The Tunnellers of the First World War

[Gary Samson]

11.00am Unearthing Mysteries

New Series 1/4. The Tunnellers of the First World War

Aubrey Manning uncovers the little-told story of a war fought underground. Today, hundreds of miles of tunnels still criss-cross beneath the battlefields of northern France. Manning visits Vimy Ridge to find out why the tunnels and tunnellers played such a vital role in helping the fight above ground.

BBC Radio 4 Tuesday 20 December

Gary

[Martyn Gibson]

Gary

Thanks for the heads up on this

Regards

Martyn

[Paul Reed]

Thanks Gary - sounds interesting.

[Borden Battery]

Here is a website which may be added to the CEF Study Group list of recommended Great War websites:

British and Commonwealth Mining Operations on the Western Front 1914-1918 Dec 2005

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/neil.ashworth1/Index.html

Borden Battery

[Guest geoff501]

[New Series 1/4. The Tunnellers of the First World War

Thanks for this. Sounds interesting. Some of the tunnells may not be empty....

http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-battle...ce/messines.htm

" The two unexploded mines were planned to be dismantled by the British but with the impending start of the Third Battle of Ypres, there was always something else to do. When the Germans launched their Lys Offensive in April, 1918, the British HQ was overrun and the documents relating to these two mines was lost and they never were dug up. The precise location of them was not known and they were forgotten until during a thunderstorm on 17th July, 1955, one of them exploded. No one was killed but the explosion did some slight damage to some distant property.

The other mine is, as far as anyone knows, still lurking under the Flanders countryside. "

[shinglma]

"The other mine is, as far as anyone knows, still lurking under the Flanders countryside. "

There has been some discussion on the 'lost' mines of Messines Ridge on the forum before.

Far from being missing their positions are readily known. See the chapter in "Salient Points Three" by Tony Spagnoly and Ted Smith which accounts for the FIVE forgotten mines. The authors note that their positions are recorded on RE map(s) in the National Archives.

Mike

[Guest geoff501]

If you missed this, the Listen Again feature is here, select the Unearthing Mysteries link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/progs/listenagain.shtml#u

[Guest geoff501]

Wonder if anyone is transcribing the graffiti in these tunnells - could be some useful valuable research info there.

Anyone found James McCloud 859660 43rd Battalion. Stornoway, Lewis?

[Guest geoff501]

Wonder if anyone is transcribing the graffiti in these tunnells - could be some useful valuable research info there.

Anyone found James McCloud 859660 43rd Battalion. Stornoway, Lewis?

Found John McLeod 859660 born Stornoway, Scotland 26 May 1888 enlisted in Canadian Infantry.

Recorded on Canadian Archive:

http://data4.collectionscanada.ca/netacgi/..._e.html&r=1&f=G

Stonemason by trade, and ex Seaforths.

No CWGC entry, seems to have survived.