7th -9th June 1917
Battle of Messines
The 16th (Irish) and 36th (Ulster) divisions fought together with the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) troops at the Battle of Messines in Belgium. The Allied mission was to take the Messines Ridge by surprising the German forces with a massive artillery bombardment. Three and a half million shells were fired and nearly a million pounds of high explosives were used in mines along the German line. The battle was a tactical success and the Allies gained their target but 24,500 solders were lost.
