A view of one of the French tunnels beneath Vauquois. Note the light railway tracks and extensive wooden supports. Matthew Leonard / mediadrumworld.com

WW1 Sapper Book

By Mark McConville

THE NETWORK of underground tunnels where fighting continued beneath the killing fields of the Western Front during World War One have been revealed in a new book.

During late 1917 both the French and the Germans occupied the Drachenhohle, constructing internal walls, laying barbed wire and flooding the souterraine gas. The war continued below ground as it did above. Matthew Leonard / mediadrumworld.com
During late 1917 both the French and the Germans occupied the Drachenhohle, constructing internal walls, laying barbed wire and flooding the souterraine gas. The war continued below ground as it did above. Matthew Leonard / mediadrumworld.com

Echoing the book and BBC drama Birdsong about these men, the rare pictures show the remains of the tunnels where engineering soldiers known as “sappers” would have worked in the darkness to knock out enemy German underground units. One powerful image shows a stick grenade still stuck between two rocks as a booby trap to anyone who should try to force their way through.

This German stick grenade was found in the German T-19 tunnel system beneath Vimy Ridge. It had been wedged in a wall where Germans feared a British break-in. Matthew Leonard / mediadrumworld.com
This German stick grenade was found in the German T-19 tunnel system beneath Vimy Ridge. It had been wedged in a wall where Germans feared a British break-in. Matthew Leonard / mediadrumworld.com

Other incredible images show archived shots of troops gratefully accepting fresh air as they come above ground and fighters donning gas masks to protect against chemical warfare.

Three members of the British signal service wearing gas masks in a shell hole during a gas attack. Matthew Leonard / mediadrumworld.com
Three members of the British signal service wearing gas masks in a shell hole during a gas attack. Matthew Leonard / mediadrumworld.com

The largely unknown subterranean fighting has been investigated in a new book, Beneath the Killing Fields, by Matthew Leonard and published by Pen & Sword Books Ltd.

The Hohenzollern redoubt seen today. this was a formidable German defensive position in 1915 consisting of machine nests, barbed wire obstacles, mantraps, supporting trenches and dug outs. Matthew Leonard / mediadrumworld.com
The Hohenzollern redoubt seen today. this was a formidable German defensive position in 1915 consisting of machine nests, barbed wire obstacles, mantraps, supporting trenches and dug outs. Matthew Leonard / mediadrumworld.com

“The tunnels were very cramped, very deep, very complex and very dangerous,” said Mr Leonard.

“Men lived underground for most of their time at the front. They came up to the surface at night to work and conduct raids.

“During the day, they only surfaced to carry out guard duty and essential tasks or to take part in attacks. There were subterranean caverns for accommodation along with cemeteries, HQs, stores, hospitals and so on.

“A whole world beneath the surface – most of which still exists, but is extremely hazardous to enter.”

The Wellington Mines beneath Arras were expanded by the New Zealand Tunnelling Company. By 1917 the British had learned to protect men underground before they went into battle. Matthew Leonard / mediadrumworld.com
The Wellington Mines beneath Arras were expanded by the New Zealand Tunnelling Company. By 1917 the British had learned to protect men underground before they went into battle. Matthew Leonard / mediadrumworld.com

Men had to learn a new way of living and fighting as in the dark depths below the surface their sight was no good to them. Sound and touch became much more important.

Men of the 10th Battalion enjoying a hot meal near Eaucourt l'Abbaye, on the Sommer during 1917. Matthew Leonard / mediadrumworld.com
Men of the 10th Battalion enjoying a hot meal near Eaucourt l’Abbaye, on the Sommer during 1917. Matthew Leonard / mediadrumworld.com

“They reordered their senses, prioritising touch over sight,” said Mr Leonard.

“It was a deeply sensorial engagement with a landscape of modern war. Men had to work and fight underground, in the dark, where every sound could result in discovery and death.”

Nick Pryor and Arnaud Durier of the Durand Group in the British La Folie system beneath Vimy Ridge. Matthew Leonard / mediadrumworld.com
Nick Pryor and Arnaud Durier of the Durand Group in the British La Folie system beneath Vimy Ridge. Matthew Leonard / mediadrumworld.com

The underground fighting was extremely important to the war as the Western Front could not have existed without them, according to Mr Leonard.

“Think of the trench lines as but the battlements of a submerged fortress and you should get the idea,” he said.

“There was underground fighting continually right across the front, from Flanders to the Alps.

“The premise of the book is to shed more light on this little studied area of the war. In my book, I blend the military realities with the personal, history with archaeology, anthropology with first-hand knowledge.

“It is the product of my extensive experience in these landscapes over several years, along with research gathered while writing my doctoral thesis on a similar subject.”