Looking from an old crater on the north side of Hill 60, over the shell pitted ground towards ...

Looking from an old crater on the north side of Hill 60, over the shell pitted ground towards Zillebeke Lake. The 1st Australian Tunnelling Company took over mining operations and mine fighting from the Canadians on Hill 60, the Canadians having previously taken over from the British. For months the underground workings had been dug and re-dug, lost and recaptured, until finally with a tremendous charge of 123,500 pounds of explosive, the Australians blew the craters in the opening phase of the battle of Messines, on 7 June 1917. The result was particularly deadly, for the mine was stated by the Germans to have taken up with it a whole company of Wurtumbergers, and prepared the way for the advance of the British troops over this area. Note the soldier standing to the left of a large water filled crater.