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The two aerial photographs on Page 1 were taken over Battle Wood and the Ypres-Comines canal / railway line by an RE8, as part of 6 Squadron's aerial reconnaissance operations over the Western Front during WW1.

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The two photographs cover the same area as defined by the mapping coordinates 28. I. 36. C - an area measuring 500 yards by 500 yards. The first photograph was taken on the 29th April 1917 and the second on the 5th June 1917, after the preliminary bombardment but before the attack started on the 7th June 1917 when 19 mines were detonated beneath the German lines along the Messines ridge, from Mount Sorrel to the north and St Ives to the south. The extent of the shelling by the Allies is evident.