Crater Hawtorn Ridge

Hawtorn Ridge was the English name for the location of a German field fortification constructed in September 1914 west of the village of Beaumont Hamel on the Somme. At 7:20 a.m. on July 1, 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the British detonated 18,000 kilograms of explosives they had dug in under Hawthorn Ridge. The detonation was filmed. The ensuing attack on the German reinforcement ended in failure. The crater left after the explosion is still there and can be visited.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Koos Winkelman