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Voices of the First World War

Voices of the First World War: From Beneath: Mines at Messines

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Factual: History

05/07/2017

From Beneath: Mines at Messines

BBC Radio 4 - Voices of the First World War, From Beneath: Mines at Messines

Survivors of the war describe exploding huge mines at the Messines Ridge.

Survivors of the war describe the extraordinary feats of military engineering - and the deadly cost to German soldiers - involved in exploding huge mines at the Messines Ridge.

Reaching 1917, Dan Snow explores the events of the year through the recollections of those who were there. As the fighting became more and more desperate, in the air, on the Western Front - even below ground in extensive mining operations - the morale of those being sent into battle was at times becoming dangerously low. 
In archive interviews survivors of the war recall their role in the attack on Messines Ridge in June 1917, which began with the devastating use of more than 20 huge mines, and the horrific destruction wreaked, both on the Germans and the landscape.

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Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Dan Snow tells the story of World War I through the voices of those who were there.

Dan Snow brings together the sound archive collections of the Imperial War Museums and the BBC to tell the story of World War I through the voices of those who were.

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From Beneath: Mines at Messines

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