
Battle Beneath the Trenches
Robert Johns(Author)
Pen & Sword Military (Publisher)
Published on 1. June 2015
Book
Hardback
208 pages
978-1-4738-2700-4 (ISBN)
Description
Undermining the positions of the enemy is one of the most ancient activities. For almost 3000 years even before 1914, it was a popular siege-breaking technique. During the Great War arguably the greatest siege the world had ever seen, it presented a conflict environment that perfectly favoured the skills of the military miner. During 1915, the Western Front was established as a static line that grew into a huge network of defence-in-depth earthworks. Siege conditions demanded siege tactics and as the ground was everywhere mineable, the Western Front was a prime candidate for underground warfare. 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 Cornish Miners were one of these specialist units recruited from the tin mines of Cornwall. 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 mining communities. This is their story.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
South Yorkshire
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
Illustrations
100 illustrations (approximately) integrated
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-4738-2700-4 (9781473827004)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
03/2015
Pen and Sword
€21.99
Available for download

Person
Robert K Johns is a retired businessman who has spent many years working closely with military authorities worldwide, undertaking many research projects on their behalf. He was born in Cornwall and comes from a long line of underground tin miners. On discovering that his grandfather had been a a tunneller in the Great War, Robert researched extensively into his life, and using many authenticated records and archives, he has traced the history of 251 Tunnelling Company from its establishment in Cornwall to demobilisation. He is currently working on another book looking at the individual stories of some of these men.