At 7:28am on July 1st, 1916 the Battle of the Somme started with explosion of 17 massive 'mines' underneath enemy territory. Lochnagar was the largest of these. Created by Allied mining and demolition experts over several months, the mine was packed with 27,216 kilograms of explosives, set in two charges 18 metres apart and 16 metres below ground. The explosion obliterated between 91 and 122 metres of the German dug-outs, thought to have been full of German troops.
