At 0730 hours on the 1st July, 1916, after a week-long ; launched the now infamous "Big Push" attack across the river Somme. With the French Army being hard-pressed to the south at Verdun the British intended to breakthrough the German defences in a matter of hours.
The mistrust that High Command had of the so-called "New Armies" manifested itself in the orders to the troops to keep uniformed lines and to march towards the enemy across no-man's land. This, coupled with the failure of the artillery bombardment to dislodge much of the German wire, or to destroy their machine-gun posts, led to one of the biggest slaughters in military history.
When the attack began the Germans dragged themselves out of their dugouts, manned their posts and destroyed the oncoming waves of British infantry.
After the first day, with a gain of only 1.5km, the British had suffered 57,470 casualties. Despite this, Haig pressed on with the attack until November 19th of the same year. For the meagre achievements, total losses on the British and Imperial side numbered 419,654 with German casualties between 450,000 and 680,000. When the offensive was eventually called off the British were still 3 miles short of Bapaume and Serre, part of their first-day objectives
The Battle of Messines Ridge pitted the British against the German army. The British were being commanded by Herbert "Daddy" Plumer. The nickname of "Daddy" was apparently earned by the reddish coloring in his face. The man had a pot-bellied figure that probably helped a many young British soldier relate to their own fathers. Obviously in a time of great conflict, Plumber was no doubt a man great comfort. Beyond providing a paternal like comfort, it was Plumer's job to insure his men stayed alive. Messines Ridge was not making his job easy.
Plumer began to investigate the possibilities of taking the ridge. Option one allowed for his men to climb out of their trenches and run towards the large land mass that happened to be possessed by a large German army. Given the fact that the Germans had the high ground, this option was not possible. Second option was to try and simple bomb the area using heavy cannon. By unearthing the Germans, Plumer could hope simply for a miracle and have all the Germans killed in their bunkers. That had been tried at the Somme and it had failed. That was one mistake the British were not going to make again. Finally, Plumer's third option came from the advice of some of his men. It was one that had never been thought of before. Plumber had some men who had worked in the coal mines. These former miners, now turned soldiers suggested to Plumer that he simply blow Messines Ridge up. Why not? It wouldn't cost him any men. He would take the area and the Germans would be out of his hair. After all, his orders were to save as many men as possible while removing the Germans from the ridge.
Plumer's men began digging tunnels towards the ridge. Using the expertise of the coal miners, Plumber's men were able to dig a series of 19 tunnels that led directly under the German army. The earth that was taken out was used to help build up the British held trenches. This came in handy during times of heavy shelling and periodic machine gun fire. Eventually, Plumer's men were able to load the 19 tunnels with an estimated one million pounds of TNT. This of course was more than enough to handle to the job at hand.
When the blast came in 1917, no one, not even Plumer himself, knew what to expect. Whatever was on their minds, the results were beyond believe. The ridge, for the most part, had been blown apart. Those Germans that had not been killed were found mainly to be incoherent. The blast was heard over 300 miles away. To say the least, Plumer's objective had been met.
