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6 Squadron Aerial Photos - Destructive Shoot Komenseweg

The two photographs on Page 25 were taken by an RE8 of 6 Squadron, part of the squadron's aerial reconnaissance operations over the Western Front during WW1.

 

The photographs were were taken of a destructive shoot on a hostile battery located at a farm south of Hollebeke, just north of the Flanders / Walloon border, defined by mapping coordinates 28. O. 18. A and 28. O. 18. B. The GPS coordinates of the target are 50°47'52.9"N 2°56'43.0"E and a farm exists today on the exact location, Komenseweg 202. The first photograph was taken on the 6th April 1917 and the second on the 14th June 1917, 7 days after 19 mines were detonated beneath the German lines along the Messines ridge at the start of the Battle of Messines. Note the arrows marking the site of an enemy artillery battery, slightly to the west of the Ypres-Comines canal.

6 Squadron aerial photos of Komenseweg, taken by 6 Squadron before and after the Battle of Messines, 1917
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