public domain",
   "licence_url": "",
   "artist": "Halsey, Francis Whiting,",
   "credit": "\"The Literary Digest History of the World War\", volume V, p. 356.",
   "width": 1800
  },
  {
   "file": "File:Sixt von Armin (1851-1936).jpg",
   "kind": "portrait",
   "caption": "General Friedrich Sixt von Armin, commander of the German 4th Army.",
   "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Sixt_von_Armin_%281851-1936%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original",
   "thumb": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Sixt_von_Armin_%281851-1936%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled",
   "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sixt_von_Armin_(1851-1936).jpg",
   "licence": "Public domain",
   "licence_url": "",
   "artist": "Unknown author Unknown author",
   "credit": "http://home.comcast.net/~jcviser/index.htm/aok/pixmil1.htm",
   "width": 180
  }
 ],
 "sources": [
  {
   "id": "s1",
   "title": "Battle of Messines (1917) (Wikipedia)",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Messines_(1917)",
   "kind": "web"
  },
  {
   "id": "s2",
   "title": "C. E. W. Bean, Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918, vol. IV, The A.I.F. in France 1917, ch. XV, 'The Battle of Messines – June 7th' (11th edn, 1941; Australian War Memorial)",
   "url": "https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/awm-media/collection/RCDIG1069505/document/5519002.PDF",
   "kind": "book"
  },
  {
   "id": "s3",
   "title": "Mines in the Battle of Messines (1917) (Wikipedia)",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mines_in_the_Battle_of_Messines_(1917)",
   "kind": "web"
  },
  {
   "id": "s4",
   "title": "Craig Tibbitts, 'Battle of Messines' (Australian War Memorial)",
   "url": "https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/blog/battle-of-messines",
   "kind": "web"
  },
  {
   "id": "s5",
   "title": "Willie Redmond and the commemoration of the centenary of the Battle of Messines (Western Front Association)",
   "url": "https://www.westernfrontassociation.com/news/2018/january/willie-redmond-and-the-commemoration-of-the-centenary-of-the-battle-of-messines/",
   "kind": "article"
  },
  {
   "id": "s6",
   "title": "The Battle of Messines, 1917 (The Long, Long Trail)",
   "url": "https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/battles/battles-of-the-western-front-in-france-and-flanders/the-battle-of-messines-1917",
   "kind": "web"
  },
  {
   "id": "s7",
   "title": "Battle of Messines (NZHistory, Ministry for Culture and Heritage)",
   "url": "https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/battle-messines",
   "kind": "web"
  },
  {
   "id": "s8",
   "title": "Charles Harington (British Army officer, born 1872) (Wikipedia)",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Harington_(British_Army_officer,_born_1872)",
   "kind": "web"
  },
  {
   "id": "s9",
   "title": "Ian Passingham, Pillars of Fire: The Battle of Messines Ridge, June 1917 (Sutton, 1998)",
   "url": null,
   "kind": "book"
  }
 ],
 "cdb90": [
  318
 ],
 "order": 138,
 "url": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/messines-1917/",
 "oob": [],
 "oob_lwtv": [],
 "scenarios": [],
 "orbat": null,
 "orbat_lwtv": null,
 "reading": {
  "prose": [
   {
    "work_id": "gutenberg:35403",
    "title": "From Bapaume to Passchendaele, 1917",
    "in": null,
    "author": "Philip Gibbs",
    "life": "1877–1962",
    "year": null,
    "kind": "memoir",
    "library": "Project Gutenberg",
    "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35403",
    "language": "en",
    "contemporary": true,
    "subject": false,
    "references": 11,
    "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/from-bapaume-to-passchendaele-1917-3d2e90/"
   },
   {
    "work_id": "gutenberg:17813",
    "title": "At Ypres with Best-Dunkley",
    "in": null,
    "author": "Thomas Hope Floyd",
    "life": "1896–1973",
    "year": null,
    "kind": "memoir",
    "library": "Project Gutenberg",
    "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17813",
    "language": "en",
    "contemporary": true,
    "subject": false,
    "references": 10,
    "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/at-ypres-with-best-dunkley-65d79b/"
   },
   {
    "work_id": "ia:trenchmortarsfrance",
    "title": "With the Trench Mortars in France [1923, New Zealand Expeditionary Force]",
    "in": null,
    "author": "W. E. L. Napier",
    "life": "1892–1952",
    "year": 1923,
    "kind": "memoir",
    "library": "Internet Archive",
    "url": "https://archive.org/details/trenchmortarsfrance",
    "language": "en",
    "contemporary": true,
    "subject": false,
    "references": 7,
    "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/with-the-trench-mortars-in-france-1923-new-zealand-expeditio-8c9a4e/"
   },
   {
    "work_id": "gutenberg:44451",
    "title": "A Company of Tanks",
    "in": null,
    "author": "William Henry Lowe Watson",
    "life": "1891–1932",
    "year": null,
    "kind": "memoir",
    "library": "Project Gutenberg",
    "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44451",
    "language": "en",
    "contemporary": true,
    "subject": false,
    "references": 4,
    "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/a-company-of-tanks-45d27f/"
   },
   {
    "work_id": "gutenberg:46757",
    "title": "Fighting the Boche Underground",
    "in": null,
    "author": "H. D. Trounce",
    "life": "1885–",
    "year": 1918,
    "kind": "memoir",
    "library": "Project Gutenberg",
    "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46757",
    "language": "en",
    "contemporary": true,
    "subject": false,
    "references": 4,
    "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/fighting-the-boche-underground-d5c277/"
   },
   {
    "work_id": "ia:firstworldwar19101repiuoft",
    "title": "The First World War, 1914-1918",
    "in": null,
    "author": "Charles à Court Repington",
    "life": "1858–1925",
    "year": 1920,
    "kind": "memoir",
    "library": "Internet Archive",
    "url": "https://archive.org/details/firstworldwar19101repiuoft",
    "language": "en",
    "contemporary": true,
    "subject": false,
    "references": 2,
    "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/the-first-world-war-1914-1918-c65430/"
   },
   {
    "work_id": "gutenberg:13827",
    "title": "Fields of Victory",
    "in": null,
    "author": "Mrs Humphry Ward",
    "life": "1851–1920",
    "year": null,
    "kind": "memoir",
    "library": "Project Gutenberg",
    "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13827",
    "language": "en",
    "contemporary": true,
    "subject": false,
    "references": 2,
    "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/fields-of-victory-9b51b3/"
   },
   {
    "work_id": "gutenberg:24538",
    "title": "1914",
    "in": null,
    "author": "John Denton Pinkstone French",
    "life": "1852–1925",
    "year": null,
    "kind": "memoir",
    "library": "Project Gutenberg",
    "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24538",
    "language": "en",
    "contemporary": true,
    "subject": false,
    "references": 2,
    "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/1914-e699fe/"
   }
  ],
  "history": [
   {
    "work_id": "ia:warinairbeingsto04rale",
    "title": "The War in the Air, vol. 4",
    "in": null,
    "author": "H. A. Jones",
    "life": null,
    "year": 1922,
    "kind": "official history",
    "library": "Internet Archive",
    "url": "https://archive.org/details/warinairbeingsto04rale",
    "language": "en",
    "contemporary": false,
    "subject": false,
    "references": 37,
    "official": true,
    "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/the-war-in-the-air-vol-4-a7ea66/"
   },
   {
    "work_id": "ia:in.ernet.dli.2015.210674",
    "title": "Military Operations, France and Belgium 1914, vol. 2",
    "in": null,
    "author": "James E. Edmonds",
    "life": null,
    "year": 1929,
    "kind": "official history",
    "library": "Internet Archive",
    "url": "https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.210674",
    "language": "en",
    "contemporary": false,
    "subject": false,
    "references": 11,
    "official": true,
    "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/military-operations-france-and-belgium-1914-vol-2-a5a061/"
   },
   {
    "work_id": "ia:order-battle-divisions-p-3-a",
    "title": "Order of Battle of Divisions, part 3A — New Army divisions 9-26",
    "in": null,
    "author": "A. F. Becke",
    "life": null,
    "year": 1938,
    "kind": "official history",
    "library": "Internet Archive",
    "url": "https://archive.org/details/order-battle-divisions-p-3-a",
    "language": "en",
    "contemporary": false,
    "subject": false,
    "references": 10,
    "official": true,
    "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/order-of-battle-of-divisions-part-3a-new-army-divisions-9-26-c8e51e/"
   },
   {
    "work_id": "ia:in.ernet.dli.2015.210680",
    "title": "Military Operations, France and Belgium 1916, vol. 2",
    "in": null,
    "author": "Wilfrid Miles",
    "life": null,
    "year": 1938,
    "kind": "official history",
    "library": "Internet Archive",
    "url": "https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.210680",
    "language": "en",
    "contemporary": false,
    "subject": false,
    "references": 3,
    "official": true,
    "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/military-operations-france-and-belgium-1916-vol-2-b37c5c/"
   },
   {
    "work_id": "ia:in.ernet.dli.2015.210683",
    "title": "Military Operations, France and Belgium 1917, vol. 1",
    "in": null,
    "author": "Cyril Falls",
    "life": null,
    "year": 1940,
    "kind": "official history",
    "library": "Internet Archive",
    "url": "https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.210683",
    "language": "en",
    "contemporary": false,
    "subject": false,
    "references": 3,
    "official": true,
    "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/military-operations-france-and-belgium-1917-vol-1-9df48f/"
   }
  ],
  "fiction": [
   {
    "work_id": "gutenberg:66846",
    "title": "\"1914\"",
    "in": null,
    "author": "John Oxenham",
    "life": "1852–1941",
    "year": null,
    "kind": "novel",
    "library": "Project Gutenberg",
    "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66846",
    "language": "en",
    "contemporary": true,
    "subject": false,
    "references": 2,
    "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/1914-63c61f/"
   },
   {
    "work_id": "gutenberg:13573",
    "title": "Elizabeth's Campaign",
    "in": null,
    "author": "Mrs Humphry Ward",
    "life": "1851–1920",
    "year": null,
    "kind": "novel",
    "library": "Project Gutenberg",
    "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13573",
    "language": "en",
    "contemporary": true,
    "subject": false,
    "references": 2,
    "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/elizabeth-s-campaign-d3034e/"
   },
   {
    "work_id": "gutenberg:59936",
    "title": "Peter Jameson",
    "in": null,
    "author": "Gilbert Frankau",
    "life": "1884–1952",
    "year": 1920,
    "kind": "novel",
    "library": "Project Gutenberg",
    "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/59936",
    "language": "en",
    "contemporary": true,
    "subject": false,
    "references": 1,
    "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/peter-jameson-ef8e45/"
   }
  ],
  "poetry": [
   {
    "work_id": "ia:pipesofwarrecord00setorich",
    "title": "The pipes of war",
    "in": null,
    "author": "Sir Bruce Gordon Seton",
    "life": "1868–",
    "year": 1920,
    "kind": "poem",
    "library": "Internet Archive",
    "url": "https://archive.org/details/pipesofwarrecord00setorich",
    "language": "en",
    "contemporary": true,
    "subject": false,
    "references": 3,
    "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/the-pipes-of-war-795f53/"
   }
  ]
 },
 "reading_lwtv": {
  "prose": [],
  "poetry": []
 },
 "photos": [
  {
   "file": "File:Ministry of Information First World War Official Collection Q5478.jpg",
   "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/72/Ministry_of_Information_First_World_War_Official_Collection_Q5478.jpg/500px-Ministry_of_Information_First_World_War_Official_Collection_Q5478.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail",
   "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ministry_of_Information_First_World_War_Official_Collection_Q5478.jpg",
   "caption": "Ministry of Information First World War Official Collection Artillery officers at mess by the side of a communication trench, Ridgewood, 10 June 1917",
   "year": 1917,
   "licence": "Public domain",
   "artist": "John Warwick Brooke",
   "collection": "IWM"
  },
  {
   "file": "File:The Battle of Messines, June 1917 Q5467.jpg",
   "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/The_Battle_of_Messines%2C_June_1917_Q5467.jpg/500px-The_Battle_of_Messines%2C_June_1917_Q5467.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail",
   "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Battle_of_Messines,_June_1917_Q5467.jpg",
   "caption": "The Battle of Messines, June 1917 Gunners of the Royal Field Artillery unloading shells from a pack horse. 7 June 1917",
   "year": 1917,
   "licence": "Public domain",
   "artist": "John Warwick Brooke",
   "collection": "IWM"
  },
  {
   "file": "File:The Battle of Messines, June 1917 Q5481.jpg",
   "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/01/The_Battle_of_Messines%2C_June_1917_Q5481.jpg/500px-The_Battle_of_Messines%2C_June_1917_Q5481.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail",
   "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Battle_of_Messines,_June_1917_Q5481.jpg",
   "caption": "The Battle of Messines, June 1917 Captured German field gun 7.7 cm FK 96 n.A. near Wytschaete, 10 June 1917",
   "year": 1917,
   "licence": "Public domain",
   "artist": "John Warwick Brooke",
   "collection": "IWM"
  },
  {
   "file": "File:The Battle of Messines, June 1917 Q5489.jpg",
   "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/14/The_Battle_of_Messines%2C_June_1917_Q5489.jpg/500px-The_Battle_of_Messines%2C_June_1917_Q5489.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail",
   "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Battle_of_Messines,_June_1917_Q5489.jpg",
   "caption": "The Battle of Messines, June 1917 A limber going back to load up with provisions near Lindenhoek, 10 June 1917",
   "year": 1917,
   "licence": "Public domain",
   "artist": "John Warwick Brooke",
   "collection": "IWM"
  },
  {
   "file": "File:The Battle of Messines, June 1917 Q5496.jpg",
   "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/The_Battle_of_Messines%2C_June_1917_Q5496.jpg/500px-The_Battle_of_Messines%2C_June_1917_Q5496.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail",
   "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Battle_of_Messines,_June_1917_Q5496.jpg",
   "caption": "The Battle of Messines, June 1917 Men of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers with their trophies after the capture of Wytschaete, 36th (Ulster) Division. Near Dranouter, 12 June 1917",
   "year": 1917,
   "licence": "Public domain",
   "artist": "John Warwick Brooke",
   "collection": "IWM"
  },
  {
   "file": "File:The Battle of Messines, June 1917 Q5627.jpg",
   "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/25/The_Battle_of_Messines%2C_June_1917_Q5627.jpg/500px-The_Battle_of_Messines%2C_June_1917_Q5627.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail",
   "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Battle_of_Messines,_June_1917_Q5627.jpg",
   "caption": "The Battle of Messines, June 1917 A Staff Colonel of the 36th (Ulster) Division talking to an Artillery Major near Wytschaete, 10 June 1917",
   "year": 1917,
   "licence": "Public domain",
   "artist": "John Warwick Brooke",
   "collection": "IWM"
  },
  {
   "file": "File:1st Bn NZRB Report on Offensive Operations on 7 Jun 1917 - Page 2.JPG",
   "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/1st_Bn_NZRB_Report_on_Offensive_Operations_on_7_Jun_1917_-_Page_2.JPG/500px-1st_Bn_NZRB_Report_on_Offensive_Operations_on_7_Jun_1917_-_Page_2.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail",
   "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1st_Bn_NZRB_Report_on_Offensive_Operations_on_7_Jun_1917_-_Page_2.JPG",
   "caption": "1st Battalion New Zealand Rifle Brigade Narrative of Operations 7 June 1917",
   "year": 1917,
   "licence": "Public domain",
   "artist": "UK Crown Copyright",
   "collection": null
  },
  {
   "file": "File:BG W G Braithwaite.jpg",
   "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/BG_W_G_Braithwaite.jpg/500px-BG_W_G_Braithwaite.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail",
   "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BG_W_G_Braithwaite.jpg",
   "caption": "Brigadier General Braithwaite explains the plan for the upcoming Battle of Messines to New Zealand troops on training exercise, 1917. Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association :New Zealand official negatives, World War 1914-1918. Ref: 1/2-012757-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, ",
   "year": 1917,
   "licence": "Public domain",
   "artist": "Henry Armytage Sanders",
   "collection": null
  },
  {
   "file": "File:Battle of Messines - planning map.png",
   "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/Battle_of_Messines_-_planning_map.png/500px-Battle_of_Messines_-_planning_map.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail",
   "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_Messines_-_planning_map.png",
   "caption": "1:20000 scale attack planning map from the Battle of Messines. The objectives are II ANZAC, IX and X Corps are marked. The II ANZAC sector has greater detail",
   "year": 1917,
   "licence": "Public domain",
   "artist": "Field Survey Company, Royal Engineers",
   "collection": null
  },
  {
   "file": "File:German prisoners helping to bring in British wounded near Messines (4688023159).jpg",
   "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/23/German_prisoners_helping_to_bring_in_British_wounded_near_Messines_%284688023159%29.jpg/500px-German_prisoners_helping_to_bring_in_British_wounded_near_Messines_%284688023159%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail",
   "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:German_prisoners_helping_to_bring_in_British_wounded_near_Messines_(4688023159).jpg",
   "caption": "German prisoners of war, Messines, Belgium, 1917. Five German prisoners of war are pushing a truck platform along a set of tracks. There are two wounded British soldiers lying, covered, on the truck . Behind them another set of tracks are visible. The Battle of Messines Ridge involved the British so",
   "year": 1918,
   "licence": "No restrictions",
   "artist": "National Library of Scotland",
   "collection": null
  },
  {
   "file": "File:NLS Haig - Smashed up German trench on Messines Ridge with dead (cropped 2).jpg",
   "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/NLS_Haig_-_Smashed_up_German_trench_on_Messines_Ridge_with_dead_%28cropped_2%29.jpg/500px-NLS_Haig_-_Smashed_up_German_trench_on_Messines_Ridge_with_dead_%28cropped_2%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail",
   "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NLS_Haig_-_Smashed_up_German_trench_on_Messines_Ridge_with_dead_(cropped_2).jpg",
   "caption": "This is a disturbing image of a destroyed German trench. In the foreground the limp bodies of dead German soldiers lie amidst the rubble. It is difficult to distinguish the soldiers from the chaos around them, but four bodies are clearly visible. One man, wearing a helmet, has been pushed forward by",
   "year": 1917,
   "licence": "Public domain",
   "artist": "John Warwick Brooke",
   "collection": null
  },
  {
   "file": "File:Soldier writing a letter, Messines, Belgium, 1917. A young soldier reclines on the ground. He is writing on a small piece of paper, possibly a letter home. He is using a block of wood as a makeshift (4688658710).jpg",
   "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Soldier_writing_a_letter%2C_Messines%2C_Belgium%2C_1917._A_young_soldier_reclines_on_the_ground._He_is_writing_on_a_small_piece_of_paper%2C_possibly_a_letter_home._He_is_using_a_block_of_wood_as_a_makeshift_%284688658710%29.jpg/500px-thumbnail.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail",
   "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Soldier_writing_a_letter,_Messines,_Belgium,_1917._A_young_soldier_reclines_on_the_ground._He_is_writing_on_a_small_piece_of_paper,_possibly_a_letter_home._He_is_using_a_block_of_wood_as_a_makeshift_(4688658710).jpg",
   "caption": "Soldier writing a letter, Messines, Belgium, 1917. A young soldier reclines on the ground. He is writing on a small piece of paper, possibly a letter home. He is using a block of wood as a makeshift writing desk. Behind him we can see a wall of sandbags and chicken wire. His helmet is lying on the g",
   "year": 1918,
   "licence": "No restrictions",
   "artist": "National Library of Scotland",
   "collection": null
  }
 ],
 "photos_kind": "photographs",
 "newspapers": {
  "slug": "messines-1917",
  "query": "Messines",
  "from": "1917-06-07",
  "to": "1917-06-28",
  "total": 940,
  "rights": "Library of Congress, Chronicling America: newspapers published before 1931, in the public domain. Text machine-read from the scanned page.",
  "pages": [
   {
    "date": "1917-06-07",
    "paper": "The richmond palladium and sun-telegram (richmond, ind.)",
    "place": "Richmond, Indiana",
    "url": "https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn86058226/1917-06-07/ed-1/?sp=1",
    "snippet": "... on a nine-mile front between [[tag]]Messines[[/tag]] ana wyis chaete and have taken all their first objectives. Thm Mficlal statement says that the British progress is. being continued and that a number of prisoners nave been taken. TV. nffioial tafompnt follows: l \"We attacked at 3:10 a. m., u morning German positions on the [[tag]]Messines[[/tag]] Wytschaete ridge, on a front of over nine miles. We have everywhere captured our first objec tives and further progress i3 reported to be satisfactory along the whole front of attack. Numbers of prisoners are reported already to be reaching the collection stations.\" The new British orfensive is against a sharp German salient three miles sooth of Ypres. For several days ..."
   },
   {
    "date": "1917-06-09",
    "paper": "The patriot (indiana, pa.)",
    "place": "Indiana, Pennsylvania",
    "url": "https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn85054967/1917-06-09/ed-1/?sp=5",
    "snippet": "... che trovasi nel Belgio fra [[tag]]Messines[[/tag]] e le alture di AYytsehaete, per una estensione di circa nove miglia. A seguito di un vigoroso bom bardamento contro le posizioni te desche per più che una settimana, le truppe inglesi hanno compiuto un 'importante avanzata, catturan do la cittì! di [[tag]]Messines[[/tag]] ed altre ini-' portanti posizioni tedesche. Fe cero inulte moltissimi prigionieri il cui numero va aumentando ma no mano che si ricevono le ultime notizie. Il numero finora conosci uto é di 5,000. W L'attacco venne iniziato alle ore -Ì.lO del mattino contro le posizi one nemiche che da si stendono alle creste di te per un fronte di nove subito il successo si delineo vore ..."
   },
   {
    "date": "1917-06-13",
    "paper": "The Morgan City daily review (Morgan City, La.)",
    "place": "Morgan City, Louisiana",
    "url": "https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn88064293/1917-06-13/ed-1/?sp=1",
    "snippet": "... front east and northeast of [[tag]]Messines[[/tag]] àn«i largely extended the gains pre viously made in this region. Nearly two miles of trenche| were stormed and occupied by the Britishers and in addition the small village of Gaspard, directly east of [[tag]]Messines[[/tag]], was captured. Berlin reports activity by thé British cavalry east of [[tag]]Messines[[/tag]] dur ing Monday afternoon, but says the attack by tiie mounted men was re pulsed and only remains of them were able to return to their posi tions. The German artilltry in the neighborhood of Lens and Ypres is bombarding the British line« The artillery of the french and Germans is still active along the Chemin-des-dames and in Champa gne. During Tuesday ..."
   },
   {
    "date": "1917-06-14",
    "paper": "Sioux County pioneer (Fort Yates, Sioux County, N.D.)",
    "place": "Fort Yates, North Dakota",
    "url": "https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn88076639/1917-06-14/ed-1/?sp=7",
    "snippet": "DRIVEN IN DISORDER FROM [[tag]]MESSINES[[/tag]] RIDGE. Mine Explosion Begins Work Com pleted by Artillery Fire and Bril liant Infantry Advance—Old Score Made Even. With the P.ritish Armies In France, June 7, via London, June 8.—The Brit ish armies struck today on a new front and won a victory which supplements the successes at Arras during the last two months. The Germans, though apparently aware that the blow was coming and seemingly prepared to meet It, were driven from their nearly three years' hold on [[tag]]Messines[[/tag]] ridge, opposite \"poor old\" Ypres. Ypres In a sense was avenged today, for [[tag]]Messines[[/tag]] ridge has been the vantage point from which the Germans have poured torrents of shells ..."
   },
   {
    "date": "1917-06-14",
    "paper": "Cheyenne record (Cheyenne Wells, Cheyenne County, Colo.)",
    "place": "Cheyenne Wells, Colorado",
    "url": "https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn89052329/1917-06-14/ed-1/?sp=3",
    "snippet": "... the British have captured the [[tag]]Messines[[/tag]]-Wytschaete ridge, which comraunds the whole of the German line in Belgium, and have smashed the German salient of which Wytschaete is the apex. The Germans, though apparently aware that the blow was coming and seemingly prepared to meet it, were driven from their nearly three years’ hold on [[tag]]Messines[[/tag]] ridge, opposite “poor old” Ypres. Ypres in a sense was avenged today, for [[tag]]Messines[[/tag]] ridge has been the vantage point from which the Germans have poured torrents of shells Into the stricken city. The British also wiped off an old score against the Ger mans, for they held the ridge in Octo ber, 1014, and with very thin forces, and ..."
   },
   {
    "date": "1917-06-15",
    "paper": "Northern Wisconsin advertiser (Wabeno, Wis.)",
    "place": "Wabeno, Wisconsin",
    "url": "https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn85040705/1917-06-15/ed-1/?sp=6",
    "snippet": "... Allies. DRIVEN IN DISORDER FROM [[tag]]MESSINES[[/tag]] RIDGE. Mine Explosion Begins Work Com pleted by Artillery Fire and Bril liant Infantry Advance—Old Score Made Even. With the British Armies In France, June 7, via London, June 8. —The Brit ish armies struck today on anew front and won a victory which supplements the successes at Arras during the last two months. The Germans, though apparently aware that the blow was coming and seemingly prepared to meet it, were driven from their nearly three years’ hold on [[tag]]Messines[[/tag]] ridge, opposite “poor old” Ypres. Ypres in a sense was avenged today, for [[tag]]Messines[[/tag]] ridge has been the vantage point from which the Germans have poured torrents of shells ..."
   },
   {
    "date": "1917-06-16",
    "paper": "Middletown transcript (Middletown, Del.)",
    "place": "Middletown, Delaware",
    "url": "https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84026820/1917-06-16/ed-1/?sp=2",
    "snippet": "... nearly three years hold on [[tag]]Messines[[/tag]] ridge, opposite \"poor The Germans, Ypres in a sense was old\" Ypres. avenged today, for [[tag]]Messines[[/tag]] ridge has been the vantage point from which the Germans have poured torrents of shells into (lie stricken city. The British also wiped off an old score against the Ger mans. for they held the ridge in Octo ber, 1914, and with very thin forces, and virtually no artillery, fought blood ily but vainly to hold it when the Prus sian troops massed their modern and overpowering weapons of war against it. Prisoners taken declared that the bombardment of Viiny ridge was child's play compared with the gunfire turned upon [[tag]]Messines[[/tag]] ri dee. ..."
   },
   {
    "date": "1917-06-28",
    "paper": "Mexico Missouri message (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.)",
    "place": "Mexico, Missouri",
    "url": "https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn89067273/1917-06-28/ed-1/?sp=2",
    "snippet": "... the Mes sines ridge, between [[tag]]Messines[[/tag]] and Wytschaete, where ever since October of 1014 the Germans had maintained themselves in a sharp salient that al ways threatened Ypres, only three miles to the north. The morning rush resulted in the capture of [[tag]]Messines[[/tag]] and Wytschaete and the enemy's de fense systems on the nine-mile front and later in the day another forward movement took the British into and through the village of Oosttaverne. The entire salient was straightened out and all the counter-attacks were re pulsed. Any considerable further ad vance in this sector will threaten the German hold on Lille, which Is about five miles from the nearest British po sition. Large numbers of ..."
   }
  ]
 }
}