From Beneath: Mines at Messines

Survivors of the war describe exploding huge mines at the Messines Ridge.

An episode of the Voices of the First World War podcast, hosted by BBC Radio 4, titled "From Beneath: Mines at Messines" was published on July 5, 2017 and runs 13 minutes.

July 5, 2017 ·13m · Voices of the First World War

Summary

Reaching 1917, Dan Snow explores the events of the year through the recollections of those who were there. As the fighting became more and more desperate, in the air, on the Western Front - even below ground in extensive mining operations - the morale of those being sent into battle was at times becoming dangerously low. In archive interviews survivors of the war recall their role in the attack on Messines Ridge in June 1917, which began with the devastating use of more than 20 huge mines, and the horrific destruction wreaked, both on the Germans and the landscape.

Episode Description