Ploegsteert Memorial

The Battle of Messines

• 9 mile front between Ypres and Armentieres.

• German hands since 1914.

• Capture of the high ground allowed the Allies to drive the enemy back.

The Battle of Messines Continued

• 1917 battle, the first substantial Allied victory of WW1.

• All Commonwealth forces: Anzacs, Canadians, Irish and British divisions.

Captured German trenches on the Messines Ridge

Battle Strategy

• The main attack involved explosions under enemy trenches.

• 7th June 1917.• Allied forces rushed

forward, capturing German trenches. The Battle of Messines. Charles Wheeler

(1923). Men of the 3rd Australian Div

Largest conventional man made explosion in history

• Mines laid by the Royal Engineers• 450 tons of explosive placed 75ft

below German trenches.• At 3am the largest conventional,

man made, explosion in history, echoed across Europe.

The Memorial

• South of the area of Ypres, is Ploegsteert, known to Allied Forces as "Plugstreet".

• Memorial for the missing soldiers of WWI, who fought in the immediate area of Ypres.

Ploegsteert Memorial

Any Questions?

Ploegsteert Memorial

• Memorial for the missing soldiers of WW1, who fought in the immediate area of Ypres.

• Battle of Messines 1917• Largest conventional man-

made explosion ever.