Shortly after 3.10 on the 7 June, 1917, British Prime Minister Lloyd George awoke at 10 Downing Street to the deep rumbling sound of war from across the Channel. What the Prime Minister heard was the intense artillery bombardment the British launched against the Germans following a colossal explosion after 19 mines were detonated from tunnels underneath the Germans’ position.
The Battle of Messines continued until 14 June, and although it had been initiated by the blast, the success of the British attack had been in the works for years. Since 1916, the British and German forces around Ypres had been in a stalemate: since 1914 the Germans had been positioned on the Messines ridge that overlooked the town, giving them the advantage, with the British sat on the other side of No-Man’s Land. To break the stalemate, the British engineered a network of tunnels below No-Man’s Land, creeping underneath the German trench complex and laying mines there.
