World War I Battlefields, 100 Years Later

The Newfoundland Memorial Park occupies the ground over which the Newfoundland battalion (together with British battalions of the 29th Division) made their unsuccessful attack on 1 July 1916. The Newfoundlanders suffered 684 casualties, about 70% of their strength. Shell trenches, wire pickets and craters are the only remains of the battle. 

The Butte was a steep-sided hill, captured by the Germans in September 1914. Subsequently the French gained a foot-hold on the summit and both sides began a campaign of mining which lasted until February 1918. The furious mining and counter mining blew away the entire hill-top and today the small village lies at the foot of the hill. Underground there are approximately 17,000 meters of galleries, the deepest of which is 104 m, and over 150 chambers and rooms. It was recently discovered that one of the mines here contained 60 tons of explosive materials and was the largest single mine on the Western Front. 

This 90-meter hole was created after the British placed 50,000 pounds of explosives in a tunnel under the German lines, and this is how it appears 100 years later. 
Lochnagar Crater is one of the iconic remnants of the Somme battlefield and just as in the war, one can really only appreciate its true scale from the air. Created by British tunnellers who dug a 600 m (0.37 miles) tunnel to reach a point under the German lines where they then placed 50,000 lbs of high explosive which was detonated at 0728 on the 1st July 1916 creating a hole over 90 m wide (295 ft) and 30 m deep (98.4 ft). 

Courtesy: www.greatwar.co.uk/somme and Wikipedia.