Mine Craters on the Somme
Lochnagar and Hawthorn Ridge
Standing at its edge the mine crater of Lochnagar dwarfs all those who stand beside it staring down into its depth at the circle of poppy crosses at its base. The crater was created July 1, 1916 when the explosive packed mine was detonated by the Royal Engineers at 7:28 AM on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
The tunneling units of the Royal Engineers detonated ten mines on that day, the two largest mines using 24 tons of ammonal, an explosive made of ammonium nitrate and aluminum powder. These mines were located near La Boiselle to either side of the road from Albert to Bapaume, the Y Sap mine to the north and Lochnagar mine to the south. Lochnagar is easily viewed and frequently visited, thanks to the interest of Richard Dunning who purchased the ground in order that it might be preserved for future generations.
Another of the famed mines from that first day is located on Hawthorn Ridge, to the west of Beaumont Hamel, and where 18 tons of explosives were packed. The crater is now heavily regenerated with trees rising from the gap in the ground and is not as easily viewed as Lochnagar. Still, with the steady descent into this pit, one cannot help but think back to the hurtling earth launched skyward from the explosion and captured by the Great War photographer Ernest Brooks.
Film cinematographer Geoffrey Malins also captured the explosion with moving images and later reported, “The ground where I stood gave a mighty convulsion. It rocked and swayed. I gripped hold of my tripod to steady myself. Then for all the world like a gigantic sponge, the earth rose high in the air to the height of hundreds of feet. Higher and higher it rose, and with a horrible grinding roar the earth settles back upon itself, leaving in its place a mountain of smoke.”
I often recall my visits to these craters, and at time have returned to these great poxes on the earth reintroducing myself to that one day in July. Returning to Lochnagar I recall my first visit, the memorial introducing visitors to the spectacle, and as I wander around its crest, the visitors who come a bit afterwards and who, like myself, cannot help but stand in awe at this gap in the ground where earth and men were flung from their base heavenwards.
Did you know?
Lochnagar is the name of a mountain in Scotland located near Balmoral.
For those interested in learning more about tunneling units of the Great War, visit your local library and check out “Beneath Flanders Fields: The Tunnellers’ War 1914-1918” by Peter Doyle, Peter Barton and Johan Vandewalle.
If possible try to locate the film, “Beneath Hill 60”, an Australian film that tells the true story of Oliver Woodward MC and Two Bars a legendary Australian tunneler and the men whose war occurred not only above but below ground.
A Youtube video is available that shows the explosion of the Hawthorn Ridge Mine.
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