Bomb crater and ww1

Just saw a document on WW1 trench fighting. The new thing to me was that every time a bomb created a bigger crater the defending troops were sent as soon as possbile into the crate so that the enemy could not take it and create a position close the the lines.

The document even mentions there were books on the strategy on how to take and defend the crater.

Anyone know any sites or has more info on this kinda warfare?

 

This was 'mine warfare' and the almost incredible results can still be clearly seen at Messines and on the Somme.

Although it's mentioned in many books, I can't recall any specific one on the subject just now.

WW1 mine warfare had it's own special horrors, and was mentioned in war poetry eg Edmund Blunden's 'Concert Party : Busseboom ' which has the lines ; -

'To this new concert, white we stood ;
Cold certainty held our breath ;
While men in the tunnels beneath Larch Wood
Were kicking men to death.'

Here's the Lochnagar crater on the Somme today :

 

Kai,
Try this They seem to have books on just about everything else!
(BTW, just got a new pc. you guys have had it too quiet for too long!)

Regards,

Gordon

 

Is this when one side would tunnel for days til underneath the opposing side,cram it full of explosives then.....boom!!

 

Yep Framert,
Sometimes tunnelling happened for months.
Think Kai also meant the practice of sending men out to occupy a shell-hole close to a front-line trench until a sap could be dug out to connect it to the main line.


Regards,

Gordon

 

Glad to see you back

 

Thanx guys!

That is what I was after!

The poor guys might have to wait for days before anyone could reach them!

 

Kai,
Found the following book in this month's History Guild club mag;

Beneath Flanders' Fields; The Tunnellers War 1914-18 by Peter Barton,Peter Doyle and Johan Vandewalle. Published by Spellmount at £25.
It purports to be the first modern account of the underground war on the western front.

Regards,

Gordon

 

Thanx alot Gordon!

I´ll put that one immediately on my list to get!!

Kai-Petri

 

Kai,
Here's another one I just found;
"Consolidation of Trenches, Localities and Craters after assault & Capture, with a note on rapid wiring" (2004 N&MP Reprint of a 1916 WO booklet)SB, 30pp & 18 sketches and diagrams. £5.50.

 

Thanx again,Gordon!

Ah, well not WW1 but an interesting looking TIger tank in a crater...

 

That'll teach him to drink and drive!

 

Hi Kai,

Thought you might be interested in this. Not WWII but American Civil War. Being from Pennsylvania I thought of this right away.

http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/civwar/html/cw_009708_thecratervir.htm

Later

 

Ah, THAT'S interesting! Never knew they used those tactics before WW1.

 

Thanx JPatterson!

That was interesting!!!

 

More amazing than just mine warfare, to me at least, is the thought that opposing armies' miners could encounter each other deep underground. Those fights with perhaps pistols but more likely just tools and bare hands, deep below the surface must have been horrific.

 

Grenades and shovels

 

I seem to recall the very word "mine" coming from these tunneling projects, as they were in effect mine-shafts filled with explosives.

I also recall how the British recruited special tunnelling companies from the mining communites, in order to get experienced diggers.

Here is a great page on the Tunneling Companies of the Royal Engineers and mine warfare in general, including some present-day pictures and complete unit listings.

"A decision was taken in February 1915 to form 8 Tunnelling Companies, made of men drawn from the ranks, mixed with drafts of men specially recruited for this kind of work. This has been described as the quickest intentional act in the war: men who were working underground as civilians in the UK on February 17th were underground at Givenchy only four days later! Such was the urgency of needing countermeasures against the aggressive German actions."

 

This action is portrayed in the recent(-ish) movie "Return to Cold Mountain" in rather vivid detail...

 

Yes Heartland,

I also bought the DVD last weekend and if the truth is like it was on the film I must say I was first sorry for the Confederate army men
( those who were blown up to the sky ) and after the explosion sorry for the Union Army men who were being killed in the crater (and could not get out of it..)