Royal Engineer tunnelling companies
Encyclopedia
Royal Engineer tunnelling companies were specialist units of the Corps of Royal Engineers within the British Army
, formed to dig attacking tunnels
under enemy lines during the First World War.
The stalemate situation in the early part of the war led to the deployment of tunnel warfare
. After the first German Empire
attacks on 21 December 1914, through shallow tunnels underneath no man’s land
and exploding ten mines under the trenches of the Indian
Sirhind Brigade, the British began forming suitable units. In February 1915, eight Tunnelling Companies were created and operational in Flanders
from March 1915. By mid-1916, the British Army had around 25,000 trained tunnellers, mostly volunteers taken from coal mining
communities. Almost twice that number of "attached infantry" worked permanently alongside the trained miners acting as 'beasts of burden'.
From the spring of 1917 the whole war became more mobile, with grand offensives at Arras
, Messines
and Passchendaele. There was no longer a place for a tactic that depended upon total stasis for its employment. The tactics and counter-tactics required deeper and deeper tunnelling, hence more time and more stable front lines were also requiried, so offensive and defensive military mining largely ceased. Underground work continued, with the tunnellers concentrating on deep dugouts for troop accommodation, a tactic used particularly in the Battle of Arras.
historian Polybius
, in his Histories
, described accounts of mining during Philip V of Macedon's siege of the town of Prinassos; there is also a graphic account of mining and counter-mining at the Roman siege of Ambracia
.
Mining was also a method used in siege warfare in ancient China from at least the Warring States (481–221 BC) period forward. When attackers attempted to dig tunnels under walls for mining or entry into the city. The defenders used large bellows
(the type the Chinese commonly used for heating up blast furnace
s for smelting cast iron
), to pump smoke into the tunnels in order to suffocate the intruders.
In 1215 during the First Barons' War
, John, King of England laid siege to Rochester Castle
. Eventually, he ordered his troops to dig a tunnel under the south tower, which they held up with pit props. After the tunnellers lit the props, the tower fell down, ending the siege even though the castle's main walls remained standing.
In 1346, Edward III of England
requested that miners from the Forest of Dean
, Gloucestershire
accompany his expedition to France, during the first part of the Hundred Years' War
between England and France
.
The Corps of Royal Engineers were formed in 1717. In 1770, the Company of Soldier Artificers formed a specialist tunnelling troop in Gibraltar
to dig defensive positions into the Rock.
During the Siege of Lucknow
in 1857, Royal Engineers were asked to undertake counter-mining.
with no vulnerable flanks, stretched from the North Sea
coast to neutral Switzerland
. With both sides equally well dug-in and deploying comparable troop numbers and armaments, neither was to prove strong enough to force a decisive breakthrough.
The resultant static warfare meant that tunnelling saw a brief resurgence as a military tactic. As in siege warfare, mining was possible due to the nature of the fighting. Secondly, the ground on the Western Front was a prime candidate for underground warfare.
Although the British were equipped with Royal Engineers who were trained in carrying out sapping, mining and tunnelling operations, there was no core team of specialist skills.
, requested the establishment on 3 December 1914, of a special battalion to assist with mining duties.
Towards the end of 1914, the civil engineering company of MP
and British Army Major
, John Norton-Griffiths
, was working on sewerage
renewal contracts in Liverpool
and Manchester
. The relatively small-bore tunnels were being driven by a manual technique known as "clay-kicking." Only useful in firm clay soils, the man doing the digging sat with his back supported by a wooden frame, with his feet pointing towards the cutting face. With a spade-like tool he dug out the clay, passing the spoil over-head to one of his mates for disposal at the rear. In early December 1914, Norton-Griffiths wrote to the War Office
suggesting that the technique would be useful within the war effort for attack, spying or for intercepting German tunnels coming in the opposite direction. He concluded by asking to be allowed to take a group of his "moles" to France where if the soil was right, they could quickly undermine enemy positions. His letter was filed.
On 20 December 1914, by placing shallow tunnels through no man’s land, German
sappers placed eight 50 kilogramme (110 lb) mines beneath the positions of the Indian
Sirhind Brigade in Givenchy. Following their simultaneous detonation, an infantry attack resulted in the loss of the entire company of 800 men.
, commander of the British Expeditionary Force, wrote to the Secretary of State for War
, Lord Kitchener
, describing the seriousness of the German mining situation.
Norton-Griffiths received a telegram on 12 February 1915, instructing him to report to the War Office. On his arrival, he was shown into Kitchener's private offices, where he (Kitchener), showed him French's letter. Kitchener then asked Norton-Griffiths for his advice, to which using a coal shovel from the room's fire grate, he sat on the floor and gave a demonstration of "clay-kicking."
Impressed but sceptical, Kitchener asked Norton-Griffiths to travel that day to France to communicate his method to the commanders there, and confirm the suitability of the Flanders soil. If positive, he would then raise a suitable battalion of "moles", as Norton-Griffiths had named his new teams, the same name as their civil engineering counterparts.
Arriving with two of his employees at the GHQ Saint-Omer
office of the Engineer-in-Chief (E-in-C), Brigadier
George Henry Fowke
, on 13 February, Norton-Griffiths gave another demonstration of "clay-kicking." A sceptical Fowke instructed his assistant, Colonel Harvey, to take Norton-Griffiths and his employees to Army and Corps headquarters on 14 February, to see what the Corps of Royal Engineers thought of the idea.
In an early public relations
exercise, on 14 February, Norton-Griffiths got Colonel Harvey to stop at four headquarters – Army, Corps, Division and Brigade. At each briefing, Norton-Griffiths repeated his demonstration. On arrival at the front line, (a mile from where the first German mine had exploded the previous December), they confirmed the excellent conditions of the clay-based soil and returned to St Omer via the four headquarters to communicate their findings.
The following day, the team held further meetings in St Omer, concluding with a meeting between Norton-Griffiths, Fowke and Sir John French, the C-in-C, for a personal explanation. Fowke gave his agreement to a trial to which French agreed, and the three set out a structure for what were to be called tunnelling companies, rather than Norton-Griffiths' preference for 'moles': a symbol which many of the tunnelling companies would later adopt as their unit sign.
In a meeting with Lord Kitchener on 17 February, he reported on his visit to France and the agreement of Collins and Fowke to form trial tunnelling companies. Norton-Griffiths pointed out that to deploy the units at the speed which Lord Kitchener had suggested, would require the recruitment of civilians, who could not undergo basic military training to enable their immediate deployment to the front line. Kitchener's staff were highly sceptical of the proposal, but using his carte-blanche skill to cull such skilled men from regular infantry units, Norton-Griffiths won his argument.
on 18 February and closed down one of his tunnelling contracts, making 18 staff redundant. The following day the War Office gave its approval to the Royal Engineers tunnelling company scheme. On the same day, 18 formerly redundant Liverpool men turned up in Chatham to be enrolled, clothed and turned into Royal Engineers. One of the most rapid acts of the First World War, men who were working underground as civilians on 17 February, were working underground on the Western Front
by the following Monday, a mere four days later.
The first nine Royal Engineer Tunnelling Companies, numbers 170 to 178, were each commanded by a regular RE officer – they comprised: 5 officers and 269 sappers, aided by temporarily attached infantrymen as required, (which almost doubled the companies number). Norton-Griffiths, in the rank of major, acted as a liaison officer between these units and the E-in-C's office in St.Omer.
Although able to select almost any soldier he wished, as he had predicted, Norton-Griffiths was quickly forced to recruit civilians. The new recruits in these units, aged anything up to 60, did not readily conform to military discipline and Norton-Griffiths' skills as a politician and as an engineer were called on in recruiting the men he needed and integrating them into the military environment. His judgement of people was remarkably accurate, he very rarely made a mistake in selecting men for a commission.
The deployment of the first eight units led to the introduction of the tunnelling method that allowed the British to dig tunnels at a rate of 8 metres (8.7 yd) per day, compared to the Germans' 2 metres (2.2 yd).
with the 28th Division
, the specialist tunnelling companies laid six mines by 10 April 1915. These mines (together with others that were unfinished), were filled with around 10000 lbs of Ammonal explosives, the resulting explosions ripping the heart out of Hill 60
over a period of about 10 seconds. The effect was a mini-earthquake
that split the ground under the entire hill, white flames shot 300 feet (91.4 m) into the sky. Concrete pillboxes and soldiers occupying them came down in all directions 300 yards (274.3 m) away. The explosion resulted in a 70 feet (21.3 m) deep crater, with surrounding trenches sandwiched shut so fast soldiers were crushed still in their standing positions. The Germans all around were crying with fear. Many retreated in terror, the-then tunnel master, Otto von Fusslein, was castigated, although the position was quickly recaptured a few days later.
The action showed the importance of the necessity for a counter-offensive against aggressive German mining on the British lines. Having proven the system, Norton-Griffiths left the company and returned to London in April 1916 and his duties as an MP. He left GHQ with his rough plan of August 1915 for extensive mining on the Messines front, which formed the framework on which mines were used at the Battle of Messines
two years later. He was awarded the DSO
for his efforts, mentioned in dispatches three times and promoted to Lieutenant Colonel
in 1916.
and the appointment of an Inspector of Mines at GHQ.
The second group of tunnelling companies were formed from Welsh
miners from the 1st and 3rd Battalions of The Monmouthshire Regiment, who were attached to the 1st Northumberland Field Company, Royal Engineers, a Territorial unit. Twelve Tunnelling Companies were ultimately formed in 1915 and one more in 1916. A Canadian troop was formed from men on the battlefield, plus two other companies trained in Canada and then shipped to France. Three Australian
and one New Zealand
tunnelling companies were formed by March 1916. This resulted in 30 companies by the end of 1916, many made up of ex-miners.
All of these companies were occupied on other underground work such as the digging of subways, saps (a narrow trench dug to approach enemy trenches), cable trenches, underground chambers for such things as signals and medical services, as well as offensive and defensive mining.
of tunnels within a cat and mouse
-like game of tunnelling, counter-tunnelling and counter tactics. As the tactics and counter tactics deployed against each other became less and less effective, the depth at which the tunnels needed to be dug became deeper and deeper and hence more dangerous. The result was a greater time to dig, resulting in a greater vulnerability to both leakage of information and tunnel collapse, and a higher loss of lives in the most hideous of circumstances: entombment, drowning, gassing or obliteration in cramped and claustrophobic galleries beneath no man’s land.
, Scotland
and the Northeast of England covering Derbyshire
, County Durham
, Nottinghamshire
and Yorkshire
.
The mining assistants who acted as 'beasts of burden' were often made up of "Bantams
", (soldiers of below average height who had been rejected from regular units because they did not meet the height requirements). Upon the declaration of war in August 1914, William Hackett
applied and was turned down three times at the age of 41 by the York and Lancaster Regiment
. On 25 October 1915, despite having been diagnosed with a heart condition
, he was enlisted and sent for two weeks basic training at Chatham, joining 172 Tunnelling Company.
Tunnel entrances were most often at the bottom of deep shafts. From here, using the clay-kicking technique, the tunnels were aligned and given direction by the simple use of candlelight. They were built on a slight uphill gradient of between 1:100 and 1:50 to keep them as dry as possible. This meant that they were also vulnerable to the accumulation of gas at the digging face.
A clay-kicking team typically consisted of three men: a "Kicker" who worked at the face, a "Bagger" who filled sandbags with the lumps of clay spoil, and a "Trammer" who transported the bags out of the gallery on a small, rubber-tyred trolley on rails. The trolley was also employed to bring timber in on the return journey.
If the tunnel was long, the trammer was given extra assistants, to speed the exit of spoil and intake of timber. The team was responsible for its own safety, and would insert a 'sett' of wooden supports every 9 inch (0.2286 m). As no nails or screws could be used due to noise, the 'setts' (consisting of a sole, two legs and a cap), were sawn with a rebated step, which once trimmed into the clay, would expand with the absorbed water into a solid structure.
and bad food disease, while fatigue
compounded the situation, creating a high mortality rate. The miners also had to cope with difficult circumstances when they entered the mining tunnels. Often the tunnels were dark, small and flooded with water. Tunnellers were billeted quite a long way back from the front line, while a regular Royal Navy
-style rum
ration was issued to keep out the cold.
Natural gases and gases given off as a result of explosions could ignite, poison or asphyxiate. The major problem gas for tunnellers was carbon monoxide
, given off by all projectiles from shells to rifle bullets.
With the use of experienced miners, came the use of "miners friends" in the form of mice
and later small birds, such as canaries
. With a high metabolic rate, they were readily susceptible to gas, and issued to the Tunnelling Companies as an official item. When gas was present, their unconsciousness would alert miners to the need to evacuate. Although many animals died, they could recover on the surface, with at least one company keeping a record of the gassings so that their creatures did not have to endure more than three instances before being pensioned off to an aviary
. The role of the miners friends are honoured on the Scottish National War Memorial in Edinburgh
.
In extensive tunnelling systems, air-tight doors were introduced to control air flows.
In response the affected mining units put out an urgent call for appropriate rescue equipment. Captain D Dale Logan was appointed advisor to GHQ in September 1915 on all matters connected with the health of the specially enlisted Tunnelling Companies.
In June 1915, Lance Corporal Arthur B. Clifford was made solely responsible for mine safety training. Sent to the front to train 3000 mine-rescue troops in a month, there were only 36 sets of 'PROTO' breathing equipment available in the whole of the United Kingdom. Clifford was based with the Royal Engineers at Strazeele
, with a sub-station at Berguette. This became the first Army Mine-Rescue School. Clifford was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal
in 1917 for what he had achieved.
From July 1916, under Logan's new organisation, the second Army Mine-Rescue School was established at Armentieres
. This allowed the British to deploy a system of mines rescue, where no mining shaft was further than 200 metres (218.7 yd) from a rescue station. Named after the kit they employed, Proto-men were hand-picked experienced miners, selected for coolness under pressure. Two men were on duty at all times, with additional access to 10 electric miners lamps, six canaries, four mobile cages, one saw, one hand axe, three life-lines, two mine stretchers, one trench stretcher, one Primus stove
, two tins of café au lait
, six hot water bottles and six blankets.
In the trenches, soldiers found that driving a stick into the ground and holding the other end between their teeth enabled them to feel any underground vibration. Another method involved sinking a water-filled oil drum
into the floor of the trench, with lookout soldiers taking turns to lower an ear into the water to listen for vibrations. Improvised methods later included Water Board inspector short-sticks, each with a single vibrating wire-type earphone attached, or using filled French water-bottles laid flat on their sides in pairs, so they could be listened-to through medical stethoscopes.
Underground, within the tunnelling operations, side-shaft listening posts were deployed and manned by soldiers whose job entailed listening for indications that the enemy was tunnelling. Initially using just manual methods, the British were eventually equipped with the Geophone
, which could detect noises up to 50 metres (164 ft) away. Employing two Geophones, a listener was able to ascertain the direction of hostile activity by moving the sensors until sound levels were equal in both ears. A compass bearing was then taken. When gauging distance only, both earpieces were plugged into a single sensor; this was a skill only gained by experience.
Deploying listeners in different tunnels in triangulation
techniques, by the end of 1916 the scale of British tunneling warfare had expanded to such an extent that there were not enough listeners to man every post; central listening stations were devised. Working electronically like a telephone exchange
, the signals from up to 36 remote sensors (Tele-geophones and Seismomicrophones) could be distinguished and logged by just two men.
, created a localised underground chamber designed not to break the surface and form craters, but to destroy a strictly limited area of underground territory – and its occupants.
The second tactic, deployed when the enemy tunnel was too close to your existing works or trenches, was the deployment of rod-fed torpedo shaped camouflet charges. Effectively land mine
s on the end of long iron sticks, the technique was a defensive tactic against an immediate threat. Towards the end of the tunnel war, forces also deployed mines at greater depths, which together with listening devices could be exploded away from friendly trenches as a defensive measure.
Firstly, the British used clay-kicking which was a virtually silent method of tunnelling. The Germans did not know of this technique, having not used it in their pre-war civil engineering, and thus used mattock
s (a type of pick-axe) and other loud tools throughout the war. This made their tunnels more vulnerable to detection and attack.
Secondly, the use of clay-kicking made the British four times as fast at tunnel digging as their German counterparts.
Thirdly, British positions were most often located in low-lying areas, while German positions tended to be more elevated. Although this made the British more vulnerable to shelling, it also meant that British tunnellers had less of the soft quicksand-like 'Kemmel Sands' (known to the Germans as schwimmsands), an integral component of the geological make-up of the ridges around Ieper (Ypres), to penetrate. While the bottom blue clay
layer was virtually flat, as was the Kemmel Sands that sat on top of it, there was a dry strata which varied above this which created the geographical contours. This varying dry strata increased pressure on the Kemmel Sands, which unable to egress water below them, made them wet and unstable. When punctured, the Kemmel Sands would often "spout" under pressure, both water and solid material. Difficult to dig through and keep the mining wooden structure stable, the Germans, assuming that the British had the same instability problem, dug few tunnels until 1916. The British found an engineering solution by creating a metal tube through the Kemmel Sands. Sunk either through its own weight or by the use of hydraulic jacks, once the blue clay layer was hit, the tunnelling could again resume under wooden supports.
The British used tube shafts from May 1915, a full year before the Germans, who when they did start to use metal and concrete tunnels, had lost the strategic advantage and were digging purely for defensive purposes.
The first British mine to be detonated was at Hill 60
on 10 April 1915. Mines were also used at The Bluff
, St Eloi, the Battle of Aubers Ridge
in May 1915; Hooge
, Givenchy
, Cuinchy
and the Battle of Loos
in September 1915.
in Flanders
, was the site of a château
which changed hands a number of times. Used as the Divisional Headquarters for the area, the staff at the château from the 1st and 2nd Divisions were all killed when the château was shelled on 31 October 1914.
German forces
attacked the château between 24 May and 3 June 1915 and despite the detonation of a British mine by the 3rd Division, leaving a massive crater, took control of the château and the surrounding area on 30 July. The château and the crater (craters being strategically
important in relatively flat countryside), were taken by the British 6th Division on 9 August. It was reclaimed by the Germans on 16 June 1916 and retaken by the British on 31 July 1917 when the 8th Division managed to advance past it by about a mile. The Germans retook the site in April 1918 as part of the Spring Offensive
but were expelled from the area by the British on 28 September as the offensive faltered. The chateau was completely destroyed along with the entire village; several large craters were blown over the course of the 1917 fighting.
When the Battle of the Somme started on 1 July 1916, the plan was to detonate ten mines, the northernmost of which was that under the Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt
, a front-line fortification west of the village of Beaumont Hamel. The other two were the Lochnagar mine
and the Y Sap mine at La Boisselle. The Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt mine, which consisted of 40000 pounds (18,143.7 kg) of explosives, was the first to be detonated. The plan was to detonate the remainder at 7:28 am, two minutes before Zero hour, when the infantry advance would begin, but a compromise was reached with Lieutenant-General Aylmer Hunter-Weston
, whose VIII Corps was holding the Hawthorn Ridge sector, enabling him to explode the mine at 07:20. This led to the successful filming of the explosion by British cinematographer
Geoffrey Malins, who was filming the 29th Division's attack. He had his camera set up about 0.5 mile (0.80467 km) away, trained on the ridge and waiting for the explosion.
Tunnelling units involved in the Battle of the Somme were the 174th, 178th, 179th, 181st, 183rd, and 252nd companies.
In January 1917, General Sir Herbert Plumer, gave orders for mines to be placed under the German
lines in preparation for the Battle of Messines
.
From 1915, British engineers started digging, but it was not until the winter of 1916 when they were joined by Canadian, Australian and New Zealand engineers, that mass tunnelling started under the German trenches. Twenty-two mines were dug, some up to 2160 feet (658.4 m) long and up to 125 feet (38.1 m) deep, each containing 600 tonnes of ammonal
explosive. To solve the problem of wet soil, the tunnels were dug in the layer of "blue clay
", 80–120 feet (25–30 m) below the surface. The galleries dug in order to lay these mines eventually totalled over 8000 yards in length, and had been constructed in the face of tenacious German counter-mining.
On several occasions, German tunnellers were within yards of large British mine "chambers." The mine at Petite Douve Farm was discovered by the Germans on 24 August 1916 and destroyed by a counter-mine. Two mines close to Ploegsteert Wood were not exploded as they were outside the attack area.
As preparation for the attack, six mines were detonated on 27 March 1916. The largest of these was at St Eloi, dug by the 1st Canadian Tunnelling Company, consisting of 95600 pounds (43,363.4 kg) of explosive. This allowed the capture of St Eloi by the British 41st Division
.
This choice reduced the total explosive to 450 tonnes. The evening before the attack, General Plumer remarked to his staff, "Gentlemen, we may not make history tomorrow, but we shall certainly change the geography."
With doubts about the reliability of the system, (some mines had been lying underground for over a year), soldiers waiting in the trenches had been warned that they could not depend absolutely on the mines working as planned, so their orders were to leave their trenches and attack whether the mines exploded or not. The explosion of the mines took place at 03:10 on 7 June. Approximately 10,000 German troops were killed when the 19 mines were simultaneously detonated, creating an explosion so loud it was heard by British Prime Minister David Lloyd George
in his study in 10 Downing Street
in London. There is even a report of an insomniac student hearing it in University College, Dublin.
The largest of the 19 Messines mines was at Spanbroekmolen. Found and counter-mined by the Germans a few weeks before the attack, the British were forced to dig a second entrance tunnel into the already prepared explosive chamber, (which consisted of 41 tons of ammonal
explosive 88 feet (26.8 m) below ground), to reconnect the detonation wires. Although tested fully just a few hours before the attack, officers used torch
batteries to prove the circuits. As instructed, soldiers of the 36th (Ulster) Division had already left their trenches and begun to move across No-Man's Land when the mine exploded a few seconds late, leading to some being killed by falling debris. They are buried in Lone Tree cemetery nearby. The "Lone Tree Crater" formed by the blast was approximately 250 feet (76.2 m) in diameter, and 40 feet (12.2 m) deep.
The 1st Australian Tunnelling Company took over mining operations in November 1916 on Hill 60
, led in part by Capt. Oliver Holmes Woodward
. The explosion demolished a large part of the hill, killing many German soldiers.
The British intended to dismantle the two remaining mines, but the Third Battle of Ypres delayed operations, after the Germans overran the group headquarters their location was lost. On 17 July 1955, a lightning strike set-off one of the remaining mines. There were no human casualties, but one cow was killed and some local property damage was sustained. The 21st cache was never found, and there are still several tonnes of high explosive buried somewhere under the Belgian
countryside. A memorial to the Australian mining troops killed at Hill 60 during the course of the war was later placed at the site.
In preparation for the Battle of Vimy Ridge
between 9 and 12 April 1917, the British XVII Corps
, commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir Julian Byng, relieved the French Tenth Army in the sector in February 1916, permitting the French to expand their operations at Verdun
. The British soon discovered that German tunnelling companies had taken advantage of the relative calm on the surface to build an extensive network of tunnels and deep mines from which they could attack French positions. The Royal Engineers immediately deployed specialist tunnelling companies along the front to combat the German mining operations. In response to increased British mining, German artillery and trench mortar fire intensified in early May 1916. On 21 May 1916, after shelling both forward trenches and divisional artillery positions from no less than 80 out-of-sight batteries on the reverse slope of the ridge, German infantry attacked the British lines along a 2000 yards (1,828.8 m) front in an effort to eject them from positions along the ridge. The Germans successfully captured several British-controlled tunnels and mine craters before halting their advance and consolidating their positions. The Germans grew uneasy about the proximity of the British positions to the top of the ridge, particularly after the increase in British tunnelling and counter-mining activities. Small counter-attacks by units of the 140th and 141st British Brigades, 47th (1/2nd London) Division, took place on 22 May, but did not manage to change the situation. The Canadian Corps
relieved the British IV Corps stationed along the western slopes of Vimy Ridge in October 1916.
were exploded during the mountain war. Col di Lana
, Lagazuoi and Marmolata, were a few examples.
, Messines
and Passchendaele, there was no longer a place for a tactic that depended upon total immobility for its employment. As the tactics and counter-tactics required deeper and deeper tunnelling, (hence more time and requiring more stable front lines), offensive and defensive military mining largely ceased.
Underground work continued, with the tunnellers concentrating on deep dugouts for troop accommodation, safe from the larger shells being deployed.
According to the original trench maps, hospital
s, mess rooms, chapel
s, kitchen
s, workshop
s, blacksmith
s, as well as bedrooms where exhausted soldiers could rest, were hewn from the blue-clay and stone. Connected by corridors measuring 6 ft 6in high by 4 ft wide, they were fitted with water pumps which, when the troops left within weeks of the war ending, were slowly submerged. The developments at Hill 60 housed 3,000 men, those near Hooge 1,000. A brigade headquarters at the Vampire dugout
near Zonnebeke
, was captured and occupied by the Germans in their Spring Offensive in 1918, before being retaken in September. The level of activity can be gauged by the fact that during 1917 and 1918, more people lived underground in the Ypres area than reside in the town today.
In preparation for the Battle of Arras
in 1917, the Royal Engineers had been working underground from October 1916, constructing tunnels for the troops. The Arras region is chalky and therefore easily excavated; under Arras itself there is a vast network of caverns (called the boves), which consist of underground quarries, galleries and sewage tunnels. The engineers devised a plan to add new tunnels to this network so that troops could arrive at the battlefield in secrecy and in safety. The scale of this undertaking was enormous: in one sector alone four Tunnel Companies (of 500 men each) worked around the clock in 18-hour shifts for two months.
The British attack plan was well developed, drawing on the lessons of the Somme and Verdun
in the previous year. Rather than attacking on an extended front, the full weight of artillery fire would be concentrated on a relatively narrow stretch of 24 miles (38.6 km). The barrage was planned to last about a week at all points on the line, with a much longer and heavier bombardment at Vimy to weaken its strong defences. During the assault, the troops would advance in open formation, with units leapfrogging each other in order to allow them time to consolidate and regroup. Before the action could be undertaken, a great deal of preparation was required, much of it innovative.
To assist the attack, the Royal Engineers constructed 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) of tunnels, graded as subways (foot traffic only); tramways (with rails for hand-drawn trollies for taking ammunition to the line and bringing casualties back); and railways (a light railway system). Just before the assault the tunnel system had grown big enough to conceal 24,000 men, with electric lighting provided by its own small powerhouse, as well as kitchens, latrines and a medical centre with a fully equipped operating theatre. The bulk of the work was done by New Zealanders, including Maori and Pacific Islanders from the New Zealand (Māori) Pioneer Battalion
, and Bantams from the mining towns of Northern England.
Assault tunnels were also dug, stopping a few yards short of the German line, ready to be blown open by explosives on Zero-Day. In addition to this, conventional mines were dug under the front lines, ready to be blown immediately before the assault. Many were never detonated for fear that they would churn up the ground too much. In the meantime, German sappers were actively conducting their own underground operations, seeking out Allied tunnels to assault and counter-mine. Of the New Zealanders alone, 41 died and 151 were wounded as a result of German counter-mining.
Today, most of the tunnels and trenches are off-limits to the public for reasons of safety. A 250 metre portion of the Grange Subway at Vimy Ridge is open to the public from May to November and the Wellington tunnel was opened to the public as the Carrière Wellington museum
in March 2008.
In preparation for the Second Battle of Passchendaele, as early as the 17 October, assault units were given all available details about the German defences in their respective sectors, in order to facilitate early planning. Intelligence officers and artillery observers worked jointly in observation posts recording newly built German fortifications as well as those that had previously escaped notice, permitting the artillery to take necessary action before the offensive. To improve the logistical movement of artillery and supplies an extensive programme of road building was started. Ten field companies, seven tunnelling companies, four army troop companies and nine battalions were put to work repairing or extending existing plank roads. From the middle of October until the end of the offensive, a total of 2 miles (3.2 km) of double plank road and more than 4000 yards (3,657.6 m) of heavy tram line was constructed in the Canadian Corps area. Brigadier General
Edward Morrison
, commanding the artillery, also secured permission to use the roads to the rear for withdrawing disabled guns for repair.
The RE Grave Railway Wood Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery
was founded by Commonwealth
troops in November 1915 and remained in use until August 1917. It commemorates the eight men of the 177th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers, and the four assistant infantrymen who were killed whilst tunnelling under the hill. Their bodies were left in situ, beneath the hill on which the memorial now stands.
troop movements were too fluid, and tunnelling too slow, mining proved not to be worth the investment of effort.
:
Sapper William Hackett
254 Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers awarded posthumously for helping his fellow miners when a tunnel collapsed at Givenchy-lès-la-Bassée
, France on 26 June 1916. His medal is held by the Royal Engineers Museum
and he his commemorated at the Tunnellers Memorial
Captain Coulson Norman Mitchell
, of No 1 Tunnelling Company, 4th Canadian Engineers Royal Canadian Engineers for preventing the demolition of bridges on the Canal de I'Escaut, north-east of Cambrai
on 8–9 October 1918. His medal is held by the Canadian Military Engineers Museum, CFB Gagetown
, New Brunswick
.
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
, formed to dig attacking tunnels
Tunnel warfare
Tunnel warfare is a type of warfare that occurs in tunnels.It can be sometimes linked with urban warfare, as tunnels are often found in urban area and cities, although urban warfare as a whole usually dominates any tunnel considerations...
under enemy lines during the First World War.
The stalemate situation in the early part of the war led to the deployment of tunnel warfare
Tunnel warfare
Tunnel warfare is a type of warfare that occurs in tunnels.It can be sometimes linked with urban warfare, as tunnels are often found in urban area and cities, although urban warfare as a whole usually dominates any tunnel considerations...
. After the first German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
attacks on 21 December 1914, through shallow tunnels underneath no man’s land
No Man's Land
No man's land is an unoccupied area between two opposing positions.No Man's Land may also refer to:-Places:In the United Kingdom* No Man's Land, Cornwall, England* No Man's Land Fort, off the coast of England* Nomansland, Devon, England...
and exploding ten mines under the trenches of the Indian
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...
Sirhind Brigade, the British began forming suitable units. In February 1915, eight Tunnelling Companies were created and operational in Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
from March 1915. By mid-1916, the British Army had around 25,000 trained tunnellers, mostly volunteers taken from coal mining
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
communities. Almost twice that number of "attached infantry" worked permanently alongside the trained miners acting as 'beasts of burden'.
From the spring of 1917 the whole war became more mobile, with grand offensives at Arras
Battle of Arras (1917)
The Battle of Arras was a British offensive during the First World War. From 9 April to 16 May 1917, British, Canadian, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and Australian troops attacked German trenches near the French city of Arras on the Western Front....
, Messines
Battle of Messines
The Battle of Messines was a battle of the Western front of the First World War. It began on 7 June 1917 when the British Second Army under the command of General Herbert Plumer launched an offensive near the village of Mesen in West Flanders, Belgium...
and Passchendaele. There was no longer a place for a tactic that depended upon total stasis for its employment. The tactics and counter-tactics required deeper and deeper tunnelling, hence more time and more stable front lines were also requiried, so offensive and defensive military mining largely ceased. Underground work continued, with the tunnellers concentrating on deep dugouts for troop accommodation, a tactic used particularly in the Battle of Arras.
Background
In siege warfare, tunnelling is a long-held tactic for breaching and breaking enemy defences. The GreekGreece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
historian Polybius
Polybius
Polybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...
, in his Histories
The Histories (Polybius)
Polybius’ Histories were originally written in 40 volumes, only the first five of which are existent in their entirety. The bulk of the work is passed down to us through collections of excerpts kept in libraries in Byzantium, for the most part....
, described accounts of mining during Philip V of Macedon's siege of the town of Prinassos; there is also a graphic account of mining and counter-mining at the Roman siege of Ambracia
Ambracia
Ambracia, occasionally Ampracia , was an ancient Corinthian colony, situated about 7 miles from the Ambracian Gulf in Greece, on a bend of the navigable river Arachthos , in the midst of a fertile wooded plain.-History:...
.
Mining was also a method used in siege warfare in ancient China from at least the Warring States (481–221 BC) period forward. When attackers attempted to dig tunnels under walls for mining or entry into the city. The defenders used large bellows
Bellows
A bellows is a device for delivering pressurized air in a controlled quantity to a controlled location.Basically, a bellows is a deformable container which has an outlet nozzle. When the volume of the bellows is decreased, the air escapes through the outlet...
(the type the Chinese commonly used for heating up blast furnace
Blast furnace
A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally iron.In a blast furnace, fuel and ore and flux are continuously supplied through the top of the furnace, while air is blown into the bottom of the chamber, so that the chemical reactions...
s for smelting cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
), to pump smoke into the tunnels in order to suffocate the intruders.
In 1215 during the First Barons' War
First Barons' War
The First Barons' War was a civil war in the Kingdom of England, between a group of rebellious barons—led by Robert Fitzwalter and supported by a French army under the future Louis VIII of France—and King John of England...
, John, King of England laid siege to Rochester Castle
Rochester Castle
Rochester Castle stands on the east bank of the River Medway in Rochester, Kent, England. The 12th-century keep or stone tower, which is the castle's most prominent feature, is one of the best preserved in England or France. Located along the River Medway and Watling Street, Rochester was a...
. Eventually, he ordered his troops to dig a tunnel under the south tower, which they held up with pit props. After the tunnellers lit the props, the tower fell down, ending the siege even though the castle's main walls remained standing.
In 1346, Edward III of England
Edward III of England
Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...
requested that miners from the Forest of Dean
Forest of Dean
The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. The forest is a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and north, the River Severn to the south, and the City of Gloucester to the east.The...
, Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
accompany his expedition to France, during the first part of the Hundred Years' War
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...
between England and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
The Corps of Royal Engineers were formed in 1717. In 1770, the Company of Soldier Artificers formed a specialist tunnelling troop in Gibraltar
Rock of Gibraltar
The Rock of Gibraltar is a monolithic limestone promontory located in Gibraltar, off the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. It is high...
to dig defensive positions into the Rock.
During the Siege of Lucknow
Siege of Lucknow
The Siege of Lucknow was the prolonged defense of the Residency within the city of Lucknow during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. After two successive relief attempts had reached the city, the defenders and civilians were evacuated from the Residency, which was abandoned.Lucknow was the capital of...
in 1857, Royal Engineers were asked to undertake counter-mining.
World War I formation
By the end of May 1915, a continuous opposed pair of defence-in-depth trench earthworksTrench warfare
Trench warfare is a form of occupied fighting lines, consisting largely of trenches, in which troops are largely immune to the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery...
with no vulnerable flanks, stretched from the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
coast to neutral Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. With both sides equally well dug-in and deploying comparable troop numbers and armaments, neither was to prove strong enough to force a decisive breakthrough.
The resultant static warfare meant that tunnelling saw a brief resurgence as a military tactic. As in siege warfare, mining was possible due to the nature of the fighting. Secondly, the ground on the Western Front was a prime candidate for underground warfare.
Although the British were equipped with Royal Engineers who were trained in carrying out sapping, mining and tunnelling operations, there was no core team of specialist skills.
Request and proposal
Even before it became apparent that the Germans were mining to a planned system, the commanding officer of the IV Corps, Sir Henry RawlinsonHenry Rawlinson, 1st Baron Rawlinson
General Henry Seymour Rawlinson, 1st Baron Rawlinson, GCB, GCSI, GCVO, KCMG , known as Sir Henry Rawlinson, Bt between 1895 and 1919, was a British First World War general most famous for his roles in the Battle of the Somme of 1916 and the Battle of Amiens in 1918.-Military career:Rawlinson was...
, requested the establishment on 3 December 1914, of a special battalion to assist with mining duties.
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
and British Army Major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
, John Norton-Griffiths
John Norton-Griffiths
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Norton-Griffiths, 1st Baronet KCB DSO was an engineer, soldier during the Second Boer War and World War I, and later a British Member of Parliament.-Early life:...
, was working on sewerage
Sewerage
Sewerage refers to the infrastructure that conveys sewage. It encompasses receiving drains, manholes, pumping stations, storm overflows, screening chambers, etc. of the sanitary sewer...
renewal contracts in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
and Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. The relatively small-bore tunnels were being driven by a manual technique known as "clay-kicking." Only useful in firm clay soils, the man doing the digging sat with his back supported by a wooden frame, with his feet pointing towards the cutting face. With a spade-like tool he dug out the clay, passing the spoil over-head to one of his mates for disposal at the rear. In early December 1914, Norton-Griffiths wrote to the War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
suggesting that the technique would be useful within the war effort for attack, spying or for intercepting German tunnels coming in the opposite direction. He concluded by asking to be allowed to take a group of his "moles" to France where if the soil was right, they could quickly undermine enemy positions. His letter was filed.
On 20 December 1914, by placing shallow tunnels through no man’s land, German
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
sappers placed eight 50 kilogramme (110 lb) mines beneath the positions of the Indian
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...
Sirhind Brigade in Givenchy. Following their simultaneous detonation, an infantry attack resulted in the loss of the entire company of 800 men.
Kitchener responds
Following further attacks, it was evident by January 1915 that the Germans were mining to a planned system. As the British had failed to develop suitable counter-tactics or listening devices, Sir John FrenchJohn French, 1st Earl of Ypres
Field Marshal John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl of Ypres, KP, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCMG, ADC, PC , known as The Viscount French between 1916 and 1922, was a British and Anglo-Irish officer...
, commander of the British Expeditionary Force, wrote to the Secretary of State for War
Secretary of State for War
The position of Secretary of State for War, commonly called War Secretary, was a British cabinet-level position, first held by Henry Dundas . In 1801 the post became that of Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. The position was re-instated in 1854...
, Lord Kitchener
Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener
Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, ADC, PC , was an Irish-born British Field Marshal and proconsul who won fame for his imperial campaigns and later played a central role in the early part of the First World War, although he died halfway...
, describing the seriousness of the German mining situation.
Norton-Griffiths received a telegram on 12 February 1915, instructing him to report to the War Office. On his arrival, he was shown into Kitchener's private offices, where he (Kitchener), showed him French's letter. Kitchener then asked Norton-Griffiths for his advice, to which using a coal shovel from the room's fire grate, he sat on the floor and gave a demonstration of "clay-kicking."
Impressed but sceptical, Kitchener asked Norton-Griffiths to travel that day to France to communicate his method to the commanders there, and confirm the suitability of the Flanders soil. If positive, he would then raise a suitable battalion of "moles", as Norton-Griffiths had named his new teams, the same name as their civil engineering counterparts.
Arriving with two of his employees at the GHQ Saint-Omer
Saint-Omer
Saint-Omer , a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais. The town is named after Saint Audomar, who brought Christianity to the area....
office of the Engineer-in-Chief (E-in-C), Brigadier
Brigadier
Brigadier is a senior military rank, the meaning of which is somewhat different in different military services. The brigadier rank is generally superior to the rank of colonel, and subordinate to major general....
George Henry Fowke
George Henry Fowke
Lieutenant General Sir George Henry Fowke KCB, KCMG was a British Army general, who served on the staff of the British Expeditionary Force during the First World War....
, on 13 February, Norton-Griffiths gave another demonstration of "clay-kicking." A sceptical Fowke instructed his assistant, Colonel Harvey, to take Norton-Griffiths and his employees to Army and Corps headquarters on 14 February, to see what the Corps of Royal Engineers thought of the idea.
In an early public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
exercise, on 14 February, Norton-Griffiths got Colonel Harvey to stop at four headquarters – Army, Corps, Division and Brigade. At each briefing, Norton-Griffiths repeated his demonstration. On arrival at the front line, (a mile from where the first German mine had exploded the previous December), they confirmed the excellent conditions of the clay-based soil and returned to St Omer via the four headquarters to communicate their findings.
The following day, the team held further meetings in St Omer, concluding with a meeting between Norton-Griffiths, Fowke and Sir John French, the C-in-C, for a personal explanation. Fowke gave his agreement to a trial to which French agreed, and the three set out a structure for what were to be called tunnelling companies, rather than Norton-Griffiths' preference for 'moles': a symbol which many of the tunnelling companies would later adopt as their unit sign.
In a meeting with Lord Kitchener on 17 February, he reported on his visit to France and the agreement of Collins and Fowke to form trial tunnelling companies. Norton-Griffiths pointed out that to deploy the units at the speed which Lord Kitchener had suggested, would require the recruitment of civilians, who could not undergo basic military training to enable their immediate deployment to the front line. Kitchener's staff were highly sceptical of the proposal, but using his carte-blanche skill to cull such skilled men from regular infantry units, Norton-Griffiths won his argument.
First tunnelling companies
Norton Griffiths travelled to LiverpoolLiverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
on 18 February and closed down one of his tunnelling contracts, making 18 staff redundant. The following day the War Office gave its approval to the Royal Engineers tunnelling company scheme. On the same day, 18 formerly redundant Liverpool men turned up in Chatham to be enrolled, clothed and turned into Royal Engineers. One of the most rapid acts of the First World War, men who were working underground as civilians on 17 February, were working underground on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
by the following Monday, a mere four days later.
The first nine Royal Engineer Tunnelling Companies, numbers 170 to 178, were each commanded by a regular RE officer – they comprised: 5 officers and 269 sappers, aided by temporarily attached infantrymen as required, (which almost doubled the companies number). Norton-Griffiths, in the rank of major, acted as a liaison officer between these units and the E-in-C's office in St.Omer.
Although able to select almost any soldier he wished, as he had predicted, Norton-Griffiths was quickly forced to recruit civilians. The new recruits in these units, aged anything up to 60, did not readily conform to military discipline and Norton-Griffiths' skills as a politician and as an engineer were called on in recruiting the men he needed and integrating them into the military environment. His judgement of people was remarkably accurate, he very rarely made a mistake in selecting men for a commission.
The deployment of the first eight units led to the introduction of the tunnelling method that allowed the British to dig tunnels at a rate of 8 metres (8.7 yd) per day, compared to the Germans' 2 metres (2.2 yd).
First action: Hill 60, Ypres Salient
First deployed in the Ypres SalientYpres Salient
The Ypres Salient is the area around Ypres in Belgium which was the scene of some of the biggest battles in World War I.In military terms, a salient is a battlefield feature that projects into enemy territory. Therefore, the salient is surrounded by the enemy on three sides, making the troops...
with the 28th Division
28th Division (United Kingdom)
- History :Formed in England in December 1914 - January 1915 from regular arm battalions returning from India , Singapore and Egypt . In January 1915 the division moved to France and on to the Western Front....
, the specialist tunnelling companies laid six mines by 10 April 1915. These mines (together with others that were unfinished), were filled with around 10000 lbs of Ammonal explosives, the resulting explosions ripping the heart out of Hill 60
Battle of Hill 60 (Western Front)
The Battle of Hill 60 was an Australian assault that was subsidiary to the Battle of Neuve Chapelle.-1914-15:Hill 60 was a low rise on the southern flank of the Ypres Salient and was named for the 60 metre contour which marked its bounds. Hill 60 was not a natural highpoint, but was created as a...
over a period of about 10 seconds. The effect was a mini-earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
that split the ground under the entire hill, white flames shot 300 feet (91.4 m) into the sky. Concrete pillboxes and soldiers occupying them came down in all directions 300 yards (274.3 m) away. The explosion resulted in a 70 feet (21.3 m) deep crater, with surrounding trenches sandwiched shut so fast soldiers were crushed still in their standing positions. The Germans all around were crying with fear. Many retreated in terror, the-then tunnel master, Otto von Fusslein, was castigated, although the position was quickly recaptured a few days later.
The action showed the importance of the necessity for a counter-offensive against aggressive German mining on the British lines. Having proven the system, Norton-Griffiths left the company and returned to London in April 1916 and his duties as an MP. He left GHQ with his rough plan of August 1915 for extensive mining on the Messines front, which formed the framework on which mines were used at the Battle of Messines
Battle of Messines
The Battle of Messines was a battle of the Western front of the First World War. It began on 7 June 1917 when the British Second Army under the command of General Herbert Plumer launched an offensive near the village of Mesen in West Flanders, Belgium...
two years later. He was awarded the DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
for his efforts, mentioned in dispatches three times and promoted to Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
in 1916.
Expansion
The success of the Tunnelling Companies led to mining being made a separate branch of the new E-in-C's office, which was under Major-General S.R. RiceSpring R. Rice
Major-General Sir Spring Robert Rice , KCMG, CB, was a British Army general who served on the staff of the British Expeditionary Force during the First World War....
and the appointment of an Inspector of Mines at GHQ.
The second group of tunnelling companies were formed from Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
miners from the 1st and 3rd Battalions of The Monmouthshire Regiment, who were attached to the 1st Northumberland Field Company, Royal Engineers, a Territorial unit. Twelve Tunnelling Companies were ultimately formed in 1915 and one more in 1916. A Canadian troop was formed from men on the battlefield, plus two other companies trained in Canada and then shipped to France. Three Australian
Australian Army
The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...
and one New Zealand
New Zealand Army
The New Zealand Army , is the land component of the New Zealand Defence Force and comprises around 4,500 Regular Force personnel, 2,000 Territorial Force personnel and 500 civilians. Formerly the New Zealand Military Forces, the current name was adopted around 1946...
tunnelling companies were formed by March 1916. This resulted in 30 companies by the end of 1916, many made up of ex-miners.
All of these companies were occupied on other underground work such as the digging of subways, saps (a narrow trench dug to approach enemy trenches), cable trenches, underground chambers for such things as signals and medical services, as well as offensive and defensive mining.
Methodology
Both sides deployed tunnelling, with the German lead quickly followed by the British follow-up. The result was a labyrinthLabyrinth
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos...
of tunnels within a cat and mouse
Cat and mouse
Cat and mouse, often expressed as cat-and-mouse game, is an English-language idiom dating back to 1675 that means "a contrived action involving constant pursuit, near captures, and repeated escapes." The "cat" is unable to secure a definitive victory over the "mouse", who despite not being able to...
-like game of tunnelling, counter-tunnelling and counter tactics. As the tactics and counter tactics deployed against each other became less and less effective, the depth at which the tunnels needed to be dug became deeper and deeper and hence more dangerous. The result was a greater time to dig, resulting in a greater vulnerability to both leakage of information and tunnel collapse, and a higher loss of lives in the most hideous of circumstances: entombment, drowning, gassing or obliteration in cramped and claustrophobic galleries beneath no man’s land.
Recruitment
To make the tunnels safer and quicker to deploy, the British Army enlisted experienced coal miners, many outside their nominal recruitment policy. The desperate need for skilled men saw notices requesting volunteer tunnellers posted in collieries, mineral mines and quarries across South WalesSouth Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and the Northeast of England covering Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
, County Durham
County Durham
County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...
, Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...
and Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
.
The mining assistants who acted as 'beasts of burden' were often made up of "Bantams
Bantam (military)
A bantam, in British army usage, was a soldier of below the British Army's minimum regulation height of 5ft. 3ins.During the First World War, the British Army raised battalions in which the normal minimum height requirement for recruits was reduced from 5'3" to 5'...
", (soldiers of below average height who had been rejected from regular units because they did not meet the height requirements). Upon the declaration of war in August 1914, William Hackett
William Hackett
William Hackett VC was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces....
applied and was turned down three times at the age of 41 by the York and Lancaster Regiment
York and Lancaster Regiment
-History:It was formed in 1881 through the amalgamation of two other regiments:*65th Regiment*84th RegimentThe title of the regiment was derived not from the cities of York and Lancaster, or from the counties...
. On 25 October 1915, despite having been diagnosed with a heart condition
Heart disease
Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...
, he was enlisted and sent for two weeks basic training at Chatham, joining 172 Tunnelling Company.
Digging
As tunnels were vulnerable to attack, the entrances were a closely guarded secret. With electricity in short supply in the frontline, tunnellers were forced to work by candlelight. Operating in near silence to avoid detection, the tunnels were cold, cramped and often up to a foot deep in freezing water.Tunnel entrances were most often at the bottom of deep shafts. From here, using the clay-kicking technique, the tunnels were aligned and given direction by the simple use of candlelight. They were built on a slight uphill gradient of between 1:100 and 1:50 to keep them as dry as possible. This meant that they were also vulnerable to the accumulation of gas at the digging face.
A clay-kicking team typically consisted of three men: a "Kicker" who worked at the face, a "Bagger" who filled sandbags with the lumps of clay spoil, and a "Trammer" who transported the bags out of the gallery on a small, rubber-tyred trolley on rails. The trolley was also employed to bring timber in on the return journey.
If the tunnel was long, the trammer was given extra assistants, to speed the exit of spoil and intake of timber. The team was responsible for its own safety, and would insert a 'sett' of wooden supports every 9 inch (0.2286 m). As no nails or screws could be used due to noise, the 'setts' (consisting of a sole, two legs and a cap), were sawn with a rebated step, which once trimmed into the clay, would expand with the absorbed water into a solid structure.
Working conditions
Working in cold, cramped conditions, miners worked in 6 or 12 hour rotating shifts. Miners were prone to illness, with high rates of trench footTrench foot
Trench foot is a medical condition caused by prolonged exposure of the feet to damp, unsanitary, and cold conditions. It is one of many immersion foot syndromes...
and bad food disease, while fatigue
Fatigue (safety)
Fatigue is a major safety concern in many fields, but especially in transportation, because fatigue can result in disastrous accidents. Fatigue is considered an internal precondition for unsafe acts because it negatively affects the human operator's internal state...
compounded the situation, creating a high mortality rate. The miners also had to cope with difficult circumstances when they entered the mining tunnels. Often the tunnels were dark, small and flooded with water. Tunnellers were billeted quite a long way back from the front line, while a regular Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
-style rum
Rum
Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels...
ration was issued to keep out the cold.
Natural gases and gases given off as a result of explosions could ignite, poison or asphyxiate. The major problem gas for tunnellers was carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide , also called carbonous oxide, is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas that is slightly lighter than air. It is highly toxic to humans and animals in higher quantities, although it is also produced in normal animal metabolism in low quantities, and is thought to have some normal...
, given off by all projectiles from shells to rifle bullets.
With the use of experienced miners, came the use of "miners friends" in the form of mice
MICE
-Fiction:*Mice , alien species in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*The Mice -Acronyms:* "Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, Exhibitions", facilities terminology for events...
and later small birds, such as canaries
Domestic Canary
The Domestic Canary, often simply known as the canary, is a domesticated form of the wild Canary, a small songbird in the finch family originating from the Macaronesian Islands ....
. With a high metabolic rate, they were readily susceptible to gas, and issued to the Tunnelling Companies as an official item. When gas was present, their unconsciousness would alert miners to the need to evacuate. Although many animals died, they could recover on the surface, with at least one company keeping a record of the gassings so that their creatures did not have to endure more than three instances before being pensioned off to an aviary
Aviary
An aviary is a large enclosure for confining birds. Unlike cages, aviaries allow birds a larger living space where they can fly; hence, aviaries are also sometimes known as flight cages...
. The role of the miners friends are honoured on the Scottish National War Memorial in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
.
In extensive tunnelling systems, air-tight doors were introduced to control air flows.
Mines Rescue
Such was the reliance on mining during the early stages of the war, that eventually mining-related casualties became so great that the War Office decided something had to be done. The skilled mining volunteers were particularly hard to replace. In one six week period, one tunnelling company had 16 men killed; 48 sent to hospital; and 86 minor cases treated at the shaft head and returned to company billets. Another company suffered 12 men killed by gas; 28 sent to hospital in one month; 60 minor cases were retained with the unit.In response the affected mining units put out an urgent call for appropriate rescue equipment. Captain D Dale Logan was appointed advisor to GHQ in September 1915 on all matters connected with the health of the specially enlisted Tunnelling Companies.
In June 1915, Lance Corporal Arthur B. Clifford was made solely responsible for mine safety training. Sent to the front to train 3000 mine-rescue troops in a month, there were only 36 sets of 'PROTO' breathing equipment available in the whole of the United Kingdom. Clifford was based with the Royal Engineers at Strazeele
Strazeele
-References:*...
, with a sub-station at Berguette. This became the first Army Mine-Rescue School. Clifford was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal
Meritorious Service Medal (United Kingdom)
The Meritorious Service Medal is a silver medal for distinguished service, or for gallantry, principally by non-commissioned officers of all of the British armed forces and of Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service.-Summary:...
in 1917 for what he had achieved.
From July 1916, under Logan's new organisation, the second Army Mine-Rescue School was established at Armentieres
Armentières
Armentières is a commune in the Nord department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in northern France. It is part of the Urban Community of Lille Métropole, and lies on the Belgian border, northwest of the city of Lille, on the right bank of the river Lys....
. This allowed the British to deploy a system of mines rescue, where no mining shaft was further than 200 metres (218.7 yd) from a rescue station. Named after the kit they employed, Proto-men were hand-picked experienced miners, selected for coolness under pressure. Two men were on duty at all times, with additional access to 10 electric miners lamps, six canaries, four mobile cages, one saw, one hand axe, three life-lines, two mine stretchers, one trench stretcher, one Primus stove
Primus stove
The Primus stove, the first pressurized-burner kerosene stove, was developed in 1892 by Frans Wilhelm Lindqvist, a factory mechanic in Stockholm, Sweden. The stove was based on the design of the hand-held blowtorch; Lindqvist’s patent covered the burner, which was turned upward on the stove...
, two tins of café au lait
Café au lait
Café au lait is a French coffee drink. The meaning of the term differs between Europe and the United States; in both cases it means some kind of coffee with hot milk added, in contrast to white coffee, which is coffee with room temperature milk or other whitener added.- Europe :In Europe, "café au...
, six hot water bottles and six blankets.
Underground fighting
As a result of so much mining activity by both sides, detection and breakthrough into each others tunnelling systems occurred frequently. The result was often the deployment of the emergency camouflet, a pre-prepared charge which was always ready in the British and Allied forces sectors when tunnelling was taking place. Vicious hand-to-hand fighting in the dark with picks, shovels and wood used as weapons might also take place. Although all miners were trained to use rifles, the restrictions of tunnel construction and the conditions of the tunnels where the miners had to operate often meant they could not be used. If the opposing side were unsuccessful in repelling an attack, then enemy tunnels could be used for short periods to observe enemy tunnelling activity and direction.Listening
Early tunnelling required a great deal of improvisation, as equipment was in short supply. This made tunnels shallow, the noise of digging being detectable using simple devices in the trenches, even amongst the gun-fire.In the trenches, soldiers found that driving a stick into the ground and holding the other end between their teeth enabled them to feel any underground vibration. Another method involved sinking a water-filled oil drum
Drum (container)
A drum is a cylindrical container used for shipping bulk cargo. Drums can be made of steel, dense paperboard , or plastics, and are generally used for the transportation and storage of liquids and powders. Drums are often certified for shipment of dangerous goods...
into the floor of the trench, with lookout soldiers taking turns to lower an ear into the water to listen for vibrations. Improvised methods later included Water Board inspector short-sticks, each with a single vibrating wire-type earphone attached, or using filled French water-bottles laid flat on their sides in pairs, so they could be listened-to through medical stethoscopes.
Underground, within the tunnelling operations, side-shaft listening posts were deployed and manned by soldiers whose job entailed listening for indications that the enemy was tunnelling. Initially using just manual methods, the British were eventually equipped with the Geophone
Geophone
The term geophone derives from the Greek word "geo" meaning "earth" and "phone" meaning "sound".A geophone is a device which converts ground movement into voltage, which may be recorded at a recording station...
, which could detect noises up to 50 metres (164 ft) away. Employing two Geophones, a listener was able to ascertain the direction of hostile activity by moving the sensors until sound levels were equal in both ears. A compass bearing was then taken. When gauging distance only, both earpieces were plugged into a single sensor; this was a skill only gained by experience.
Deploying listeners in different tunnels in triangulation
Triangulation
In trigonometry and geometry, triangulation is the process of determining the location of a point by measuring angles to it from known points at either end of a fixed baseline, rather than measuring distances to the point directly...
techniques, by the end of 1916 the scale of British tunneling warfare had expanded to such an extent that there were not enough listeners to man every post; central listening stations were devised. Working electronically like a telephone exchange
Telephone exchange
In the field of telecommunications, a telephone exchange or telephone switch is a system of electronic components that connects telephone calls...
, the signals from up to 36 remote sensors (Tele-geophones and Seismomicrophones) could be distinguished and logged by just two men.
Underground tactics
The tunnellers developed counter tactics, which both sides deployed. The first was the use of large mines placed in one's own tunnels – some actually dug towards enemy noise to create damage – which when exploded would create fissures and cracks in the ground, making the ground either unsuitable for tunnelling or destroying existing tunnels and works. A small device, called the camoufletCamouflet
A camouflet, in military science, is an artificial cavern created by an explosion. If the explosion reaches the surface then it is called a crater....
, created a localised underground chamber designed not to break the surface and form craters, but to destroy a strictly limited area of underground territory – and its occupants.
The second tactic, deployed when the enemy tunnel was too close to your existing works or trenches, was the deployment of rod-fed torpedo shaped camouflet charges. Effectively land mine
Land mine
A land mine is usually a weight-triggered explosive device which is intended to damage a target—either human or inanimate—by means of a blast and/or fragment impact....
s on the end of long iron sticks, the technique was a defensive tactic against an immediate threat. Towards the end of the tunnel war, forces also deployed mines at greater depths, which together with listening devices could be exploded away from friendly trenches as a defensive measure.
British advantages
The British tunnellers had three advantages over their German counterparts, the Pioniere:Firstly, the British used clay-kicking which was a virtually silent method of tunnelling. The Germans did not know of this technique, having not used it in their pre-war civil engineering, and thus used mattock
Mattock
A mattock is a versatile hand tool, used for digging and chopping, similar to the pickaxe. It has a long handle, and a stout head, which combines an axe blade and an adze or a pick and an adze .-Description:...
s (a type of pick-axe) and other loud tools throughout the war. This made their tunnels more vulnerable to detection and attack.
Secondly, the use of clay-kicking made the British four times as fast at tunnel digging as their German counterparts.
Thirdly, British positions were most often located in low-lying areas, while German positions tended to be more elevated. Although this made the British more vulnerable to shelling, it also meant that British tunnellers had less of the soft quicksand-like 'Kemmel Sands' (known to the Germans as schwimmsands), an integral component of the geological make-up of the ridges around Ieper (Ypres), to penetrate. While the bottom blue clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
layer was virtually flat, as was the Kemmel Sands that sat on top of it, there was a dry strata which varied above this which created the geographical contours. This varying dry strata increased pressure on the Kemmel Sands, which unable to egress water below them, made them wet and unstable. When punctured, the Kemmel Sands would often "spout" under pressure, both water and solid material. Difficult to dig through and keep the mining wooden structure stable, the Germans, assuming that the British had the same instability problem, dug few tunnels until 1916. The British found an engineering solution by creating a metal tube through the Kemmel Sands. Sunk either through its own weight or by the use of hydraulic jacks, once the blue clay layer was hit, the tunnelling could again resume under wooden supports.
The British used tube shafts from May 1915, a full year before the Germans, who when they did start to use metal and concrete tunnels, had lost the strategic advantage and were digging purely for defensive purposes.
Operations
Tunnelling companies were not popular amongst the ordinary troops. Knowing such a unit was nearby made them nervous:- Danger from above the ground (from the enemy)
- Danger from below the ground (from their own and enemy tunnelling companies)
- If the enemy knew a tunnelling company was in the area, it made the trench troops a more likely artillery target. This was further emphasised as the war developed with both sides using larger and larger mines, often deployed ever-closer to their own trenches. These were more likely not to be detonated on time, or if they did, shower debris over their own trenches and advancing troops, causing increased casualties.
The first British mine to be detonated was at Hill 60
Battle of Hill 60 (Western Front)
The Battle of Hill 60 was an Australian assault that was subsidiary to the Battle of Neuve Chapelle.-1914-15:Hill 60 was a low rise on the southern flank of the Ypres Salient and was named for the 60 metre contour which marked its bounds. Hill 60 was not a natural highpoint, but was created as a...
on 10 April 1915. Mines were also used at The Bluff
The Bluff
The Bluff can mean::Australia*The name of a hill in Victor Harbour, South Australia. This spot offers a good vantage point for enthusiastic photographers. Whale sightings from this point are also common.Cayman Islands...
, St Eloi, the Battle of Aubers Ridge
Battle of Aubers Ridge
The Battle of Aubers Ridge was a British offensive mounted on the Western Front in 1915 during World War I.- Background :The battle was the initial British component of the combined Anglo-French offensive known as the Second Battle of Artois...
in May 1915; Hooge
Hooge, Belgium
Hooge is a small village in Flanders in Belgium. During the First World War it was the site of intensive fighting.-History:During the First World War Hooge was the site of a château which was used as the Divisional Headquarters for the area...
, Givenchy
Givenchy
Givenchy is a French brand of clothing, accessories, perfumes and cosmetics with Parfums Givenchy.The house of Givenchy was founded in 1952 by designer Hubert de Givenchy and is a member of Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture et du Pret-a-Porter...
, Cuinchy
Cuinchy
Cuinchy is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:A farming village some east of Béthune and southwest of Lille, at the junction of the D166 and the D166E3 roads, by the banks of the Canal-d’Aire....
and the Battle of Loos
Battle of Loos
The Battle of Loos was one of the major British offensives mounted on the Western Front in 1915 during World War I. It marked the first time the British used poison gas during the war, and is also famous for the fact that it witnessed the first large-scale use of 'new' or Kitchener's Army...
in September 1915.
Battle of Mont Sorrel
Hooge, a small village in the Ypres SalientYpres Salient
The Ypres Salient is the area around Ypres in Belgium which was the scene of some of the biggest battles in World War I.In military terms, a salient is a battlefield feature that projects into enemy territory. Therefore, the salient is surrounded by the enemy on three sides, making the troops...
in Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
, was the site of a château
Château
A château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...
which changed hands a number of times. Used as the Divisional Headquarters for the area, the staff at the château from the 1st and 2nd Divisions were all killed when the château was shelled on 31 October 1914.
German forces
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
attacked the château between 24 May and 3 June 1915 and despite the detonation of a British mine by the 3rd Division, leaving a massive crater, took control of the château and the surrounding area on 30 July. The château and the crater (craters being strategically
Military strategy
Military strategy is a set of ideas implemented by military organizations to pursue desired strategic goals. Derived from the Greek strategos, strategy when it appeared in use during the 18th century, was seen in its narrow sense as the "art of the general", 'the art of arrangement' of troops...
important in relatively flat countryside), were taken by the British 6th Division on 9 August. It was reclaimed by the Germans on 16 June 1916 and retaken by the British on 31 July 1917 when the 8th Division managed to advance past it by about a mile. The Germans retook the site in April 1918 as part of the Spring Offensive
Spring Offensive
The 1918 Spring Offensive or Kaiserschlacht , also known as the Ludendorff Offensive, was a series of German attacks along the Western Front during World War I, beginning on 21 March 1918, which marked the deepest advances by either side since 1914...
but were expelled from the area by the British on 28 September as the offensive faltered. The chateau was completely destroyed along with the entire village; several large craters were blown over the course of the 1917 fighting.
Battle of the Somme
When the Battle of the Somme started on 1 July 1916, the plan was to detonate ten mines, the northernmost of which was that under the Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt
Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt
Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt was a German front-line fortification west of the village of Beaumont Hamel on the Somme. It was the scene of a number of costly attacks by British infantry during the Battle of the Somme in 1916...
, a front-line fortification west of the village of Beaumont Hamel. The other two were the Lochnagar mine
Lochnagar mine
The Lochnagar mine was an explosive-packed mine created by the Royal Engineer tunnelling companies, located south of the village of La Boisselle in the Somme département of France, which was detonated at 7:28 am on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme...
and the Y Sap mine at La Boisselle. The Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt mine, which consisted of 40000 pounds (18,143.7 kg) of explosives, was the first to be detonated. The plan was to detonate the remainder at 7:28 am, two minutes before Zero hour, when the infantry advance would begin, but a compromise was reached with Lieutenant-General Aylmer Hunter-Weston
Aylmer Hunter-Weston
Lieutenant-General Sir Aylmer Gould Hunter-Weston KCB DSO GStJ was a British Army general who served in World War I at Gallipoli and the Somme Offensive...
, whose VIII Corps was holding the Hawthorn Ridge sector, enabling him to explode the mine at 07:20. This led to the successful filming of the explosion by British cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
Geoffrey Malins, who was filming the 29th Division's attack. He had his camera set up about 0.5 mile (0.80467 km) away, trained on the ridge and waiting for the explosion.
Tunnelling units involved in the Battle of the Somme were the 174th, 178th, 179th, 181st, 183rd, and 252nd companies.
Battle of Messines
In January 1917, General Sir Herbert Plumer, gave orders for mines to be placed under the German
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
lines in preparation for the Battle of Messines
Battle of Messines
The Battle of Messines was a battle of the Western front of the First World War. It began on 7 June 1917 when the British Second Army under the command of General Herbert Plumer launched an offensive near the village of Mesen in West Flanders, Belgium...
.
From 1915, British engineers started digging, but it was not until the winter of 1916 when they were joined by Canadian, Australian and New Zealand engineers, that mass tunnelling started under the German trenches. Twenty-two mines were dug, some up to 2160 feet (658.4 m) long and up to 125 feet (38.1 m) deep, each containing 600 tonnes of ammonal
Ammonal
Ammonal is an explosive made up of ammonium nitrate, trinitrotoluene , and aluminium powder.The ammonium nitrate functions as an oxidizer and aluminium as a power enhancer. To some extent the aluminium makes it more sensitive to detonation...
explosive. To solve the problem of wet soil, the tunnels were dug in the layer of "blue clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
", 80–120 feet (25–30 m) below the surface. The galleries dug in order to lay these mines eventually totalled over 8000 yards in length, and had been constructed in the face of tenacious German counter-mining.
On several occasions, German tunnellers were within yards of large British mine "chambers." The mine at Petite Douve Farm was discovered by the Germans on 24 August 1916 and destroyed by a counter-mine. Two mines close to Ploegsteert Wood were not exploded as they were outside the attack area.
As preparation for the attack, six mines were detonated on 27 March 1916. The largest of these was at St Eloi, dug by the 1st Canadian Tunnelling Company, consisting of 95600 pounds (43,363.4 kg) of explosive. This allowed the capture of St Eloi by the British 41st Division
British 41st Division
The British 41st Division is a New Army division formed in September 1915 as part of the K5 Army. The division landed in France in May 1916 and spent the duration of the First World War in action on the Western Front.- Formation :122nd Brigade :...
.
This choice reduced the total explosive to 450 tonnes. The evening before the attack, General Plumer remarked to his staff, "Gentlemen, we may not make history tomorrow, but we shall certainly change the geography."
With doubts about the reliability of the system, (some mines had been lying underground for over a year), soldiers waiting in the trenches had been warned that they could not depend absolutely on the mines working as planned, so their orders were to leave their trenches and attack whether the mines exploded or not. The explosion of the mines took place at 03:10 on 7 June. Approximately 10,000 German troops were killed when the 19 mines were simultaneously detonated, creating an explosion so loud it was heard by British Prime Minister David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
in his study in 10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, who is now always the Prime Minister....
in London. There is even a report of an insomniac student hearing it in University College, Dublin.
The largest of the 19 Messines mines was at Spanbroekmolen. Found and counter-mined by the Germans a few weeks before the attack, the British were forced to dig a second entrance tunnel into the already prepared explosive chamber, (which consisted of 41 tons of ammonal
Ammonal
Ammonal is an explosive made up of ammonium nitrate, trinitrotoluene , and aluminium powder.The ammonium nitrate functions as an oxidizer and aluminium as a power enhancer. To some extent the aluminium makes it more sensitive to detonation...
explosive 88 feet (26.8 m) below ground), to reconnect the detonation wires. Although tested fully just a few hours before the attack, officers used torch
Torch
A torch is a fire source, usually a rod-shaped piece of wood with a rag soaked in pitch and/or some other flammable material wrapped around one end. Torches were often supported in sconces by brackets high up on walls, to throw light over corridors in stone structures such as castles or crypts...
batteries to prove the circuits. As instructed, soldiers of the 36th (Ulster) Division had already left their trenches and begun to move across No-Man's Land when the mine exploded a few seconds late, leading to some being killed by falling debris. They are buried in Lone Tree cemetery nearby. The "Lone Tree Crater" formed by the blast was approximately 250 feet (76.2 m) in diameter, and 40 feet (12.2 m) deep.
The 1st Australian Tunnelling Company took over mining operations in November 1916 on Hill 60
Battle of Hill 60 (Western Front)
The Battle of Hill 60 was an Australian assault that was subsidiary to the Battle of Neuve Chapelle.-1914-15:Hill 60 was a low rise on the southern flank of the Ypres Salient and was named for the 60 metre contour which marked its bounds. Hill 60 was not a natural highpoint, but was created as a...
, led in part by Capt. Oliver Holmes Woodward
Oliver Woodward
Oliver Holmes Woodward CMG, MC & Two Bars was an Australian metallurgist, mine manager and soldier noted for his tunneling activities at the Ypres Salient during the First World War....
. The explosion demolished a large part of the hill, killing many German soldiers.
The British intended to dismantle the two remaining mines, but the Third Battle of Ypres delayed operations, after the Germans overran the group headquarters their location was lost. On 17 July 1955, a lightning strike set-off one of the remaining mines. There were no human casualties, but one cow was killed and some local property damage was sustained. The 21st cache was never found, and there are still several tonnes of high explosive buried somewhere under the Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
countryside. A memorial to the Australian mining troops killed at Hill 60 during the course of the war was later placed at the site.
Battle of Vimy Ridge
In preparation for the Battle of Vimy Ridge
Battle of Vimy Ridge
The Battle of Vimy Ridge was a military engagement fought primarily as part of the Battle of Arras, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France, during the First World War. The main combatants were the Canadian Corps, of four divisions, against three divisions of the German Sixth Army...
between 9 and 12 April 1917, the British XVII Corps
XVII Corps
XVII Corps can refer to:*XVII Corps *XVII Corps *XVII Corps...
, commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir Julian Byng, relieved the French Tenth Army in the sector in February 1916, permitting the French to expand their operations at Verdun
Verdun
Verdun is a city in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital of the department is the slightly smaller city of Bar-le-Duc.- History :...
. The British soon discovered that German tunnelling companies had taken advantage of the relative calm on the surface to build an extensive network of tunnels and deep mines from which they could attack French positions. The Royal Engineers immediately deployed specialist tunnelling companies along the front to combat the German mining operations. In response to increased British mining, German artillery and trench mortar fire intensified in early May 1916. On 21 May 1916, after shelling both forward trenches and divisional artillery positions from no less than 80 out-of-sight batteries on the reverse slope of the ridge, German infantry attacked the British lines along a 2000 yards (1,828.8 m) front in an effort to eject them from positions along the ridge. The Germans successfully captured several British-controlled tunnels and mine craters before halting their advance and consolidating their positions. The Germans grew uneasy about the proximity of the British positions to the top of the ridge, particularly after the increase in British tunnelling and counter-mining activities. Small counter-attacks by units of the 140th and 141st British Brigades, 47th (1/2nd London) Division, took place on 22 May, but did not manage to change the situation. The Canadian Corps
Canadian Corps
The Canadian Corps was a World War I corps formed from the Canadian Expeditionary Force in September 1915 after the arrival of the 2nd Canadian Division in France. The corps was expanded by the addition of the 3rd Canadian Division in December 1915 and the 4th Canadian Division in August 1916...
relieved the British IV Corps stationed along the western slopes of Vimy Ridge in October 1916.
Other operations
Another example is recorded in Louis Trenker's Berge in Flammen. Whole mountain peaks in the AlpsAlps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
were exploded during the mountain war. Col di Lana
Col di Lana
The Col di Lana is a mountain of the Fanes Group in the Italian Dolomites, situated in Livinallongo del Col di Lana , a municipality of the Province of Belluno, in the Italian region of Veneto....
, Lagazuoi and Marmolata, were a few examples.
End of mining operations
From Spring 1917 the whole war became more mobile, with grand offensives at the Battles of ArrasBattle of Arras (1917)
The Battle of Arras was a British offensive during the First World War. From 9 April to 16 May 1917, British, Canadian, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and Australian troops attacked German trenches near the French city of Arras on the Western Front....
, Messines
Battle of Messines
The Battle of Messines was a battle of the Western front of the First World War. It began on 7 June 1917 when the British Second Army under the command of General Herbert Plumer launched an offensive near the village of Mesen in West Flanders, Belgium...
and Passchendaele, there was no longer a place for a tactic that depended upon total immobility for its employment. As the tactics and counter-tactics required deeper and deeper tunnelling, (hence more time and requiring more stable front lines), offensive and defensive military mining largely ceased.
Underground work continued, with the tunnellers concentrating on deep dugouts for troop accommodation, safe from the larger shells being deployed.
According to the original trench maps, hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
s, mess rooms, chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
s, kitchen
Kitchen
A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation.In the West, a modern residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a refrigerator and kitchen cabinets arranged according to a modular design. Many households have a...
s, workshop
Workshop
A workshop is a room or building which provides both the area and tools that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods...
s, blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
s, as well as bedrooms where exhausted soldiers could rest, were hewn from the blue-clay and stone. Connected by corridors measuring 6 ft 6in high by 4 ft wide, they were fitted with water pumps which, when the troops left within weeks of the war ending, were slowly submerged. The developments at Hill 60 housed 3,000 men, those near Hooge 1,000. A brigade headquarters at the Vampire dugout
Vampire dugout
The Vampire dugout , was a First World War underground brigade headquarters, located near the Belgian village of Zonnebeke. It was created below Flanders by the 171 Tunnelling Company of the Corps of Royal Engineers, after the Third Battle of Ypres/Battle of Passchendaele...
near Zonnebeke
Zonnebeke
Zonnebeke is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the villages of Beselare, Geluveld, Passendale, Zandvoorde and Zonnebeke proper. On January 1, 2006 Zonnebeke had a total population of 11,758...
, was captured and occupied by the Germans in their Spring Offensive in 1918, before being retaken in September. The level of activity can be gauged by the fact that during 1917 and 1918, more people lived underground in the Ypres area than reside in the town today.
Battle of Arras
Battle of Arras (1917)
The Battle of Arras was a British offensive during the First World War. From 9 April to 16 May 1917, British, Canadian, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and Australian troops attacked German trenches near the French city of Arras on the Western Front....
in 1917, the Royal Engineers had been working underground from October 1916, constructing tunnels for the troops. The Arras region is chalky and therefore easily excavated; under Arras itself there is a vast network of caverns (called the boves), which consist of underground quarries, galleries and sewage tunnels. The engineers devised a plan to add new tunnels to this network so that troops could arrive at the battlefield in secrecy and in safety. The scale of this undertaking was enormous: in one sector alone four Tunnel Companies (of 500 men each) worked around the clock in 18-hour shifts for two months.
The British attack plan was well developed, drawing on the lessons of the Somme and Verdun
Battle of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun was one of the major battles during the First World War on the Western Front. It was fought between the German and French armies, from 21 February – 18 December 1916, on hilly terrain north of the city of Verdun-sur-Meuse in north-eastern France...
in the previous year. Rather than attacking on an extended front, the full weight of artillery fire would be concentrated on a relatively narrow stretch of 24 miles (38.6 km). The barrage was planned to last about a week at all points on the line, with a much longer and heavier bombardment at Vimy to weaken its strong defences. During the assault, the troops would advance in open formation, with units leapfrogging each other in order to allow them time to consolidate and regroup. Before the action could be undertaken, a great deal of preparation was required, much of it innovative.
To assist the attack, the Royal Engineers constructed 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) of tunnels, graded as subways (foot traffic only); tramways (with rails for hand-drawn trollies for taking ammunition to the line and bringing casualties back); and railways (a light railway system). Just before the assault the tunnel system had grown big enough to conceal 24,000 men, with electric lighting provided by its own small powerhouse, as well as kitchens, latrines and a medical centre with a fully equipped operating theatre. The bulk of the work was done by New Zealanders, including Maori and Pacific Islanders from the New Zealand (Māori) Pioneer Battalion
New Zealand (Māori) Pioneer Battalion
The New Zealand Pioneer Battalion or Native Contingent and Pioneer Battalion was a battalion of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force that served during World War I. The battalion was first raised in 1915 and served at Gallipoli and the Western Front and largely served as pioneers...
, and Bantams from the mining towns of Northern England.
Assault tunnels were also dug, stopping a few yards short of the German line, ready to be blown open by explosives on Zero-Day. In addition to this, conventional mines were dug under the front lines, ready to be blown immediately before the assault. Many were never detonated for fear that they would churn up the ground too much. In the meantime, German sappers were actively conducting their own underground operations, seeking out Allied tunnels to assault and counter-mine. Of the New Zealanders alone, 41 died and 151 were wounded as a result of German counter-mining.
Today, most of the tunnels and trenches are off-limits to the public for reasons of safety. A 250 metre portion of the Grange Subway at Vimy Ridge is open to the public from May to November and the Wellington tunnel was opened to the public as the Carrière Wellington museum
Carrière Wellington
The Carrière Wellington is a museum in Arras, northern France. It is named after a former underground quarry which was part of a network of tunnels used by forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the First World War...
in March 2008.
Second Battle of Passchendaele
In preparation for the Second Battle of Passchendaele, as early as the 17 October, assault units were given all available details about the German defences in their respective sectors, in order to facilitate early planning. Intelligence officers and artillery observers worked jointly in observation posts recording newly built German fortifications as well as those that had previously escaped notice, permitting the artillery to take necessary action before the offensive. To improve the logistical movement of artillery and supplies an extensive programme of road building was started. Ten field companies, seven tunnelling companies, four army troop companies and nine battalions were put to work repairing or extending existing plank roads. From the middle of October until the end of the offensive, a total of 2 miles (3.2 km) of double plank road and more than 4000 yards (3,657.6 m) of heavy tram line was constructed in the Canadian Corps area. Brigadier General
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
Edward Morrison
Edward Whipple Bancroft Morrison
Sir Edward Whipple Bancroft Morrison, was a Canadian journalist and Major General in the Canadian Army during World War I....
, commanding the artillery, also secured permission to use the roads to the rear for withdrawing disabled guns for repair.
Remains and memorial
Many of the largest craters have been left, often too large to fill-in, even today. The largest crater on the Western Front, the Lochnagar Crater, had been left for 50 years, but it had begun to be used by motorbikers and as a rubbish dump. Privately purchased in 1979, it is now a recognized 1914–1918 historic battlefield site.The RE Grave Railway Wood Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery
RE Grave Railway Wood Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery
RE Grave Railway Wood is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial ground for the dead of the First World War located in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front....
was founded by Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
troops in November 1915 and remained in use until August 1917. It commemorates the eight men of the 177th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers, and the four assistant infantrymen who were killed whilst tunnelling under the hill. Their bodies were left in situ, beneath the hill on which the memorial now stands.
Operations since WW I
Because World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
troop movements were too fluid, and tunnelling too slow, mining proved not to be worth the investment of effort.
Awards
Two members of the Tunnellers Companies were awarded the Victoria CrossVictoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
:
Sapper William Hackett
William Hackett
William Hackett VC was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces....
254 Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers awarded posthumously for helping his fellow miners when a tunnel collapsed at Givenchy-lès-la-Bassée
Givenchy-lès-la-Bassée
Givenchy-lès-la-Bassée is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:A farming village situated some east of Béthune and southwest of Lille, at the junction of the D166 and the D167 roads...
, France on 26 June 1916. His medal is held by the Royal Engineers Museum
Royal Engineers Museum
The Royal Engineers Museum, Library & Archive is a military engineering museum and library in Gillingham, Kent, England. It tells the story of the Corps of Royal Engineers and British military engineering in general.-History:The Library was founded in 1812...
and he his commemorated at the Tunnellers Memorial
Captain Coulson Norman Mitchell
Coulson Norman Mitchell
Coulson Norman Mitchell VC MC was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces....
, of No 1 Tunnelling Company, 4th Canadian Engineers Royal Canadian Engineers for preventing the demolition of bridges on the Canal de I'Escaut, north-east of Cambrai
Cambrai
Cambrai is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.Cambrai is the seat of an archdiocese whose jurisdiction was immense during the Middle Ages. The territory of the Bishopric of Cambrai, roughly coinciding with the shire of Brabant, included...
on 8–9 October 1918. His medal is held by the Canadian Military Engineers Museum, CFB Gagetown
CFB Gagetown
Canadian Forces Base Gagetown, referred to as CFB Gagetown is a large Canadian Forces Base located in southwestern New Brunswick.- Construction of the base :...
, New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
.
See also
- Beneath Hill 60Beneath Hill 60Beneath Hill 60 is a 2010 Australian war film directed by Jeremy Sims and written by David Roach.Set during World War I, the film tells the story of the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company’s effort to mine beneath a German bunker and detonate an explosive charge to aid the advance of British troops...
a 20102010 in filmThe year 2010 saw many new films released worldwide. 2010 saw a dramatic increase and prominence in the use of 3D-technology in filmmaking and film releases after the success of Avatar in the format, with releases such as Alice in Wonderland, Clash of the Titans, Jackass 3D, all animated films and...
Australian war filmWar filmWar films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
, directed by Jeremy SimsJeremy Sims-Personal life:He was educated at Wesley College, Perth, 1977–83. Sims was married to film director Samantha Lang. They have two daughters, Frederique and Evelyn Rose.-Career:...
and written by David Roach, tells the story of the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company. The screenplay is based on an account of the ordeal written by Captain Oliver WoodwardOliver WoodwardOliver Holmes Woodward CMG, MC & Two Bars was an Australian metallurgist, mine manager and soldier noted for his tunneling activities at the Ypres Salient during the First World War....
, who is portrayed by Brendan CowellBrendan CowellBrendan Cowell is an Australian actor, screenwriter and director. Cowell was born in Sydney. He stumbled upon acting by accident while waiting for his sister to come out of a rehearsal; he was then cast in a commercial at age 8...
.