Article about: Another place in Belgium that's a must for every one to see, is the massive crater at La Boiselle. This place takes some beating and again it's hard to fathom out the events of yesteryear. A
Very interesting site, thanks for posting!
Its interesting that the German Position it was under was called "Schwaben Hohe" (Maybe höhe?) as that translates to "Swabian elevation"... it wasnt much of an elevation after the explosion.
May the poor souls that died in that explosion rest in peace, i hope their death was atleast quick.
Hawthorn Ridge redoubt was the site of the first of the 19 mines to be blown on the opening day of the battle of the Somme. It lay to the right of Serre, and in front of Beaumont Hamel close to the infamous 'Y' ravine. Geoffrey Malins filmed the detonation of the mine from a specially prepared site on the British Lines opposite the redoubt. The mine was fired at exactly 7:20am... a full 10 minutes before the attack went in. The reason for the early detonation was to make sure that the men detailed to capture the crater would not get caught in the debris from the explosion. The light artillery (field) was also supposed to stop firing for those vital few minutes just prior to the attack going in. But due to a mix-up, ALL the guns fell silent for the full 10 minutes... it was even reported that it was so quiet that birds could be heard singing. To the left of the crater at Serre,the Accrington Pals moved in to their jump-off point in front of their trenches at 7:25am. The Germans, by now alerted to the imminent attack by the mine being blown, rushed out of their deep bunkers and manned their front-line trenches. Their artillery opened up and the 'Pals' battalion suffered appalling losses. Before the attack they fielded just over 700 men, and within just a few hours they had lost nearly 600.
Hill 60 is in Belgium, and the fighting there was one of mining and counter mining. The 19 mines detonated on July 1st 1916 on the first day of the Somme in France were used to take out specific targets in the enemy front line prior to the attack going in.
Cheers,
Steve
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