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Blowing of Hooge Crater - The First World War - July 1915

Hooge was considered a dangerous place as the enemy, in a raised position, could still see across the British line, which was from Hooge along the Menin Road until it turned north, about four hundred yards along the way.

A huge mine was blown at Hooge, which exploded at 7pm. The explosion created a crater that had a lip 15 feet above ground level, 120 feet wide and 20 feet deep.

The Middlesex Regiment managed to advance through the German trenches once the mine was blown, but were forced back to only a few yards from the Crater by the German artillery.

A man called Billy Congreve had reported on the attack, 'The mine went off most successfully and the Middlesex took the Crater without much trouble, also the piece of trench in front of Island Posts. The Middlesex worked down the trenches....,but were unable to stay there as they ran out of bombs. It was a real bombing battle. The Crater is huge, and the explosion greater than we thought possible; so great that several of the storming party were buried by falling debris, in spite of the fact that they were all withdrawn south of the man road'.
This quotation is from Congreve who actually fought in the battle and his opinion on how successful it was.

This image has been thumbnailed, click on it to see a larger version.

The Blowing of Hooge Crater was written by Reena Bhalla, a Year 9 student at Laisterdyke High School.

Tunnelling and the exploding of mines was a common feature of warfare on the Western Front. As advance through no-mans land was fraught with danger, as many opportunities as possible to ease the attack were sought. This method involved tunnelling underneath no-mans land, placing large mines underneath the enemy lines and then exploding the mines at a designated time. Given the size of the explosives it was often the case that the enemy trench was blown out of existence. The mine would create havoc in the enemy lines and, in theory at least, a swift attack would be able to gain ground quickly and with minimal loss of life as the enemy would be in a state of much confusion. Other examples of the use of tunnelling and the blowing of Mines can be found at Vimy Ridge among other places.