battle of messines

Omissions? Next day the cavalry advanced onto high ground east of Mont des Cats and occupied Mont Noir, 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Bailleul. After years of suffering heavy casualties in the salient, in 1917 the Allies planned to break out. Welcome to what was a key part of the Battle of Messines between the 7th to the 10th of June 1917. Erich von Falkenhayn, Chief of Oberste Heeresleitung (German General Staff) ordered the German 6th Army to move from the German-French border to the northern flank on 17 September. The first move was to capture the Messines Ridge. The cavalry were ordered to cross the Lys between Armentières and Menin as the III Corps advanced north-east, to clear the way for the cavalry and gain touch with the 7th Division near Ypres. The objective was to force the Germans from the ridges around Messines and then enable British forces, including Ulst… Articles such as this one were acquired and published with the primary aim of expanding the information on Britannica.com with greater speed and efficiency than has traditionally been possible. The Battle of Messines was a battle which happened in the Western front of the First World War.It began on 7 June 1917 when the British Second Army, which was commanded by General Herbert Plumer, attacked near the village of Mesen (Messines) in West Flanders, Belgium.The attack was meant to capture a ridge which ran north from Messines village, past Wytschaete village. The Battle of Messines during the First World War was a prelude to the much larger Third Battle of Ypres − better known as Passchendaele − which began on 31 July 1917. The brigades engaged the 6th Bavarian Division, preventing it from supporting the 26th Division, the British suffering many losses, as did the Germans in their efforts to reach Messines. The French resorted to more cautious infantry tactics, using cover to reduce casualties and centralised command as the German army commanders followed contradictory plans. The French IV Corps moved from Lorraine on 2 September in 109 trains and assembled by 6 September. The leading German units were less than 3 miles (4.8 km) from Ypres but pushed no further. The front fell quiet, action being limited to raids by both sides and heavy shelling of Ypres by German artillery. In the aftermath of the first battle of the Marne, it was decided to move the BEF back north to Flanders, to shorten its supply lines back to the channel ports. They failed at the ridge but the Lancers recaptured the town. The terrain was difficult for infantry operations because of the lack of observation, impossible for mounted action because of the many obstructions and difficult for artillery because of the limited view. Let us know. The battle for the Messines Ridge was an attempt by the Allies to capture land to the southeast of Ypres to gain control of the higher land in the Ypres Salient. Gough only had 1,500 men and ten guns of the 10,000 men and fifty guns deemed necessary to defend such a position and the troops were spread over 4 miles (6.4 km). [7], On 15 October, the cavalry was ordered to reconnoitre the Lys from Estaires to Menin. On 12 October, the British cavalry advanced and found the Germans dug in on Mont des Cats and at Flêtre, on the road from Cassel to Bailleul. [5], The rest of the Flanders Plain was woods and small fields, divided by hedgerows planted with trees and cultivated from small villages and farms. 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