The Massive Blast That Swallowed an Army Alive

Описание: On an evening of June 1917, a group of reporters gathered at the Western Front to get the latest information about a massive offensive the British Command was about to launch.

Excited, British Major General Charles Harington told them [QUOTE]: "Gentlemen, I do not know whether we shall change history tomorrow. But we shall certainly alter the geography."

For nearly two years, British miners had worked non-stop, burrowing under German lines near the Belgian village of Messines. Vast kilometers of intricate and deep tunnels were dug to be packed with thousands of pounds of explosives.

On June 7, 1917, 19 enormous mines buried below the German line in the Messines ridge were detonated. The result was an escalated series of explosions that sent kilometric amounts of soil, concrete, and soldiers up into the air.

The blasts were so massive that they could be heard in France and England. This was the Great War's most lethal explosion: over 10,000 German soldiers perished in less than 5 minutes.

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