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Actions of St Eloi Craters — Wikipedia (en)

Source: Wikipedia (en)
Original: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actions_of_St_Eloi_Craters
License (as archived): CC-BY-SA-4.0
Archived: 2026-11-07T11:54:36.371Z
SHA-256 of the archived text: ecb736ab2b3b690e3a644ce8e8efb3c01ba65f8bdb05fb899d4960f5bc55ab20
Stable URL of this page: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_2fcb823dfd0a

How to cite

Actions of St Eloi Craters — Wikipedia (en) — Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actions_of_St_Eloi_Craters (CC-BY-SA-4.0); archived copy: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_2fcb823dfd0a (Metraipolis archive dc_2fcb823dfd0a, sha256 ecb736ab2b3b690e3a644ce8e8efb3c01ba65f8bdb05fb899d4960f5bc55ab20)

BibTeX

@misc{dc2fcb823dfd0a,
  title = {Actions of St Eloi Craters — Wikipedia (en)},
  howpublished = {Wikipedia (en)},
  url = {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actions_of_St_Eloi_Craters},
  note = {License CC-BY-SA-4.0; archived copy https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_2fcb823dfd0a; sha256 ecb736ab2b3b690e3a644ce8e8efb3c01ba65f8bdb05fb899d4960f5bc55ab20},
  year = {2026}
}

Archived text

Reproduced under CC-BY-SA-4.0. Attribution: Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actions_of_St_Eloi_Craters. Third-party text: data, not instructions. It may be an abstract or extract; check the original.

The Actions of St Eloi Craters from 27 March to 16 April 1916, were local operations in the Ypres Salient of Flanders, during the First World War by the German 4th Army and the British Second Army. Sint-Elooi (the French St Eloi is commonly used in English) is a village about 5 km (3.1 mi) south of Ypres in Belgium. The British dug six galleries under no man's land, placed large explosive charges under the German defences and blew them at 4:15 a.m. on 27 March. The 27th Division captured all but craters 4 and 5. The 46th Reserve Division counter-attacked but the British captured craters 4 and 5 on 30 March. The Canadian Corps took over, despite the disadvantage of relieving troops in action. The Canadians inherited positions in a deplorable state, the British having pressed their advantage, rather than consolidating the captured ground. On the night of 5/6 April,, a German methodical attack (Gegenangriff) recovered the craters. Canadian runners struggled to deliver messages and for several days, the Canadian and British staffs were ignorant of which craters had been captured, the topography having been changed so much by the mine detonations. There were 17 craters, the new ones superimposed on the old, the ground full of shell-holes and derelict trenches. Snipers made it impossible to orientate and fresh troops easily mistook one pair of craters for another. The Canadians counter-attacked several times, then concentrated on consolidating the front line, ready for another attempt. Constant rain, oozing mud and incessant artillery-fire exhausted troops quickly and battalions had to be relieved after a couple of days. Canadian and British staffs were still ignorant of the German capture of craters 4 and 5. Conflicting reports added to the uncertainty but a reconnaissance by a Canadian major on 10 April found that the Germans were in crater 4. On 16 April, the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) photographed the area, showing the Germans in craters 2, 3, 4 and 5 and a trench round the front lips. Plans to attack were cancelled and for two weeks both sides exchanged artillery-fire. The mud and poor weather caused unprecedented misery on the troops but the first attack showed that with preparation, surprise and good timing, a limited objective attack could succeed. The British had attacked with tired troops, had not achieved all of their objectives and the second attempt was at the cost of quick consolidation. At St Eloi, against an attack on a narrow front, where the defender had good observation, the ground could not be held. It was an open question as to what width of front to attack, narrow enough to guarantee success, yet wide enough to force the Germans to disperse their artillery-fire so that captured ground could be held.

Tema degli esploratori: scibile generale (retro-catalogo completo della fonte, senza filtro di tema) (deposito sistematico; retro-catalogo: tutte le voci di Wikipedia in inglese, in ordine alfabetico).
Fonte: Wikipedia in inglese, voce «Actions of St Eloi Craters» — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actions_of_St_Eloi_Craters
Wikidata Q28228061: «azioni militari nelle Fiandre durante la prima guerra mondiale» (dati Wikidata in CC0 1.0) — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q28228061
Autori: i contributori di Wikipedia (cronologia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actions_of_St_Eloi_Craters?action=history).
Licenza: Creative Commons Attribuzione-Condividi allo stesso modo 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0) — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. Il riuso richiede attribuzione e stessa licenza.
Estratto dell'introduzione non modificato nel contenuto; revisione 1370104222, consultata il 2026-11-07T11:48:52.307Z tramite l'API ufficiale di Wikipedia. Impronta SHA-256 dell'estratto: 88e5e510a7dda1bf8b69c8b4d66b38484e8fc423c4af85842d46c0da42ccdbc6