Spanbroekmolen

As the Allied attacks along the Western Front became more formidable, the Germans added further defences and trench positions at Spanbroekmolen and connected their original lines with the neighbouring strongpoints, which were code-named Peckham and Kruisstraat by the British.

On 12 March 1915, Lieutenant C. G. Martin volunteered to lead a small bombing party against a section of the enemy trenches at Spanbroekmolen which was holding up the advance.

He and his small party held the trench against all counter-attacks for two and a half hours until a general withdrawal was ordered[1] and Martin was awarded the Victoria Cross.

The British Second Army held the ground from Messines Ridge north to Steenstraat, opposite the German XXIII Reserve Corps.

The first German attack began just after midnight on 30 April and a cloud of a chlorine and phosgene mixture moved on the wind through no man's land.

[2] In order to break the heavily armed positions, the British employed tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers with the aim of placing a series of mines beneath the German lines on the Messines Ridge.

The Spanbroekmolen mine exploded 15 seconds late, by which time soldiers of the 36th (Ulster) Division had already been ordered to go over the top, had left their trenches and begun to move across no-man's land.

In addition to obliterating the German fortifications, falling debris from the blast also killed a number of British soldiers, some of whom are buried at Lone Tree CWGC Cemetery nearby.