The Factory Farm crater, one of the St Yvon line of craters near Mesen, Belgium.
The Factory Farm crater, one of the St Yvon line of craters near Mesen, Belgium. There are three St. Yvon (or St. Yves) craters. "The overall front of the Messines offensive was around nine miles, stretching from near Hill 60 in the north in a crescent shape reflecting the German held salient or bulge here, to St. Yves just above Ploegsteert Wood in the south. For a number of reasons, not all of the mines which had been originally planned for the Messines assault exploded that day (7th June) in 1917. One, somewhere in the vicinity of La Petit Douve Farm south-east of Messines, was discovered by the Germans in August 1916, and subsequently flooded and abandoned. Another, near the St. Yvon craters (which are south-east of Messines) subsequently exploded after a thunderstorm in July 1955, nearly 40 years later. This crater was subsequently filled in. This mine was one of a group of four mines, known as the "Birdcage" mines, and located just to the north of Ploegsteert Wood. These were not blown in 1917 for tactical reasons (and the Germans had already withdrawn from this location when the day of the battle arrived). Presumably the remaining three, plus the La Petit Douve Farm mine described above, still lie beneath the Flanders fields. Indeed, Spanbroekmolen, the largest mine, was also lost to the Germans for a time, when the tunneling work there was discovered in February 1917. It was however recovered in time for it to be blown as planned at on June the 7th 1917. All nineteen mines were blown within 19 seconds of one another. The mines at St Yvon were originally known as Trench 127 and Trench 122 mines." (Source: )
Size: 5129px × 3418px
Location: St Yvon Crater, Mesen, Belgium.
Photo credit: © Maurice Savage / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 122, 127, battlefield, battlefields, belgium, crater, factory, farm, flanders, grave, great, ieper, mesen, messines, mines, monument, remembrance, st., tourism, tourist, traveller, trench, war, world, wwi, ypres, yves, yvon
