22nd July; More on Messines Ridge

I need to let the reader know that we have a gap in the letters. I don't think that Harry didn't write any, I suspect that a small bundle was lost or removed. I know that this is slightly against the spirit of the blog, but the family at home would probably have had the comfort of letters.

I have, thanks to a helpful reader, found the location of Harry's Unit for this battle. It would appear that Harry had achieved objectives by the 11th, when he wrote two letters.

Click on the map for an enlarged view.

Harry was part of the 23rd Division. Two large mines, shown as small circles on the map, were detonated just ahead of Harry on the morning of 7th June. Their objective was likely to be "Hill 60" or "Mount Sorell".

As the explosions took place at 0310, the cameras of the day were almost certainly incapable of recording the event. However, I have included a link to a movie of a similar mine exploded a year earlier before the Somme Offensive. Click here