I have described how under the proposed bill of 'Home Rule ' the 16th Irish Division and the 36th Ulster Division were formed. The actual bill was cancelled until the war ended, but both Carson of the 36th and Redmond of the 16th wanted their men to fight in France. It was an idea based on the fact that if their men fought well, the British Government would favour the side which made the biggest contribution. Both lived in false hopes. Both Divisions had fought seperately and with great courage on the battlefields of the Somme, and both Divisions had suffered heavily. A day of significance for Ireland was the 7th June 1917 when, at the Battle of Messines, Irishmen and Ulstermen fought side by side.
Let us look at the battle:
Let us look at the battle:
the irish
O let the Orange lily be
Your badge, my patriot brother.
The everlasting green for me,
And we for one another
Your badge, my patriot brother.
The everlasting green for me,
And we for one another
The Battle of Messines
The Battle of Messines began on the 7th June 1917 when the British Second Army under the command of General Herbert Plumer launched an offensive near the village of Mesen ( Messines ) in West Flanders, Belgium. The target of the offensive was a ridge running north from Messines village past Wytschaete village which created a natural stronghold southeast of Ypres. One of the key features of the battle was the detonation of 19 mines immediately prior to the infantry assault and placed at strategic points under the German trenches. It was a tactic which disrupted the German defences and allowed the advancing troops to secure their objectives in rapid fashion. The attack was also a prelude to the much larger Third Battle of Ypres, known as Passchendale, which began on the 11th July and would also involve Irish troops
Map of battle, depicting the fron on the 7th June and subsequent action until 14th June
Background
The assault on Messines ridge was conceived in early 1916, as Plumer sought ways to break German control of important strategic locations in the Ypres area. When it became apparent that the French offensive on the River Aisne would not succeed, General Douglas Haig reconceived the Messines operation as a precursor to a larger assault in the Ypres sector and ordered Plumer to proceed with the attack as soon as possible. Not only would capturing Messines Ridge give the British control of important strategic ground, it would also flatten out the southern flank of the Ypres Salient, where the fighting had dragged on. This would both reduce the manpower needed to maintain the front, and reduce the German strategic and tactical advantages in the area.
Mining Operations
Over a period beginning more than a year before the attack, Canadian, Australian, and British engineers had tunneled under the German trenches and laid 21 mines totalling 455 tonnes of ammonal explosive. To solve the problem of wet soil, the tunnels were made in the layer of blue clay, 80-120 feet below the surface. The galleries dug in order to lay these mines totalled over 8,000 yards in length, and had been constructed in the face of tenacious German counter mining efforts. On several occasions, German tunnelers were within metres of large British mine chambers. One mine was found by the Germans, and the chamber was wrecked by a countermine. The largest of the 21 Messines mines was at Spanbroekmolen; the ' Lone Tree Crater ' formed by the blast was approximately 250 feet in diameter and 40 feet deep. The mine consisted of 41 tons of ammonal explosive, located in a chamber dug 88 feet below the ground.
Although the mine exploding at the beginning of this film ( left ) was actually detonated on the Somme, it still makes interesting viewing with regards to the preperation of the mine and shaft. This type of preperation and activity would have been exactly the same at Messines.
