"Side of Huge Crater La Boiselle. M.G. School". This inscription was recorded on the back of the ...

"Side of Huge Crater La Boiselle. M.G. School". This inscription was recorded on the back of the original photograph by the photographer. To this inscription 3120 Sergeant Norman Max Pontin has added in his own hand; "Knocked 100 yards from this mine crater Sausage Valley". Sgt Pontin was referring to an incident on 5 August 1916 when he was seriously wounded with a gun shot wound to the shoulder. The "great crater" at La Boisselle was formed when the British Army detonated 60,000 pounds, or 26.8 tons of high explosives, under the German trenches. This was one of four mines, two large and two smaller, that were detonated on the morning of 1 July 1916 under German trenches around La Boisselle. The 'great crater', the largest mine detonated by the British on the Western Front, measured 90 feet deep and 300 feet across. The British Army attacked immediately after mines were detonated but were repulsed at great loss by the German Army. This photograph is one of a series taken by Cpl Nenke, or with his camera. Cpl Nenke was a despatch rider in the 1st Divisional Signal Company (1DSC). Soldier photographers taking photographs in active service areas in France or Belgium are rare, as discovery usually resulted in Court Martial. It is considered that this photograph was among the personal effects of 3120 Sergeant N M Pontin, who served in the 14th and 46th Battalion, and repatriated to his next-of-kin in Australia, after he was killed in action on 11 April 1917.