Wednesday, 19 November 2014

Lochnagar Crater Somme in France

It is really astonishing that how much the humanity can alter the face of the earth. Not only can it create massive craters, which seems a crater from meteors, they leave a great impact that it can be seen from space. However this crater, caused by a huge explosion on 1 July 1916, looks extremely large, being 90 feet deep and 300 feet across; it is nowhere large enough to be viewed for space even. A widespread misconception is that the Great Wall of China can be seen from space. In reality, though, it is impossible. Not only is it of the same color as the earth near it, it is also not that wide. Deforestation, on the other hand, can be visibly seen from space. Moreover at night, all the lights that the large cities produce are also very visible.

The Lochnagar mine crater in the 1916 Somme battlefields in France is actually largest man-made mine crater made in the First World War on the Western Front. It was laid by the British Army's 179th Tunnelling Company Royal Engineers underneath a German strongpoint often called “Schwaben Höhe”. The mine was exploded two minutes before 07.30 am Zero Hour at the launch of the British offensive against the German lines on the morning of 1st July 1916.

There’re number of memorials at the site of the crater, as well as memorial seat. Therefore an annual ceremony takes place every year at a wooden cross at the crater on 1 July to commemorate the first day of the Somme offensive. So, it is a popular place in Western front because crater receives around 75,000 visitors a year. The crater itself was caused by two charges of ammonal, of 24,000lb and 30,000lb. Moreover debris from the explosion rose some 4,000ft into the air.
 

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