The 179 Tunnelling Company was one of the tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers created by the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. 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.The Tunnelling Companies RE
, access date 25 April 2015 179th Tunnelling Company is particularly known for its role at and for firing the Lochnagar mine during the Battle of the Somme 1916. The ''Lochnagar'' mine formed part of a series of 19 mines that were placed beneath the German lines on the British section of the Somme front to assist the start of the battle.

Background

By January 1915 it had become evident to the BEF at the Western Front that the Germans were

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

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. Following consultations between the Engineer-in-Chief of the BEF, Brigadier George Fowke, and the mining specialist

John Norton-Griffiths Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Norton-Griffiths, 1st Baronet, (13 July 1871 – 27 September 1930) was an engineer, British Army officer during the Second Boer War and the First World War, and a Member of Parliament. A colourful figure in his day ...

, the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

formally approved the tunnelling company scheme on 19 February 1915. 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 The Ypres Salient around Ypres in Belgium was the scene of several battles and an extremely important part of the Western front during the First World War. Ypres district Ypres lies at the junction of the Ypres–Comines Canal and the Ieperlee ...

at Hooge, Hill 60, Railway Wood,

Sanctuary Wood Sanctuary Wood is an area east of Ypres, Belgium which was the site of fighting on the Ypres Salient in World War I. Memorials * Hill 62 Memorial * Sanctuary Wood Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery {{Infobox military memorial , name=Sanct ...

, 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.Peter Barton/Peter Doyle/Johan Vandewalle, Beneath Flanders Fields - The Tunnellers' War 1914-1918, Staplehurst (Spellmount) (978-1862272378) p. 165. 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. 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 Saint-Omer (; vls, Sint-Omaars) is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department in France. It is west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais, and is located in the Artois province. The town is named after Saint Audoma ...

office of the Engineer-in-Chief. A second group of tunnelling companies were formed from Welsh miners from the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the

Monmouthshire Regiment The Monmouthshire Regiment was a Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Territorial infantry regiment of the British Army. Originating in units of Volunteer Force (Great Britain), rifle volunteers formed in Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire in 1859, ...

, who were attached to the 1st Northumberland Field Company of the Royal Engineers, which was a Territorial unit. 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. Most tunnelling companies were formed under Norton-Griffiths' leadership during 1915, and one more was added in 1916.Watson & Rinaldi, p. 49. On 10 September 1915, the British government sent an appeal to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

to raise tunnelling companies in the

Dominion The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 192 ...

s of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

. On 17 September, New Zealand became the first Dominion to agree the formation of a tunnelling unit. The

New Zealand Tunnelling Company The New Zealand Tunnelling Company (also ''New Zealand Engineers Tunnelling Company'') was a tunnel warfare unit of the Royal New Zealand Engineers during World War I which specialised in sapping and mining. The tunnelling companies were occupie ...

arrived at Plymouth on 3 February 1916 and was deployed to the Western Front in northern France.Anthony Byledbal, "New Zealand Tunnelling Company: Chronology"
online
), access date 5 July 2015 A

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

unit was formed from men on the battlefield, plus two other companies trained in Canada and then shipped to France. Three

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

tunnelling companies were formed by March 1916, resulting in 30 tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers being available by the summer of 1916.

Unit history

The Somme 1915/16

The 179th Tunnelling Company was formed in Third Army area in October 1915 and moved into the

Thiepval Thiepval (; pcd, Tièbvo) is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Thiepval is located north of Albert at the crossroads of the D73 and D151 and approximately northeast of Amiens. Population First Wo ...

La Boisselle Ovillers-la-Boisselle is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography The commune of Ovillers-la-Boisselle is situated northeast of Amiens and extends to the north and south of the D 929 Albert–Bapaume ...

sector of the area of the Somme recently taken over by the BEF. In the Somme sector of the Western Front, local but very fierce underground fighting had taken place in the winter of 1914 and spring of 1915 at

, Fricourt, Bois Français and

Carnoy Carnoy () is a former commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Carnoy-Mametz.Fowke moved the 174th and 183rd Tunnelling Companies there to relieve the French engineers, but the British did not have enough miners to take over the large number of French shafts and the French agreed to leave their engineers at work for several weeks. To provide the tunnellers needed, the British formed the 178th and 179th Tunnelling Companies in August 1915, followed by the 185th and 252nd Tunnelling Companies in October. The 181st Tunnelling Company was also present on the Somme. 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. 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 as ''

L'îlot de La Boisselle L'îlot de La Boisselle (french: ilôt meaning "small island") is a small, historic site in the commune of Ovillers-la-Boisselle in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France. was heavily fought over during the First World War, whe ...

'' to the French, as ''Granathof'' (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

: "shell farm") to the Germans and later as ''Glory Hole'' to the British. In December 1914, French engineers had begun 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. In August 1915, the French and Germans were working at a depth of ; the size of their charges had reached . The British tunnelling companies extended and deepened the system, first to and ultimately . Around La Boisselle, the Germans also dug defensive transversal tunnels at a depth of about 80 feet (24 metres), parallel to the front line. No man's land at L'îlot was very narrow, at one point about wide, and had become pockmarked by many chalk craters. 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 to and began to drive two counter-mine tunnels towards the Germans. From the right-hand gallery the sounds of German digging grew steadily louder. 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 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.See also ''The real hero tunnellers of World War One who inspired BBC's Birdsong'', www.mirror.co.uk, 21 January 201
(online)
access date 6 July 2015, where the date of the detonation is given with 22 October 1915. At the start of the Battle of Albert (1–13 July), the name given by the British to the first two weeks of the Battle of the Somme, La Boisselle stood on the main axis of British attack. The tunnelling companies were to make two major contributions to the Allied preparations by placing 19 large and small mines beneath the German positions along the front line and by preparing a series of shallow

Russian sap Sapping is a term used in siege operations to describe the digging of a covered trench (a "sap") to approach a besieged place without danger from the enemy's fire. (verb) The purpose of the sap is usually to advance a besieging army's positio ...

s from the British front line into no man's land, which would be opened at zero hour and allow the infantry to attack the German positions from a comparatively short distance.

s in front of

, Ovillers and

were the task of 179th Tunnelling Company. In the front section allocated to the 36th (Ulster) Division, ten saps were run from the British lines into no-man's land north-east of Thiepval Wood. The intention was for each of the ten tunnels to house two mortars. At La Boisselle, four mines were prepared by the Royal Engineers: Two charges (known as ''No 2 straight'' and ''No 5 right'') were planted at at the end of galleries dug from Inch Street Trench by the 179th Tunnelling Company, intended to wreck German tunnels and create crater lips to block

enfilade Enfilade and defilade are concepts in military tactics used to describe a military formation's exposure to enemy fire. A formation or position is "in enfilade" if weapon fire can be directed along its longest axis. A unit or position is "in de ...

fire along no man's land. As the Germans in La Boisselle had fortified the cellars of ruined houses, and cratered ground made a direct infantry assault on the village impossible, two further mines, known as '' Y Sap'' and ''

Lochnagar Lochnagar or is a mountain in the Mounth, in the Grampians of Scotland. It is about south of the River Dee near Balmoral. It is a popular hill with hillwalkers, and is a noted venue for summer and winter climbing. Names The English nam ...

'' after the trenches from which they were dug, were laid on the north-east and the south-east of La Boisselle to assist the attack on either side of the German salient in the village �
see map
Battle of the Somme 1916 - Lochnagar mine, La Boisselle

Battle of the Somme 1916 - Lochnagar mine, La Boisselle

The 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. A month before the handover, 18 men of the 185th Tunnelling Company (2 officers, 16 sappers) were killed on 4 February when the Germans detonated a camouflet near the British three-level mine system, starting from Inch Street, La Boisselle, the deepest level being just above the water table at around . 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". After the

Black Watch The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, when the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regime ...

had arrived at La Boissselle at the end of July 1915, many existing Allied fortifications, originally dug by the French, had been given Scotland-related names. The ''Lochnagar'' mine probably had the first deep incline shaft, which sloped to a depth of about �
see map
. It was begun behind the British front line and away from the German front line. Starting from the inclined shaft, about below ground, a gallery was driven towards the German lines. For silence, the tunnellers used bayonets with spliced handles and worked barefoot on a floor covered with sandbags. Flints were carefully prised out of the chalk and laid on the floor; if 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 A tamp is a device used to compact or flatten an aggregate or another powdered or granular material, typically to make it resistant to further compression or simply to increase its density. Examples * Small, handheld tampers are used to compres ...

the charge. When about from the , the tunnel was forked into two branches and the end of each branch was enlarged to form a chamber for the explosives, the chambers being about apart and deep �
see map
When finished, the access tunnel for the ''Lochnagar'' mine was and had been excavated at a rate of about per day, until about long, with the galleries beneath the . The mine was loaded with of

ammonal Ammonal is an explosive made up of ammonium nitrate and aluminium powder, not to be confused with T-ammonal which contains trinitrotoluene as well to increase properties such as brisance. The mixture is often referred to as Tannerite, which is ...

, divided in two charges of and . As the chambers were not big enough to hold all the explosive, the tunnels that branched to form the 'Y' were also filled with ammonal. The longer branch was long, the shorter was long. The tunnels did not quite reach the German front line but the blast would dislodge enough material to form a high rim and bury nearby trenches. Battle of the Somme 1916 - Y Sap mine, La Boisselle

Battle of the Somme 1916 - Y Sap mine, La Boisselle

The tunnel for the ''Y Sap'' mine underneath the German trenches overlooking Mash Valley just north of La Boisselle started in the British front line near where it crossed the D 929 Albert–Bapaume road, but because of German underground defences it could not be dug in a straight line. About were dug into no man's land, before it turned right for about another . About of ammonal was placed in the chamber beneath the ''Y Sap'' mine. The ''Lochnagar'' and the ''Y Sap'' mines were "overcharged" to ensure that large rims were formed from the disturbed ground. Communication tunnels were also dug for use immediately after the first attack but were little used in the end. The mines were laid without interference by German miners but as the explosives were placed, German miners could be heard below ''Lochnagar'' and above the ''Y Sap'' mine. Captain Stanley Bullock described the conditions of the work: The four mines at La Boisselle were detonated at on 1 July 1916, the

first day on the Somme The first day on the Somme, 1 July 1916, was the beginning of the Battle of Albert the name given by the British to the first two weeks of the 141 days of the Battle of the Somme () in the First World War. Nine corps of the French Sixth Ar ...

. The explosion of the ''Lochnagar'' mine was initiated by Captain James Young of the 179th Tunnelling Company, who pressed the switches and observed that the firing had been successful. 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. At the time, the ''Lochnagar'' mine, along with the ''Y Sap'' mine, were the largest mines ever detonated. 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. They would be surpassed a year later by the mines in the Battle of Messines. Despite their colossal size, the ''Lochnagar'' and ''Y Sap'' mines failed to help sufficiently neutralise the German defences in La Boisselle. The ruined village was meant to fall in 20 minutes, but by the end of the first day of the battle, it had not been taken while the III Corps divisions had lost more than . At Mash Valley, the attackers lost 5,100 men before noon, and at Sausage Valley near the crater of the ''Lochnagar'' mine, there were over 6,000 casualties – the highest concentration on the entire battlefield. The III Corps' 34th Division suffered the worst losses of any unit that day. Image:La Boisselle mine crater Aug 1916 IWM Q 912.jpg, Image:Troops passing Lochnagar Crater Oct 1916 IWM Q 1479.jpg, Image:Lochnagar Crater Ovillers.JPG, Image:Lochnagar mine 01.JPG,

Ypres Salient

In spring of 1917, the 179th Tunnelling Company moved to the Ypres Canal sector near

Boezinge Boezinge (; vls, Boezienge) is a village in the municipality of Ypres in the Belgian province of West Flanders. Boezinge can be reached via the N369 road in the direction of Diksmuide. It was an independent municipality until 1977. History Boezi ...

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.Activities of The Diggers - Restoration of the Yorkshire Trench & Dug-out
, access date 10 July 2015 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

and in the 1990s some of them were entered, at least in part. 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
. Yorkshire Trench is located close to the John McCrae memorial site at Essex Farm.Boesinghe - The Forgotten Battlefield
access date 10 July 2015
access date 10 July 2015

La Bassée

During the winter of 1917–18 the company was in the

La Bassée La Bassée () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Population Heraldry Personalities La Bassée was the birthplace of the painter and draftsman Louis-Léopold Boilly (1761–1845). Another native was Ignace François ...

sector, engaged in defensive tunnel warfare and in constructing deep concrete dugouts in the support line (the 'Village Line') in cooperation with 42nd (East Lancashire) Divisional Engineers. These defences enabled

55th (West Lancashire) Division The 55th (West Lancashire) Division was an infantry division of the British Army's Territorial Force (TF) that saw extensive combat during the First World War. It was raised initially in 1908 as the West Lancashire Division. Following the out ...

to hold its ground during the subsequent German spring offensive. Once the front had stabilised after the German offensive, British engineers began digging stronger defences. Sections of 179th Tunnelling Co assisted the field companies of 42nd (EaL) Divisional Engineers in digging deep dugouts in the Hébuterne sector.Anon, ''History'', pp. 40–1, 135–8, 186.

In popular culture

Thomas Shelby, protagonist of the popular BBC drama

Peaky Blinders The Peaky Blinders were a street gang based in Birmingham, England, which operated from the 1880s until the 1910s. The group consisted largely of young criminals from lower- to middle-class backgrounds. They engaged in robbery, violence, rack ...

, was said to have served as a tunneller in the 179th Tunnelling Company.

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 (), pp. 219–22
see online
;Sources * Anonymous, ''A History of the East Lancashire Royal Engineers by Members of the Corps'', Manchester, 1920/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2003, . * * * * * * Frederick E. Gibbon, ''The 42nd East Lancashire Division 1914–1918'', London: Country Life, 1920/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2003, . * * * * * * * * Graham E. Watson & Richard A. Rinaldi, ''The Corps of Royal Engineers: Organization and Units 1889–2018'', Tiger Lily Books, 2018, . {{refend

External links

* ttp://simonjoneshistorian.com/men-of-179th-and-185th-tunnelling-companies/ 'Men of 179th and 185th Tunnelling Companies' Paper by Simon Jones. Tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers Tunnel warfare in World War I