179th Tunnelling Company

179th Tunnelling Company
Active World War I
Country  United Kingdom
Branch British Army
Type Royal Engineer tunnelling company
Role military engineering, tunnel warfare
Nickname(s) "The Moles"
Engagements World War I
Battle of the Somme

The 179th Tunnelling Company was one of the tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers created by the British Army during World War I. The tunnelling units were occupied in offensive and defensive mining involving the placing and maintaining of mines under enemy lines, as well as other underground work such as the construction of deep dugouts for troop accommodation, the digging of subways, saps (a narrow trench dug to approach enemy trenches), cable trenches and underground chambers for signals and medical services.[1] 179th Tunnelling Company is particularly known for its role during the Capture of La Boisselle and for the Lochnagar mine during the Battle of the Somme 1916. The Lochnagar mine formed part of a series of seven large and eleven small mines that were placed beneath the German lines.[2]

Background

By January 1915 it had become evident to the BEF at the Western Front that the Germans were mining to a planned system. As the British had failed to develop suitable counter-tactics or underground listening devices before the war, field marshals French and Kitchener agreed to investigate the suitability of forming British mining units.[3] Following consultations between the Engineer-in-Chief of the BEF, Brigadier George Fowke, and the mining specialist John Norton-Griffiths, the War Office formally approved the tunnelling company scheme on 19 February 1915.[3]

Norton-Griffiths ensured that tunnelling companies numbers 170 to 177 were ready for deployment in mid-February 1915. In the spring of that year, there was constant underground fighting in the Ypres Salient at Hooge, Hill 60, Railway Wood, Sanctuary Wood, St Eloi and The Bluff which required the deployment of new drafts of tunnellers for several months after the formation of the first eight companies. The lack of suitably experienced men led to some tunnelling companies starting work later than others. The number of units available to the BEF was also restricted by the need to provide effective counter-measures to the German mining activities.[4] To make the tunnels safer and quicker to deploy, the British Army enlisted experienced coal miners, many outside their nominal recruitment policy. The first nine companies, numbers 170 to 178, were each commanded by a regular Royal Engineers officer. These companies each comprised 5 officers and 269 sappers; they were aided by additional infantrymen who were temporarily attached to the tunnellers as required, which almost doubled their numbers.[3] The success of the first tunnelling companies formed under Norton-Griffiths' command led to mining being made a separate branch of the Engineer-in-Chief's office under Major-General S.R. Rice, and the appointment of an 'Inspector of Mines' at the GHQ Saint-Omer office of the Engineer-in-Chief.[3] A 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 of the Royal Engineers, which was a Territorial unit.[5] The formation of twelve new tunnelling companies, between July and October 1915, helped to bring more men into action in other parts of the Western Front.[4]

Most tunnelling companies were formed under Norton-Griffiths' leadership during 1915, and one more was added in 1916.[1] On 10 September 1915, the British government sent an appeal to Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand to raise tunnelling companies in the Dominions of the British Empire. On 17 September, New Zealand became the first Dominion to agree the formation of a tunnelling unit. The New Zealand Tunnelling Company arrived at Plymouth on 3 February 1916 and was deployed to the Western Front in northern France.[6] A Canadian unit was formed from men on the battlefield, plus two other companies trained in Canada and then shipped to France. Three Australian tunnelling companies were formed by March 1916, resulting in 30 tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers being available by the summer of 1916.[1]

Unit history

The Somme 1915/16

The 179th Tunnelling Company was formed in Third Army area in October 1915 and moved into the Thiepval-La Boisselle sector of the area of the Somme recently taken over by the BEF.[1]

Geological cross-section of the Somme battlefield

Early attempts at mining by the British on the Western Front had commenced in late 1914 in the soft clay and sandy soils of Flanders. Mining at La Boisselle was in chalk, much harder and requiring different techniques.[2] The German advance had been halted at La Boisselle by French troops on 28 September 1914. There was bitter fighting for possession of the village cemetery, and for farm buildings on the south-western edge of the village known to the Germans as "Granathof" ("Shell Farm"), to the British as "Glory Hole" and to the French as "Ilôt". In December 1914, French engineers began tunnelling beneath the ruins. With the war on the surface at stalemate, both sides continued to probe beneath the opponent's trenches and detonate ever-greater explosive charges. When the British took over the front in August 1915, the French and Germans were working at a depth of 12 metres (39 ft); the size of their charges had reached 3,000 kilograms (6,600 lb). The British tunnelling companies extended and deepened the system, first to 24 metres (79 ft) and ultimately 30 metres (98 ft). Above ground the infantry occupied trenches just 45 metres (148 ft) apart.[7] On 24 July 1915, 174th Tunnelling Company established headquarters at Bray, taking over some 66 shafts at Carnoy, Fricourt, Maricourt and La Boisselle. Around La Boisselle, the Germans had dug defensive transversal tunnels at a depth of about 80 feet (24 metres), parallel to the front line.[2]

In October 1915, the 179th Tunnelling Company began to sink a series of deep shafts in an attempt to forestall German miners who were approaching beneath the British front line. At W Shaft they went down from 9.1 metres (30 ft) to 24 metres (80 ft) and began to drive two counter-mine tunnels towards the Germans. From the right-hand gallery the sounds of German digging grew steadily louder.[7] On 19 November 1915, 179th Tunnelling Company's commander, Captain Henry Hance, estimated that the Germans were 15 yards away and ordered the mine chamber to be loaded with 2,700 kilograms (6,000 lb) of explosive. This was completed by midnight from 20–21 November. At 1.30 am on 22 November, the Germans blew their charge, filling the remaining British tunnels with carbon monoxide. Both the right and left tunnels were collapsed, and it was later found that the German blow had detonated the British charge. The wrecked tunnels were gradually re-opened, but about thirty bodies still lie in the tunnels beneath La Boisselle.[7][8]

At the start of the Battle of the Somme (1 July – 18 November 1916), La Boisselle stood on the main axis of British attack. The Germans had strongly fortified the cellars of the ruined houses, while the deeply-cratered ground made direct assault on the village impossible. To assist the attack, the British placed two massive mines, known as Y Sap and Lochnagar, on either flank.[7] (see map).

Plan of the Lochnagar mine
34th Division attack at La Boisselle, 1 July 1916

185th Tunnelling Company started work on the Lochnagar mine on 11 November 1915, and handed the tunnels over to 179th Tunnelling Company in March 1916.[2] Other tunnelling units involved in the Battle of the Somme were the 174th, 178th, 181st, 183rd, and 252nd Tunnelling Companies.[5] For their work on the Lochnagar mine, the tunnellers used bayonets with spliced handles and worked barefoot on a floor covered with sandbags for silence. Flints were carefully prised out of the chalk and laid on the floor; when the bayonet was manipulated two-handed, an assistant caught the dislodged material. Spoil was placed in sandbags and passed hand-by-hand, along a row of miners sitting on the floor and stored along the side of the tunnel, later to be used to tamp the charge.[9] The Lochnagar mine consisted of two chambers with a shared access tunnel (see map). The shaft was sunk in the communication trench called Lochnagar Street. The tunnel was 4.5 by 2.5 feet (1.37 m × 0.76 m) and excavated at a rate of about 18 inches (46 cm) per day, until about 1,030 feet (310 m) long. When about 135 feet (41 metres) away from the German Schwabenhöhe strongpoint, the tunnel was forked to form two branches, the end of each branch was then enlarged to form a chamber for the explosives, the chambers being about 60 feet (18 metres) apart and 52 feet (16 metres) deep.[2] The tunnel for the Y Sap mine started in the British front line near where it crossed the Albert to Bapume road, but because of German underground defences it could not be dug in a straight line. About 500 yards (457 metres) were dug into no-mans-land before it turned right for about another 500 yards (457 metres).[2] Lochnagar was loaded with 60,000 pounds (27,000 kg) of ammonal, in two charges of 36,000 pounds (16,000 kg) and 24,000 pounds (11,000 kg), 60 feet (18 m) apart and 52 feet (16 m) deep. Just north of the village, the Y Sap mine was charged with 40,600 pounds (18,400 kg) of ammonal.[9] Two additional smaller mines of 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg) each, were planted from galleries dug from Inch Street Trench[10] and designed to wreck German tunnels. Communication tunnels were also dug for use immediately after the first attack, but were little used in the end.[2] All of these mines were laid without interference by German miners but as the explosives were placed, German miners could be heard below the Lochnagar and above the Y Sap mines.[9]

British aerial photograph showing the Lochnagar crater and trenches, 1916

The Lochnagar mine was detonated at 7:28 a.m. on 1 July 1916, the first day on the Somme. The explosion was initiated by Captain James Young of the 179th Tunnelling Company, who pressed the switches and observed that the firing had been successful.[2] The two charges of the Lochnagar mine created a single, vast, smooth sided, flat bottom crater measuring some 220 feet (67 metres) diameter excluding the lip, and 450 feet (137 metres) across the full extent of the lip. It had obliterated between 300 and 400 feet (91 and 122 metres) of the German dug-outs, all said to have been full of German troops.[2] At the time, the Lochnagar mine, along with the Y Sap mine, were the largest mines ever detonated.[11] The sound of the blast was considered the loudest man-made noise in history up to that point, with reports suggesting it was heard in London.[12] They would be surpassed a year later by the mines in the Battle of Messines.

Despite their colossal size, the mines failed to help sufficiently neutralise the German defences in La Boisselle. When the 34th Division attacked on 1 July, they suffered the worst losses of any unit on the first day on the Somme. After further costly assaults the ruins of La Boisselle were eventually captured on 4 July.[7]

At one place in particular our men swore they thought he was coming through, so we stopped driving forward and commenced to chamber in double shifts. We did not expect to complete it before he blew, but we did. A chamber 12′ x 6′ x 6′ in 24 hours. The Germans worked for a shift more than we did and then stopped. They knew we had chambered and were afraid we should blow and no more work was done there. I used to hate going to listen in that chamber more than any other place in the mine. Half an hour, sometimes once sometimes three times a day, in deadly silence with the geophone to your ears, wondering whether the sound you heard was the Boche working silently or your own heart beating. God knows how we kept our nerves and judgement. After the Somme attack when we surveyed the German mines and connected up to our own system, with the theodolite we found that we were 5 feet apart, and that he had only started his chamber and then stopped.
— Captain Stanley Bullock, 179th Tunnelling Company[7]

Fighting returned to the Somme in March 1918 when the Germans retook La Boisselle, only to be forced back in August.[7]

Ypres Salient

In spring of 1917, the unit moved to the Ypres Canal sector near Boezinge where it commenced work on dugouts. The BEF had decided to carry out all operations in the offensive of summer 1917 from deep dugouts. East of the Ypres Canal in the close vicinity of Boezinge there were several dugouts, seven of which were finished by the 173rd or 179th Tunnelling Company. Of these, Yorkshire Trench, Butt 18, Nile Trench and Heading Lane Dugout were double battalion headquarters, Bridge 6 was a brigade headquarters, and Lancashire Farm Dugout contained two battalion and two brigade headquarters.[13] The condition of the ground made digging the deep dugouts extremely difficult and dangerous. Work had to be carried out silently and secretly, facing an observant enemy who was only a few hundred metres away. About 180 dugout sites have been located in the Ypres Salient and in the 1990s some of them were entered, at least in part.[13] Yorkshire Trench and its dugout were rediscovered by amateur archaeologists and systematically excavated in 1998. Although the area is now part of a large industrial estate, the location was opened to the public in 2003 (see aerial photo of the site).[14][15] Yorkshire Trench is located close to the John McCrae memorial site at Essex Farm.[13][16][17]

In Popular Culture

Thomas Shelby, protagonist of the popular BBC drama Peaky Blinders was said to have served as a tunneller in the 179th.

See also

References

An overview of the history of 179th Tunnelling Company is also available in Robert K. Johns, Battle Beneath the Trenches: The Cornish Miners of 251 Tunnelling Company RE, Pen & Sword Military 2015 (ISBN 978-1473827004), p. 219-221 see online

  1. 1 2 3 4 The Tunnelling Companies RE, access date 25 April 2015
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Dunning 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Lieutenant Colonel Sir John Norton-Griffiths (1871–1930)". Royal Engineers Museum. Archived from the original on 1 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-21.
  4. 1 2 Peter Barton/Peter Doyle/Johan Vandewalle, Beneath Flanders Fields - The Tunnellers' War 1914-1918, Staplehurst (Spellmount) (978-1862272378) p. 165.
  5. 1 2 "Corps History – Part 14: The Corps and the First World War (1914–18)". Royal Engineers Museum. Archived from the original on 4 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-21.
  6. ↑ Anthony Byledbal, "New Zealand Tunnelling Company: Chronology" (online), access date 5 July 2015
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Banning et al. 2011.
  8. ↑ See also The real hero tunnellers of World War One who inspired BBC's Birdsong, www.mirror.co.uk, 21 January 2012 (online), access date 6 July 2015, where the date of the detonation is given with 22 October 1915.
  9. 1 2 3 Edmonds 1932, p. 375.
  10. ↑ Shakespear 1921, p. 37.
  11. ↑ Legg 2013.
  12. ↑ Waugh 2014.
  13. 1 2 3 Activities of The Diggers - Restoration of the Yorkshire Trench & Dug-out, access date 10 July 2015
  14. ↑ Nicholas Saunders, Killing Time: Archaeology and the First World War, The History Press 2007 (ISBN 978-0750945196) see online
  15. ↑ Legg, Joanna. "Yorkshire Trench, Boezinge, Ypres Salient". www.greatwar.co.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  16. ↑ Boesinghe - The Forgotten Battlefield, access date 10 July 2015
  17. ↑ The Yorkshire Trench, Boezinge, access date 10 July 2015
Sources
  • Banning, J.; et al. (2011). "Tunnellers". La Boisselle Study Group. Retrieved 26 June 2015. 
  • Barrie, Alexander (1962). War Underground – The Tunnellers of the Great War. London: Frederick Muller. OCLC 464098886. 
  • Dunning, R. (2015). "Military Mining". Lochnagar Crater. Retrieved 27 June 2015. 
  • Edmonds, J. E. (1932). Military Operations France and Belgium, 1916: Sir Douglas Haig's Command to the 1st July: Battle of the Somme. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence I (IWM & Battery Press 1993 ed.). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-89839-185-7. 
  • Edmonds, J. E. (1925). Military Operations, France and Belgium: Mons, the Retreat to the Seine, the Marne and the Aisne, August – October 1914. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan. OCLC 604621263. 
  • Jones, Simon (2010). Underground Warfare 1914–1918. Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 978-1-84415-962-8. 
  • Legg, J. "Lochnagar Mine Crater Memorial, La Boisselle, Somme Battlefields". www.greatwar.co.uk. Retrieved 27 June 2015. 
  • Stockwin, Arthur, ed. (2005). Thirty-odd Feet Below Belgium: An Affair of Letters in the Great War 1915–1916. Parapress. ISBN 978-1-89859-480-2. 
  • Shakespear, J. (2001) [1921]. The Thirty-Fourth Division, 1915–1919: The Story of its Career from Ripon to the Rhine (Naval & Military Press ed.). London: H. F. & G. Witherby. ISBN 1-84342-050-3. OCLC 6148340. Retrieved 19 October 2014. 
  • The Work of the Royal Engineers in the European War 1914–1919, Military Mining. Chatham: Secretary, Institution of Royal Engineers. 1922. OCLC 317624346. 
  • Waugh, I. (2014). "WW1 Trip to the Somme". Old British News. Archived from the original on 19 October 2014. Retrieved 27 June 2015. 

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, April 29, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.