Pte John Wilken (Kilsyth), 14th Battalion: Is reported to be a prisoner of war and imprisoned in Gefangenenlager, Dulmen, Germany.
Gnr Percy Hyne(Lilydale), 8th Field Artillery Battery: In a letter to his Mother – ‘After about five weeks in Ploegsteert we went into action behind Hill 63 and prepared for the Messines box-on. This was the first place we had open gun pits. At other places we had reinforced gun pits in houses. This position was not too bad; plenty of shooting. We averaged about 1000 rounds per gun per day for about a fortnight (a week before and a week after Messines) and the issue of sleep amounted to about two hours per day per man. The night before Messines, Fritz put over a gas shell bombardment on to us, amounting to about 14,000 shells, which, at the time, was the heaviest known. He burst the last one right in our gun pit, which burst up a wheel on our gun. This happened about ten minutes before the Messines stunt opened’.
THE BATTLE OF MESSINES, BELGIUM
The Messines offensive was designed to force the enemy to withdraw from the main battlefront around Vimy and Arras and its prime objective was the taking of the strategically important Messines Ridge, a high ground south of Ypres.
The battle is exemplified for its tactical success through careful planning and overwhelming firepower. The AIF’s 3rd Division, under the command of Major General John Monash, were a part of the attack and were given the task of taking the village of Messines.
For seven days before the attack, artillery bombarded the enemy’s positions and then, to start it off, nineteen mines under the enemy’s trenches, that were filled with explosives, were detonated. The Australian infantry then charged over the top and quickly took what was left of the village.
The Battle of Messines was the most complete success of any major Western Front attack by the allies up until that stage of the war.