The Battle of Messines

The Battle of Messines (7Â-14 June 1917)[Note 1] was an offensive conducted by the British Second Army, under the command of General Herbert Plumer, on the Western Front near the village of

By the end of 1916, the war, now well into the third year, showed little sign of reaching a conclusion and was starting to have a serious effect on morale, particularly in the French Army. The huge loss of life and atrocious conditions in the front lines were affecting the mental stability of survivors, and their initial optimism of a successful outcome was fast being eroded. The British commanders were aware of these problems and were determined to make a big effort in the coming spring to take the initiative, on the north of the line, and relieve pressure on the French in the south.

It was the view of General Haig and his staff that the enemy had suffered more casualties at the Somme than the Allies and the time was ripe to strike a major blow. Not only had the Germans suffered on the Western Front but had also sustained heavy casualties in the East with a calculated one million dead by the middle of 1916. Their hope was to foster Russia's withdrawal from the war and be able to strengthen their numbers facing the Allied forces in France and Belgium. Before this could happen the British and Dominion Forces needed to act. The third battle of Ypres was in the planning.

The severe winter of 1916/17 still held its grip into February when the New Zealander Division, which had re-organised and filled in the losses from the Somme, moved to new positions, first in the line between Sailly and St Yves then on 13 March, with snow still falling, a little further north to Wulverghem - Wytschaete, occupying the three subsections of St Yves, Wulverghem and Messines - a line they held for three months prior to the beginning of the offensive.

ANZAC II was now part of second Army under the command of General Hubert Plumer. The British had occupied this part of the Western Front since 1915 when they stopped the German advance and although being unable to dislodge them in two previous battles had spent much of that time digging tunnels under the enemy lines. These would be used and have a huge effect on the outcome of the battle.

Planning for the Third Battle of Ypres had been under way for some time and the first target would be the medieval town of Messines, situated on high ground overlooking the countryside. The task which was allocated to the New Zealanders was to capture Messines and secure the village from enemy control. The layout for the attack had the Third Australians Division on the right, the New Zealanders in the middle with a front of 1400 meters from the Douve River to just north of Wulverghem-Messines Road, and the British 25th Division protecting the left. Their objectives were the investment of Messines, and the consolidation of a line from St Yves to the Oostaverne trenches east of the town joining the Corps boundary on the left.

During this period two significant events occurred that would have a big effect on the war. On 4 April the United States declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary and 12 days later Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, who called himself Lenin, arrived in Petrograd by train from Switzerland to take over control of the Russian Revolution. This move had been orchestrated by the Germans.

Preparations for the battle had been ongoing for some time before the attack opened at 3am on 7th June. A network of railways and tramways had been developed, ammunition dumps increased and new gun positions constructed. Preparatory bombardments had started in the third week of May and gradually increased in intensity for the rest of the month.

The battle started with the detonation of a series of mines spreading from the east of Ploegsteert Wood to the outskirts of Ypres, a distance of 8km. The tunnellers had set huge quantities of explosives to destroy trenches and wire defences. Twenty-five had been set to go at 3am - 10 minutes before the infantry went over the top. At Factory Farm, in front of the Australians, 9000 kilograms of ammonal explosive were detonated while at Ontario Farm, on the left flank of the New Zealanders, 27,000kg was used. The ground shook so severely that it resembled a major earthquake and the huge holes created are still visible. The sound of the explosions was reportedly heard as far away as London, 250km away.

The New Zealand charge was led by 3rd Rifle and 2nd Infantry Brigades. In the dark they moved rapidly down over the Steenebeeck stream encountering light opposition in the area of the La Petite Douve farm and reaching their objectives without incident. The Tunnellers had done their job well, with an estimated 10,000 Germans buried alive or blown to pieces and the survivors were in a state of shock and disoriented. The crest of the hill, fronting Messines, and the German trench lines in front were quickly overwhelmed with little resistance, surprising the defenders by the speed of the assault. Their front line system had been secured within a quarter of and hour of the scheduled timing.

The advance continued but came under intense fire from a machine gun on the outskirts of Messines. Men fell rapidly and the line was checked. Then Lance Corporal Samuel Frickleton (3rd Rifles) took control of the situation and with his section rushed the gun crew tossing grenades and bayoneting the survivors. He then attacked a second gun 20m away killing the three operators, as well as others in a dugout. For this action he was awarded the Victoria Cross, New Zealand's second on the western Front.
!The initial advance had taken just 50 minutes and by 4am, with first hint of dawn the infantry consolidated their positions by digging new trenches, some 64m behind the earlier German front line. It was now time for the machine gun crews to move up the hill and position themselves to cover the advance on Messines. The village was built on flat land with ground sloping away to south east and west. Since ancient times it had enjoyed a strong defensive position and the Germans had been quick to exploit this. On all sides they had heavily wired trenches and within had built five concrete dugouts commanding a line of the main streets. Many of the small cottages were strengthened with cellars converted to shell-proof dugouts.

The swiftness and surety of the raiding parties however soon overcame any opposition and cleared each of the cellars in turn by smoke bombs and light trench mortars, capturing the German commander and his staff in their headquarters in the Institute Royale building. By 5am all objectives had been reached and Messines, although not entirely free of opposition in the northern part, was closely invested. Two hours later the last centres of resistance were cleared out of their bunkers and the village was in Allied hands.

But there was still some more work to do. The final objective for the New Zealand Division was a line 550m in front of the captured trenches to the east of Messines and 1st Wellington and 2nd Otago Battalions attacked with three companies. A special platoon of the Wellington Regiment, under command of 2nd Lieutenant Arthur Blennerhassett was detailed to storm Blauwen Molen mill and the sap leading to it. After a few minutes hard fighting the site was rushed to find a dugout full of Germans - one officer and 26 men were taken prisoner. Arthur Blennerhassett from Whanganui enlisted as a bank clerk in Taihape. He died in action at Le Quesnoy seven days before the armistice came into effect.

After some tidying up work around the fringes the new line was consolidated and victory assured. It was an example of thorough planning, realistic objectives, detailed training and split-second timing and co-ordination between all units. On June 9 the New Zealand Division was replaced by the 4th Australian Division in the trenches and withdrew into Corps Reserve.
Writing from hospital 'somewhere in France' to his parents in Harrison Street Rifleman John Campbell gave a vivid description of the battle.

'I have been gassed and had shell-shock - between the German second and third line. A German saw us coming and threw a gas bomb at us - there were four of us and the three others went black in the face in few moments and fell into a big hole; but there is one thing, that Fritz will never throw another bomb. I could not breathe but somehow or other I struggled about and got my gas helmet on. This happened on the way up the hill. Some of the guys that were gassed went back but I didn't. I caught up with the boys and was well in it again. We took this third line in great style and pushed for another or three hundred yards and dug in. We were now right through Messines - and held until the afternoon. By now some of the excitement had worn off and I began to feel the effects of the gas. That night we came out to a big dugout. Our cooks had big dinner for us but I was too ill to eat anything. I slept well that night but was very 'crook' in the morning - - and went to the dressing station and the doctor sent me away to hospital.

I could write a lot about the attack on Messines and the big mines - an earthquake was nothing to them. It was a great sight. I don't know how long I will be here in hospital and suppose I will go back to the Company in a few days so of course may get a 'smack' before this stunt is over'.

John survived the war by avoiding a 'smack' and returned to New Zealand on 22 October 1918.