First of all, there were 19 large explosions at Messines, not one cataclysmic one. Secondly, it's not true that 10,000 German soldiers were killed in the explosions - this utterly grotesque figure has been touted to promote this event as having been spectacularly deadly. The number of Germans killed by the explosions could not have exceeded 1,000 and was probably around 500. The 10,000 figure was for all the Germans missing on the day of the battle, and 7,200 of these missing were later found to have been captured by the British forces. These massive explosions had a big effect in stunning and frightening the Germans, who surrendered in large numbers, but they were not as deadly as one would imagine. What was definitely deadly was the mass artillery barrage from the British forces which followed the mine explosions - this was both accurate and highly destructive.
Review of The War Below
