The Basics of Mining Operations

One of the Original Messines Mines Today

Gentlemen, I don’t know whether we are going to make history tomorrow, but at any rate we shall change geography.

British General Sir Charles Harington before 
the Battle of Messines, June 1917

On battlefieds, such as those of the Great War,  any hill or ridge, even a tiny one, gave the men holding it a great advantage in terms of being able to see what the enemy was doing. Such positions were often highly strengthened, making them keys to the overall defense of their sector. Flanders, the Somme, the Argonne Forest, the St. Mihiel Salient, and the Vosges Mountains were all sites of extensive mining operations on the Western Front. Mining enemy positions was only useful and possible when positions of opposing forces were fixed for long periods, as on the Western Front between November 1914 and March 1918 when trench warfare predominated. It was also important on the Italian Front both in the mountains and on the Carso Plateau where attritional warfare predominated before the Battle of Caporetto.  Some strategic sites were so important  they were the location of relentless mining through the entire period of trench warfare on the Western Front.  The best known of these are Les Eparges Spur south of Verdun and the Butte de Vauquois near the Argonne Forest.

Mining operations required large numbers of men and enormous quantities of explosives, but they offered the potential to undermine and destroy key parts of the enemy’s line, thus allowing men on the surface to attack successfully. The use of mining seemed to offer a solution to the worst problems of trench and attrition warfare. If one side could tunnel under the enemy’s lines, it could plant explosives that would kill nearly all the enemy soldiers  manning the position in one hit and open a gap in their line.

Click on Image to Enlarge

Simplified View of a Mining Operation

Often men were recruited from the peacetime mining, construction, or engineering industries of the various countries as such men typically possessed many of the skills and much of the knowledge required to construct underground mines. Mining required specialists largely because the work was dangerous, often technical, extremely physical, and frequently carried out in near darkness. Furthermore, the confined spaces the men had to work in meant that few were mentally able to work as miners. It was difficult and dangerous work—the land was swampy, the clay was hard to dig. Furthermore, the closeness of the enemy meant that, each side could hear the other digging. It was a constant reminder the enemy might collapse their tunnels and bury them alive.

This Was a Site of Mining Throughout the War By
Both Sides. Over 500 Charges Were Detonated, 1915–1918.

An Extreme One-Day Example

In 1917, the Allies were planning a major attack to be called the Messines offensive, named after the town on a commanding ridge south of Ypres. If the tunnelers could detonate explosives under the enemy’s trenches, it would weaken the enemies lines, thereby aiding the forthcoming attack. This led to the supreme and most successful mining effort of the war. On the morning of 7 June 1917, at 04:10 local time (Zero Hour), the British exploded 19 of the 24 deep mines, almost simultaneously, between Hill 60 and The Birdcage (southwest of Warneton). The gigantic explosions destroyed the enemy positions and created huge craters in the landscape. One bunker was actually turned upside down. The explosion was heard by the British prime minister David Lloyd George, who was working late in his Downing Street study. Hundreds of German soldiers died in the initial blasts, and the attacking British and Commonwealth forces quickly occupied the ridge. That was as far as the attack carried, however.

Nevertheless, from the photos shown on this page, the reader should be able to see what General Harington meant when he spoke of changing geography.

Also see our articles:

Battlefield Recon: The Mines of Messines HERE.

Drone Footage of Eparges Spur HERE.

Sources: 1914-1918 Online;  Hill 60 Movie Website