Underground Warfare 1914-1918

by Simon Jones

  12. Mulqueen Memoirs, op. cit., p. 41.

  13. Ibid., pp. 41–42.

  14. Lt Gen R. Fanshawe GOC 5th Corps to 2nd Army, 9/11/1915, ‘War Diaries - St. Eloi Operations’, Library and Archives Canada (LAC).

  15. Edmonds, Military Operations, France and Belgium, 1916, [Vol. 1], op. cit., p. 178.

  16. Norton Griffiths diary, op. cit., 7/12/1915.

  17. War Diary, 172 Tunnelling Company, NA WO95/244.

  18. Edmonds, Military Operations, France and Belgium, 1916, [Vol. 1], op. cit., p. 178.

  19. War Diary, 172 Tunnelling Company, op. cit., 18/2/1916.

  20. Norton Griffiths diary, op. cit., 18/2/1916.

  21. Letter J.A. Douglas to Alexander Barrie 3/2/1960, Barrie papers, REM.

  22. Norton Griffiths diary, op. cit., 3/3/1916.

  23. Letter J.A. Douglas op. cit.

  24. Edmonds, Military Operations, France and Belgium, 1916, [Vol. 1], op. cit., p. 179.

  25. Ibid.

  26. Ibid.

  27. 9th Infantry Brigade Operation Order No. 25 by Brig Gen H.C. Potter 25/3/1915, ‘War Diaries - St. Eloi Operations’, LAC.

  28. Harvey, Mining in France, op. cit., p. 9.

  29. Edmonds, Military Operations, France and Belgium, 1916, [Vol. 1], op. cit., p. 182; Francis Buckley, Q. 6. A And Other Places Recollections of 1916, 1917, 1918, (London, Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co. Ltd, 1920), p. 39.

  30. Lt Col W. Wilde 31/3/1916 ‘Report by CO 1/NF Report on Operations at St Eloi on 27th/28th March 1916’, ‘War Diaries - St. Eloi Operations’, LAC.

  31. Report by Lt Col G.G. Ottley CO 4RF 31/3/16, ‘War Diaries - St. Eloi Operations’, LAC. He believed that mine no. 6 had failed to explode.

  32. Ibid.

  33. Edmonds, Military Operations, France and Belgium, 1916, [Vol. 1], op. cit., p. 187.

  34. Edmonds, Military Operations, France and Belgium, 1916, [Vol. 1], op. cit., p. 189.

  35. Letter J.A. Douglas to Alexander Barrie 14/9/1960, Barrie papers, REM.

  36. Haldane, ‘Operations at St Eloi from March 26th to 29th 1916’, ‘War Diaries - St. Eloi Operations’, LAC.

  37. Brig Gen H.C. Potter, ‘Lessons to be learnt from the Operations at St Eloi March 27th 1916’, ‘War Diaries - St. Eloi Operations’, LAC.

  38. Haldane, ‘Points regarding the Operations of March 27th, 1916’, ‘War Diaries - St. Eloi Operations’, LAC.

  39. Haldane Report re operations 27 March – 3 April 1916, ‘War Diaries - St. Eloi Operations’, LAC.

  40. ‘Extracts from Report of 2nd Army to GHQ on the St Eloi operations’, ‘War Diaries -St. Eloi Operations’, LAC.

  41. Ibid.

  42. SS112 Consolidation of Trenches and Localities after Assault and Capture, p. 1.

  43. Diary of Major R.S.G Stokes, 11-13/5/1916, 18/5/1916, 20/8/1916, NA, WO158/137.

  44. Brigadier General J. E. Edmonds, Military Operations, France and Belgium, 1917, Vol. II, 7th June – 10th November Messines and Third Ypres (Passchendaele), (HMSO, London, 1927), p. 5.

  45. [Anon.], The Work of the Royal Engineers in the European War, 1914–19. Military Mining, (Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, 1922), p. 18.

  Chapter 6

  1. War Diary 252 Tunnelling Company, 30/4/1916, NA, WO95/406.

  2. Op. cit., 20/5/1916.

  3. In addition, on the 29th Division front, half of the 18-pdr guns firing a shrapnel barrage were to lift three minutes before zero. Edmonds, Military Operations, France and Belgium, 1916, [Vol. 1], op. cit., p. 430–431. Apparently the heavy artillery was lifted on the whole corps front to keep the successive advance on the main German rearward defences in step. R. Prior and T. Wilson, The Somme, (Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2005), p. 72.

  4. Lt Geoffrey Malins OBE, How I Filmed the War, (Herbert Jenkins Limited, London, 1920), pp. 162–163.

  5. Quoted in Edmonds, Military Operations, France and Belgium, 1916, [Vol. 1], op. cit., p. 431.

  6. Letter to J.E. Edmonds, 21/1/1930, NA CAB45/138.

  7. fn. Letter to J.E. Edmonds, nd, October 1929, NA CAB45/189; the Official History states that this was four hours before zero rather than 6pm the night before. Edmonds, Military Operations, France and Belgium, 1916, [Vol. 1], op. cit., p. 429.

  8. Letter Hunter-Weston to Edmonds, 12/12/1929, NA CAB45/138.

  9. Letter Ruthven to Edmonds, 30/10/29, NA CAB45/137; Letter de Lisle to Edmonds 12/11/1929, NA CAB45/189.

  10. Letter Fuller to Edmonds, 24/1/1930, NA CAB45/188.

  11. Letter Harvey to Edmonds, nd, February 1930, NA CAB45/189.

  12. Letter Trower to Harvey 14/2/1930 NA CAB45/189.

  13. Letter Harvey to Edmonds, 27/2/1930, NA CAB45/189.

  14. Letter Preedy to Harvey 22/3/1930, NA CAB45/189.

  15. Letter de Lisle to Edmonds 12/11/1929, NA CAB45/189.

  16. Edmonds, Military Operations, France and Belgium, 1916, [Vol. 1], op. cit., p. 430.

  17. Letter de Lisle to Edmonds, op. cit.

  18. Letter to J.E. Edmonds, nd, October 1929, NA CAB45/189.

  19. Interview transcript, Barrie papers, REM.

  20. H.M. Hance ‘Notes on the German Mining System at La Boisselle’, 179 Tunnelling Company WD, NA WO95/244.

  21. Letter H.M. Hance to Edmonds, June 1930, NA CAB45/134.

  22. 103 Brigade Op Order No 24, 21/6/1916, 103 Brigade WD, NA WO95/2464; 101 Brigade Op Order No 34, 23/6/1916, 101 Brigade WD, NA WO95/2455.

  23. Letter H.M. Hance to Edmonds, op. cit.

  24. Edmonds, Military Operations, France and Belgium, 1916, [Vol. 1], op. cit., p. 382.

  25. Mining Report by H.M. Hance, 5/7/1916, WD 34 Division GS, NA WO95/2432.

  26. Letter Harvey to Edmonds, nd, February 1930, NA CAB45/189.

  27. The Brigade Commander states that they delayed their advance two minutes for the mine but also states incorrectly that the mines were blown at 7.30am. Brig Gen Trevor Ternan, The Story of the Tyneside Scottish, (The Northumberland Press, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, 1919), p. 104.

  28. Mining Report by H.M. Hance, 5/7/1916, op. cit.

  29. Letter A.G.B.Urmston (former CO 15th Royal Scots) to Edmonds, 11/6/1930, NA CAB45/191. Urmston states that his battalion’s advance was delayed five minutes owing to the mine and this is repeated in the official history. However, I cannot find this in any orders and it may refer to the effect of the mine rather than an order.

  30. Letter Maxse to Mary Maxse, 5/9/1915, West Sussex Record Office, (154).

  31. Norton Griffiths diary, op. cit., 8/10/1915.

  32. Untitled report, Appendix XIII, 55th Infantry Brigade War Diary, NA WO95/2046.

  33. German Mining Officer’s Diary Captured at Fricourt, July 1916, General Staff SS465 1916, pp. 4–5.

  34. Description of German workings at Fricourt from Mining Note No. 46 ‘Further Notes on Enemy Mining Methods’, NA WO158/130.

  35. Grieve and Newman, Tunnellers, op. cit., p. 125; Edmonds, Military Operations, France and Belgium, 1916, [Vol. 1], op. cit., p. 348 states incorrectly that all three of the Tambour mines detonated.

  36. Edmonds, Military Operations, France and Belgium, 1916, [Vol. 1], op. cit., p. 357.

  37. Letter H.C.B. Hickling to Edmonds, nd, NA CAB45/134.

  38. Grieve & Newman, Tunnellers, op. cit., p. 123; Letter H.C.B. Hickling to Edmonds, op. cit.; Edmonds, Military Operations, France and Belgium, 1916, [Vol. 1], op. cit., p. 349 states incorrectly that the mine ‘completely destroyed’ Bulgar Point.

  39. Weekly Mine Report 183 Tunnelling Company RE, War Diary 18 Division GS, NA WO95/ 2015.

  40. Experimental Craters & Galleries, NA WO153/1254.

  41. Grieve & Newman, Tunnellers, op. cit., p. 131.

  42. 252 Tunnelling Company WD, NA WO95/406; Edmonds, Military Operations, France and Belgium, 1916, [Vol. 2], op. cit., p. 492.

  Chapter 7

  1. Frederick J. Mulqueen, Memoirs of Major F J Mulqueen, DSO MC, REL, p. 81.

  2. Mulqueen, op. cit., p. 84.


  3. Canadian Corps Scheme of Operations 19/3/1917, NA WO158/424.

  4. Lt Col G.P.G. Robinson RE, The Durand Mine and First World War Tunnel System in the Grange Area of the Canadian Memorial Park, Vimy (School of Military Engineering, Chatham, 1989) unpublished report, RE Library, p. 3; Harvey, ‘Mining in France’, op. cit., p. 15.

  5. Quoted Nigel Cave, Battleground Europe Arras Vimy Ridge, (Leo Cooper, London, 1996), p. 167 (presumed source Report by 1st Army Inspector of Mines on Operation of 9 April 1917 National Archives WO158/138).

  6. [Anon.], The Work of the Royal Engineers in the European War, 1914–19. Work in the field under the Engineer-in-Chief, B.E.F., Geological Work on the Western Front, (Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, 1922), p. 28–29.

  7. J.C. Neill (Ed.), The New Zealand Tunnelling Company, 1915–1919, (Whitcombe & Tombs, Auckland, 1922), pp. 80–81; Jonathon Nicholls, Cheerful Sacrifice, (Leo Cooper, London, 1990), p. 107.

  8. Otto Füsslein, ‘Der Minenkrieg in Flandern‘ in Paul Heinrici [Ed.], Das Ehrenbuch der Deutschen Pioniere, (Verlag Tradition Wilhelm Rolf, Berlin, 1931), p. 543, hereafter ‘Ehrenbuch’.

  9. Oberkommando des Heeres, Der Weltkrieg 1914 bis 1918, Die Kriegführung im Frühjahr 1917, Vol. 12, (E.S. Mittler & Sohn, Berlin, 1939), p. 428, hereafter German Official History.

  10. Genealogical data on Otto Füsslein, http://www.holger-fuesslein.de/Fuesslein/n_2. htm#6.

  11. Colonel Töpfer ‘Minenkämpfe’ in M. Schwarte (Ed.) Die Militärischen Lehren des Großen Krieges, (Ernst Siegfried Mittler und Sohn, Berlin, 1920), p. 212.

  12. Hermann Cron, Imperial German Army 1914–18: Organisation, Structure, Orders of Battle, (Helion and Company, Solihull, 2006) originally published as Geschichte des Deutschen Heeres im Weltkriege 1914–1918, (Berlin, Militarverlag Karl Siegismund, 1937), p. 157.

  13. Günther Rückbeil, Das 1. Rheinische Pionier=Bataillon Nr. 8 und seine Kriegsverbände im Weltkriege 1914/18, (Gerhard Stalling, Berlin, 1926), p. 113.

  14. [Anon.], Vorschriften für den Stellungskrieg für alle Waffen. Teil 2. Minenkrieg, (Kriegsministerium, Berlin, 1916), p. 10.

  15. Füsslein, Ehrenbuch, op. cit., p. 543.

  16. Held, [et. al.] Das Königlich Preussische Garde=Pionier=Bataillon und seine Kriegsverbände 1914/18 (2 Vols.), (Carl Fr. Berg, Berlin, 1932), p. 269.

  17. Füsslein, Ehrenbuch, op. cit., p. 543.

  18. Hackett’s words are here as given by Grieve & Newman and are taken to be more plausible than those in the London Gazette, Captain W. Grant Grieve and Bernard Newman, Tunnellers, (Herbert Jenkins, London, 1936), pp. 163–168; Supplement to the London Gazette, 5 August, 1916, p. 744; J.C. Dunn, The War the Infantry Knew, [1938], p. 217.

  19. Füsslein, Ehrenbuch, op. cit., p. 543.

  20. Füsslein, Ehrenbuch, op. cit., p. 542.

  21. Füsslein, Ehrenbuch, op. cit., p. 543.

  22. Füsslein: ‘richtige Wasserfänger’, Füsslein, Ehrenbuch, op. cit., p. 543.

  23. Füsslein, Ehrenbuch, op. cit., p. 544.

  24. Ibid.

  25. Ibid.

  26. Tunnellers, op. cit., pp. 209–214; Füsslein, Ehrenbuch, op. cit., p. 543.

  27. Tunnellers, op. cit., pp. 214–216; Brigadier General J. E. Edmonds, Military Operations, France and Belgium, 1917, Vol. II, 7th June – 10th November Messines and Third Ypres (Passchendaele), (HMSO, London, 1927), p. 60.

  28. Füsslein, Ehrenbuch, op. cit., p. 544.

  29. Map NA WO158/285, reproduced in Peter Barton, Peter Doyle & Johan Vandewalle, Beneath Flanders Fields, the Tunnellers’ War 1914–1918, (Spellmount, Staplehurst, 2004), p. 180.

  30. Map NA WO153/449 reproduced in Beneath Flanders Fields, op. cit., p. 167.

  31. Tunnellers, op. cit., pp. 216–218; [Anon.], The Work of the Royal Engineers in the European War, 1914–19. Military Mining, (Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, 1922), p. 40.

  32. Grieve & Newman state that Bedson served in the White Haven collieries but his service record states Cadeby. Tunnellers, op. cit., pp. 218–223; Service record of William Henry Bedson, NA.

  33. Tunnellers, op. cit., pp. 223–224.

  34. Tunnellers, op. cit., pp. 225–227.

  35. Edmonds, Military Operations, France and Belgium, 1917, Vol. II, p. 57.

  36. Tunnellers, op. cit., pp. 230–231.

  37. Geological Work, op. cit., p. 30; Tunnellers, op. cit., pp. 231–232; Füsslein, Ehrenbuch, op. cit., p. 545.

  38. Tunnellers, op. cit., pp. 232–235; Alexander Barrie, War Underground, (Star Books, London, 1981, originally Frederick Muller, London, 1962), pp. 243–244.

  39. Mining plan, NA WO153/909.

  40. Tunnellers, op. cit., pp. 235–236; Bryan Frayling ‘Tunnellers’, Royal Engineers Journal, August 1988, p. 172.

  41. Mining plans NA WO153/909.

  42. Füsslein, Ehrenbuch, op. cit., p. 547.

  43. German Official History, op. cit., pp. 430–431, translated in [Anon.], ‘The Messines Ridge Mines, 7th June, 1917. German Accounts’, Royal Engineers Journal, Vol. LIV, 1940, p. 349.

  44. German Official History, op. cit., p. 437 and Messines Ridge Mines, op. cit., p. 350.

  45. German Official History, op. cit., pp. 441–442 and Messines Ridge Mines, op. cit., p. 350–351.

  46. Brig R.N. Harvey, State of offensive mines on Second Army front intended for use during the operations, 16/4/1917, ‘Messines – Wytschaete’, NA, WO158/215.

  47. C.E.W. Bean, The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914 – 1918 Volume IV The Australian Imperial Force in France: 1917 (Australia: Angus and Robertson Ltd 1933), p. 577. Hereafter Australian Official History.

  48. Brig Gen J. H. Davidson for Lt Gen, Chief of the General Staff to Second Army, 24/5/1917, ‘Messines – Wytschaete’, NA, WO158/215.

  49. Letter Lt Gen L. E. Kiggell to Plumer, 29/5/1917; Summary of Proceedings of a Conference held at Pernes at 11am, 30th May, 1917, Lt Gen Kiggell, 31/5/1917. ‘Messines – Wytschaete’, NA, WO158/215.

  50. Interview with Hudspeth, Barrie papers, REM.

  51. Harvey, ‘Mining in France’, op. cit., pp. 19–20.

  52. Letter H. R. Kerr to Barrie, 8/3/1962, Barrie Papers, REM.

  53. Ralph G. Hamilton, The War Diary of the Master of Belhaven (London 1924), p. 304.

  54. Translation of the history of the 204 (German) Division in Australian War Memorial 26/6/190/1, quoted in R. Prior and T. Wilson, Passchendaele: The Untold Story, (Yale, London, 1996), p. 61.

  55. Australian Official History, op. cit., p. 959.

  56. Edmonds, Military Operations, France and Belgium, 1917, Vol. II, pp. 59-60.

  57. Quoted in Myles Dungan, Irish Voices from the Great War, (Irish Academic Press, Dublin, 1995), p. 159.

  58. Frayling Tunnellers, op. cit.

  59. Cyril Falls, The History of the 36th (Ulster) Division, (M’Caw, Stevenson & Orr, Limited, Belfast, 1922), p. 92.

  60. Frayling Tunnellers, op. cit.

  61. Gen Sir Charles Harington, Plumer of Messines, (John Murray, London, 1935), p. 104. This arrangement of corpses seems likely to have been a macabre soldiers’ prank.

  62. Tunnellers, op. cit., p. 244.

  63. Australian Official History, op. cit., p. 602.

  64. Australian Official History, op. cit., p. 549.

  65. Harvey, ‘Mining in France’, op. cit., p. 21.

  66. Ibid.

  67. Füsslein, Ehrenbuch, op. cit., p. 548.

  68. Ibid.

  69. Major Soffner, ‘Oblt. Sonne, führer der 3./Pi. 25’ in Paul Heinrici [Ed.], Das Ehrenbuch der Deutschen Pioniere, (Verlag Tradition Wilhelm Rolf, Berlin, 1931), p. 304. Military Mining, op. cit., p. 18.

  Chapter 8

  1. [Anon.] Extracts from the old mining regulations Issued by the General of Pioneers, Army Headquarters, Laon, April 1915. [SS461 General Staff 1916].

  2. Quoted by Friedrich Seesselberg, Der Stellungskrieg 1914–1918, (E.S. Mittler and Son, Berlin, 1926), pp. 304–305.

  3. Military Engineeri
ng (Vol. IV) Demolitions and Mining, (HMSO, London, 1923), p. 137.

  4. J. C. Neill (Ed.), The New Zealand Tunnelling Company, 1915–1919, (Whitcombe & Tombs, Auckland, 1922), p. 38.

  5. Tunneller, ‘Messines’, TOCA Bulletin, No. 5, 1930, pp. 17–18.

  6. Seesselberg, op. cit., p. 305.

  7. Tunneller, ‘Messines’, op. cit., p. 18.

  8. Military Engineering (Vol. IV) Demolitions and Mining, 1923 op. cit., p. 103.

  9. Report CO 12th West Yorkshire Regiment, 30/3/1916, 3rd (British) Division reports, ‘War Diaries – St. Eloi Operations’, Library and Archives Canada (LAC).

  10. Held [et. al.], Das Königlich Preussische Garde=Pionier=Bataillon und seine Kriegsverbände 1914/18 [Vol. 1] Potsdam, 1932, Carl Fr. Berg, Berlin, p. 264.

  11. Op. cit. p. 265.

  12. Alexander Barrie, War Underground, (Star Books, London, 1981, originally Frederick Muller, London, 1962), pp. 196–203.

  13. Peter Barton, Peter Doyle & Johan Vandewalle, Beneath Flanders Fields, the Tunnellers’ War 1914–1918, Spellmount, Staplehurst, 2004), pp. 180–181.

  14. Walter Kranz, quoted in Barton, et. al., Beneath Flanders Fields, op. cit., pp. 74–75.

  15. [Anon.], The Work of the Royal Engineers in the European War, 1914–19. Work in the field under the Engineer-in-Chief, B.E.F., Geological Work on the Western Front, (Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, 1922), pp. 23–28; for a detailed account of this important subject, see Peter Doyle’s chapter 5 in Barton, et. al., Beneath Flanders Fields, op. cit.

  16. Capitaine [Hippolyte-Michel] Thobie, La Prise de Carency par le Pic et Par la Mine, (Berger-Levrault, Paris, 1918), p. 167–168.

  17. [Anon.], Notice sur les Travaux Scientifiques de M. Jean Perrin, (Édouard Privat, Toulouse, 1923), pp. 64–65.

  18. Johan Somers, Imperial German Uniforms and Equipment 1907–1918, [Vol. 1.], (Schiffer Military History, Atglen, PA, 2005), pp. 162–163.

  19. Military Engineering (Vol. IV) Demolitions and Mining, 1923 op. cit., p. 171.

  20. H. Standish Ball, ‘The Work of the Miner on the Western Front, 1915–1918’, Transactions of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, Vol. XXVIII, 1919, p. 206.

  21. Lieutenant von Klingspor quoted in Seesselberg, op. cit., p. 305.

  22. [Anon.], The Work of the Royal Engineers in the European War, 1914–19. Military Mining, (Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, 1922), pp. 29–31.