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Welcome to the Ypres Salient
This site presents the story of the First World War in the West Flanders region. The various categories provide a wealth of information about a range of subjects.
The Roll of Honour category is where you will find the details of all the men from Falkirk District who are buried or commemorated in the Immortal Salient.
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The Mine Craters of Messines Ridge, Cratering the Ridge
Messines is to the tunneller what Waterloo was to Wellington. Never in the history of British warfare has a miner played such a great and vital part in a battle. The tunnelling and mining operation at Messines were a staggering feat of engineering by the Tunnelling Companies. Today, we accept that twenty five charges had been placed - La Petite Douve was lost to countermining and 'C' gallery at Peckham to geology - and many more were either completed or close to being complet
Apr 9, 202328 min read
The Birdcage Mines, Le Pelerin
On the 17 July 1955, the Number 3 Birdcage mine exploded, some thirty-eight years after the charge had been laid. A massive burst of energy from a lightning strike had struck one of the armoured firing leads and blew the charge. It left a huge crater, today filled in and there is a slight depression in the ground to mark the location. No one was harmed. It is a reminder that the detonators are still highly dangerous however, what was surprising was that the ammonal had surviv
Apr 8, 20233 min read
Ultimo and Factory Farm Mines
At the end of February 1916, 171 Tunnelling Company began sinking a shaft M.2 for the mine at Trench 121. They got through the surface loam and down 30 feet before they reached the blue clay. By the end of March the shaft was now at 78 feet, and they were preparing to commence the drive.
Apr 8, 20232 min read
Trench 127 Mines
The two mines at this location were on either side of the road near Anton's Farm, they no longer exist having been filled in and one built over. From here a branch gallery turned left and ran 250 feet and this was chambered and charged with 36,000 lbs of ammonal on the 29 April 1916. They then continued the main drive to a length of 1,357 feet where they created a chamber and charged this with 50,000 lbs of ammonal in mid-May 1916.
Apr 8, 20232 min read
Ontario Farm Mine
Ontario Farm was in the German lines and faced south covering the whole front looking towards Ploegsteert. This mine was the work of 171...
Apr 8, 20232 min read
Kruisstraat Cabaret Mines
The Kruisstraat mines were begun by 250 Tunnelling Company in late December 1915. The shaft was sunk in the remains of a thicket just off Kingsway communication trench that led to the British front line at D.5 opposite the Germans at Kruisstraat. There were now three mines one of 49,000lbs and two of 30,000 lbs of ammonal. The mines were ready by 9 May 1917.
Apr 8, 20232 min read
Spanbroekmolen Mine
This mine was started by 250 Tunnelling Company in December 1915. The TC was commanded by Captain Cecil Cropper a metal mining engineer from Northumberland. His HQ lay within the Canadian Corps at La Clytte, and he had been ordered by Brigadier-General Charles Armstrong, Canadian Chief Engineer, to come up with an aggressive plan to counter the German mining on his front. Cropper had concluded that it was no use trying to sink shafts in the front or support trenches.
Apr 8, 20234 min read
Peckham Mine
This mine was started on 18 December 1915 behind the British trench known as G.2 by 250 Tunnelling Company, No.2 section commanded by Captain Haydn Rees, a Welshman from the collieries of south Wales. By March 1917 they had connected with the mine in ‘A’ gallery and it was made ready.
Apr 8, 20233 min read
Maedelstede Farm
The mine was started by 250 Tunnelling Company in late 1916 and was probably the most ambitious of the Messines Ridge scheme. The two galleries ran out parallel to each other with No.2 gallery turning to the right towards its target of Maedelstede Farm and No.1 gallery proceeding toward its target of Wytschaete Wood a distance of some 2,600 feet and well behind the German front line.
Apr 8, 20232 min read
Petit Bois Mines
Perhaps the most remarkable of all the mines where the twin mines at Petit Bois or S.P.13, each with 30,000 lbs of ammonal with blastine chambered at the end of an 1,800-foot-long gallery, the second longest. The shaft was sunk 500 yards behind the British lines in the shelter of the ruins of Vandamme Farm in late 1915 by 250 Tunnelling Company. The shaft went down 58 feet with a gallery driven to 55 feet before it was decided to go deeper still and by the end of January 1916
Apr 6, 20236 min read
Hollandscheschuur Farm Mines
In November 1915, 250 Tunnelling Company took over responsibility for a front of nearly 3,000 yards extending from Bois Carre south to Kruisstraat Cabaret, with Wytschaete village opposite the centre of the line.
250 Tunnelling Company began to deepen the shaft located in trench M.2. the shaft was sunk to a depth of 18 metres (58 feet) and the tunnel driven 130 yards to the German front line underneath the high ground known as Nags Nose.
Apr 6, 20233 min read
St Eloi Mine
This area was a mining hot spot with each side blowing mines and countermines. The front line ran through the houses of the village. By the end of 1915, 33 mines and 31 camouflets had been blown by both sides. By May 1917, the gallery had been driven 503 metres (1,650 feet). The tunnelling section under the command of Section Officer Captain Stuart Thorne now created the chamber and laid the largest British charge of the war a staggering 95,300lbs of ammonal plus 300lbs of ge
Apr 6, 20233 min read
Hill 60 & Caterpillar Mines
Hill 60 & Caterpillar Mine Craters, These were the northern most mines and they were 200 yards apart. Both 171 and 172 Tunnelling Companies had been mining at Hill 60 since their formation. The mining here had been continuous and at an average depth of 4.5 metres (15 feet) and each side had fired two or three camouflets per day, mostly small charges. A virtual stalemate had been reached when General Allenby, commanding V Corps, ordered a deep mining offensive against Hill 60
Apr 4, 20237 min read
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