Battle of Messines (1914)

Battle of Messines (1914)
Part of the Race to the Sea on the Western Front (First World War)
Messines area, 1914
Date 12 October – 2 November 1914 Location Messines 50°46′00″N 02°54′00″E / 50.76667°N 2.90000°E / 50.76667; 2.90000 Result Inconclusive
Belligerents
British Empire  British India  France	German Empire
Commanders and leaders
Edmund Allenby	Crown Prince Rupprecht
Messines class=notpageimage| Mesen (Messines in French, historically used in English) in the Belgian province of West Flanders

The Battle of Messines was fought in October 1914 between the armies of the German empire against the British empire and France, as part of what came to be called the Race to the Sea: reciprocal attempts by the German and Entente armies to attack beyond the northern flank of their opponent. The attempts to turn the northern flank led to several meeting engagements until the North Sea left neither side with a flank to aim at. The battle was fought between the river Douve and the Comines–Ypres canal.^[a]

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).