Gentlemen we may not make history tomorrow. But we shall certainly change the geography. Those were the words spoken before the attack. The speaker was General Sir Charles Harington. He was Chief of Staff of the Second Army. He spoke to the press. He spoke the evening before the Battle of Messines. Now here we are at the Factory Farm Crater.
The Factory Farm Crater marks a violent event. It changed the landscape forever. We are standing at what was once the site of a fortified farm. The Germans incorporated it into their front-line trenches.
To understand the Factory Farm Crater, we must journey back to World War I. The British sought to dislodge the Germans. The Germans occupied the Belgian coast. They used its ports as bases. From there, they attacked merchant ships. They also attacked troop transports. These were in the North Sea and English Channel. Capturing these ports became a major objective for the British army.
Before that could happen, the British had to drive the Germans out. They needed to push them from the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge. This was a tactically important high ground. It was located south of Ypres, in Belgium. The British attacked German positions. They used underground mines with great success. Sir Douglas Haig was the British Commander-in-Chief. He decided that the capture of the ridge should be accomplished by mines too.
Royal Engineers dug tunnels. They worked carefully over several months. They dug under German lines. They packed them with 450,000 kg of explosives. On June 7, 1917, at 3:10 a.m., they fired them. It was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history.
The shock wave was felt far and wide. At Lille University’s geology department, 20 km away, they mistook it for an earthquake. Seismographs detected tremors near Utrecht. That’s 200 km away. It was even felt on the Isle of Wight. That’s nearly 300 km away. Rumors spread. People said the sound of the explosion was heard in London and Dublin. Eyewitnesses near the action reported seeing pillars of fire rising.
British journalist Philip Gibbs reported the incident. He said, Suddenly at dawn, there rose out of the dark ridge of Messines enormous volumes of scarlet flame. The German troops were stunned. They were horror-stricken if they were not killed outright. Many of them lay dead in the great craters opened by the mines.
One of the mines was under Hill 60. It was charged with 24,000 kg of explosives. Another mine was under Caterpillar. It was charged with 32,000 kg of explosives. Both explosions blew away large parts of the hill. About 10,000 German soldiers were killed or went missing in the Messines Ridge explosions.
Here at Factory Farm, 18,000 kg of explosives were detonated. It was part of a diversionary tactic. However, it was not as successful as anticipated.
Much of the upcast around the Factory Farm Crater has been removed. Over the last 90 years the soil was used to level this low-lying field. It was an attempt to reduce winter flooding. The area of rough grass close to the Factory Farm Crater is the remaining section of upcast.
This mine was part of a larger operation. The Battle of Messines changed the geography. It left permanent scars on the land. The Factory Farm Crater and others like it remind us of the cost of war. They stand as silent witnesses to a pivotal moment in history. These craters are a testament to human ingenuity. They are also a somber reminder of the destructive power of conflict.