Compare period and contemporary photos from the Western Front.

Hawthorne Crater

The Somme


1916 & 2005

The firing of the mine that created Hawthorn Crater was the signal for the start of the Battle of the Somme on July 1, 1916.  The crater was 150 yards in length, 100 yards wide and 80 ft. deep.

American Armies and Battlefields in Europe (1938), American Battle Monuments Commission