[75], Just after 5:00 a.m. the British second intermediate objective, the first trench of the Höhenstellung, on the near crest of the ridge, had been taken. [109] Ian Brown in his 1996 PhD thesis and Andy Simpson in 2001 concluded that extending British supply routes over the ridge, which had been devastated by the mines and millions of shells, to consolidate the Oosttaverne line was necessary. The German counter-attack was "crushed" by artillery fire by 2:30 p.m. Each corps squadron kept an aircraft on counter-attack patrol all day, to call for barrage fire if German troops were seen in the open but the speed of the British advance resulted in few German counter-attacks. Smoke and dust from the British barrage limited visibility to 100 yd (91 m) and some defenders thought that figures moving towards them were retreating German soldiers, were taken by surprise and overrun. [91], During the pause on the ridge crest, an observer reported that the Oosttaverne line was barely occupied, at 2:00 p.m. a balloon observer reported a German barrage on the II Anzac Corps front and a counter-attack patrol aircraft reported German infantry advancing either side of Messines. The troops only knew that they were to advance downhill and keep up to the barrage but were able to occupy the objective in 20 minutes against light opposition, meeting the Australians at Polka Estaminet. [39] Two squadrons were reserved for close air support on the battlefield and low attacks on German airfields. The attackers swept through the gaps in the German defences as Germans further back hurriedly withdrew. The Battle of Messana in 264 BC was the first military clash between the Roman Republic and Carthage.It marked the start of the First Punic War.In that period, and after the recent successes in southern Italy, Sicily became of increasing strategic importance to Rome. There, German and Italian ships waited to ferry troops and equipment across the two-mile passage to the Italian mainland. Divisional intelligence summaries were used to plan the capture of German company and battalion headquarters. Beyond their goal of crushing Italian Axis forces, the Allies wanted to draw German troops away from the main Allied advance through Nazi-occupied northern Europe to Berlin, Germany. British troops passing through the ruins of Ypres, West Flanders, Belgium, September 29, 1918. Omissions? [43][c], German artillery positions and the second (Höhenstellung) (Contour Position) position were not visible to British ground observers. The divisional trench mortar batteries were to bombard the German front line opposite the 142nd Brigade, where it was too close for the artillery to shell without endangering British troops. About 32 machine-gun posts per regimental sector were dispersed around the defensive zone. [92], Fourteen fighters were sent to conduct low altitude strafes on German ground targets ahead of the British infantry and rove behind German lines, attacking infantry, transport, gun-teams and machine-gun nests; the attacks continued all day, two of the fighters being shot down. The concealed guns of the Guards Division field artillery were to join the creeping barrage for the advance at 4:50 a.m. and at 7:00 a.m. the 112th Army Field Brigade was to advance to the old front line, to be ready for an anticipated German counter-attack by 11:00 a.m.[33], The 47th (1/2nd London) Division planned to attack with two brigades, each reinforced by a battalion from the reserve brigade, along either side of the Ypres–Comines Canal. [111] Using figures from the Reichsarchiv, Bean recorded German casualties for 21–31 May, 1,963; 1–10 June, 19,923 (including 7,548 missing); 11–20 June, 5,501 and 21–30 June, 1,773. Articles such as this one were acquired and published with the primary aim of expanding the information on Britannica.com with greater speed and efficiency than has traditionally been possible. White Château was attacked by the 47th Division as it advanced to the first objective, covered by smoke and Thermite shells fired on the German positions further to the north, along the Comines Canal. Franks devised a bombardment timetable and added arrangements for a massed machine-gun barrage. Surplus field artillery brigade headquarters planned forward moves for the guns and were kept ready to replace casualties. The Gheluvelt plateau is about 100 ft (30 m) above the vicinity and Wytschaete is about 150 ft (46 m) higher than the plain; control of the ground was vital for artillery observation. Most German troops encountered surrendered quickly, except at Leg Copse and Oosttaverne Wood where they offered slight resistance. Responsibility for counter-battery fire was given to a counter-battery staff officer with a small staff, who concentrated exclusively on the defeat of the German artillery. A German force at the head of the Zwarteleen re-entrant, south of Mt Sorrel where the two attacking brigades met, held out until forced to surrender by volleys of rifle-grenades. [47], Franks planned to neutralise German guns within 9,000 yd (5.1 mi; 8.2 km) of the attack front. [38] Normal offensive patrols continued beyond the barrage line out to a line from Ypres to Roulers and Menin, where large formations of British and German aircraft clashed in long dogfights, once German air reinforcements began operating in the area. [107] Heinz Hagenlücke called it a great British success and that the loss of the ridge had a worse effect on German morale than the number of casualties. In 1919, Ludendorff wrote that the British victory cost the German army dear and drained German reserves. More artillery joined the masked batteries close to the front line and others moved as far into no-man's-land as the terrain allowed. [68], X Corps had a relatively short advance of 700 yd (640 m) to the crest and another 600 yd (550 m) across the summit, which would uncover the German defences further north on the southern slope of the Gheluvelt plateau and the ground back to Zandvoorde. At zero + 3:40 hours the advance to the black line (second objective) would begin and consolidation was to start by zero + 5 hours. Both Eingreif divisions were plagued by delays, being new to the area and untrained for counter-attack operations. [86] The reserve battalion which had been moved up for the second attack on the spoil bank, had been caught in a German artillery bombardment while assembling for the attack. [85], Two brigades of the 24th Division in Corps reserve advanced into the X Corps sector and reached Dammstrasse on time. The second objective (the observation line) from Bethlehem Farm to south of Messines, Despagne Farm and Oosttaverne Wood, was reached with few casualties. Two machine-gun posts on the edge of the village were rushed but fire from Swayne's Farm 400 yd (370 m) north held up the advance, until a tank drove through it and caused 30 German troops to surrender. In the final push to defeat the Axis powers of Italy and Germany during World War II (1939-45), the U.S. and Great Britain, the leading Allied powers, planned to invade Italy. The divisions had reached assembly areas near Gheluvelt and Warneton by 7:00 a.m. and the 7th Division was ordered to move from Zandvoorde to Hollebeke, to attack across the Comines canal towards Wijtschate on the British northern flank. Two military geologists assisted the miners from March 1916, including Edgeworth David, who planned the system of mines. The 756 medium and heavy guns and howitzers were organised in forty groups and the 1,510 field guns and howitzers in sixty-four field artillery brigades within the attacking divisions and thirty-three Army field artillery brigades, divided among the three attacking corps; 144,000 long tons (146,311 t) of ammunition was delivered, 1,000 shells for each 18-pounder, 750 shells per 4.5-inch howitzer, 500 rounds for each medium and heavy piece and another 120,000 gas and 60,000 smoke shells for the 18-pounder field guns.