Messines

He laid wreaths at the sites where the Somme and the Battle of Messines took place a century earlier.

The assault on Messines Ridge was a spectacular tactical success.

The first objective was to capture Messines Ridge south of Ypres and use it as a jumping-off point for the main push toward the Belgian coast.

Just before dawn on June 7, following a massive artillery bombardment, the explosives were detonated with a noise heard 140 miles away in London, turning the crest of Messines Ridge into a flaming volcano.

It was taken in the Battle of Messines in June 1917 before being recaptured by Kaiser Wilhelm’s army in 1918 in the Battle of Lys.