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Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
FIGHTING THE BOCHE UNDERGROUND
[Illustration: Captain Trounce.]
FIGHTING THE BOCHE UNDERGROUND
by
H. D. TROUNCE
Formerly of the Royal British Engineers
Now Captain of Engineers, U.S.A.
With Illustrations and Diagrams
New York
Charles Scribner's Sons
1918
Copyright, 1918, by
Charles Scribner's Sons
Published October, 1918
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. INTRODUCTORY 1
II. TO THE FRONT 12
III. UNDERGROUND 27
IV. CRATER FIGHTING 44
V. TUNNELLING IN THE VIMY RIDGE TRENCHES 61
VI. CHALK CAVERNS AND TRENCH MORTARS 78
VII. AROUND THE VIMY RIDGE 97
VIII. THE SOMME SHOW 115
IX. THE BATTLE OF THE ANCRE 127
X. THE RETREAT OF ARRAS 142
XI. THE BATTLE OF ARRAS 162
XII. THE HINDENBURG LINE 176
XIII. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FEAR 199
XIV. SOME PRINCIPLES OF MINING 207
ILLUSTRATIONS
Captain Trounce _Frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
Breathing-apparatus necessary in going into "gassy" galleries 50
Sector near Neuville-St.-Vaast, Vimy Ridge trenches,
April 3, 1916 64
The same sector, Vimy Ridge trenches, May 16, 1916 66
Explosion of a mine 80
A cellar, protected by sand-bags, in the village of
Hebuterne used as a shelter by engineer officers 130
In a German trench 156
View from rear of a typical German reinforced concrete
machine-gun emplacement. Taken on the Hindenburg line
south of Arras 178
Rough sketch illustrating breastworks and systems of
underground galleries _At end of volume_
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
It has been frequently suggested to me that I write of my experiences
at the front. As one of the advance-guard of the American army who
participated in the great struggle for freedom long before the United
States espoused the cause of the Allies, I am more than willing to do
this, owing to my strong desire that the public should know something
of the constant fighting which is going on _underneath_ as well as
on the surface and above the ground of the trenches both in France
and elsewhere, especially if, by so doing, I can help the people at
large more fully to appreciate the importance of the work and the
unflinching devotion of that branch of the army which but seldom finds
itself singled out for the bestowal of special honors or for the
expression of public approbation.
This narrative will be mainly concerned with the engineers and sappers
who are so quietly and unostentatiously undergoing extraordinary
hardships and dangers in their hazardous work below the ground, in
order that their comrades of the infantry may occupy them above, safe,
at any rate, from underground attack. In no species of land warfare is
a cool head and clear brain, combined with decisive and energetic
action and determined courage, more required than in the conduct of
these military mining operations.
The value of mines and of similar contrivances of the engineer is
partly psychological. Though hundreds of men only may be put out of
action by their use, thousands of valuable fighting men suffer
mentally from the knowledge or from the mere suspicion that their
trenches are undermined by the enemy. Such a suspicion causes the
strain on their morale to be very severe and their usefulness to be
correspondingly diminished.
The men engaged in this work do not receive that inspiration and
access of courage which comes from above-ground activity and which
enkindles and stimulates enthusiasm, as in a blood-stirring charge.
This trench tunnelling and mine laying requires a different form of
bravery: that unemotional courage which results from strong
self-control, determination, and perseverance of purpose. The
personnel of these engineer-mining regiments usually work in twos and
threes, or in small groups, cramped in narrow galleries, sometimes 20,
sometimes 200, feet below the surface; and often immediately under or
beyond the enemy's front trenches. On numerous occasions they silently
force their way underground, despite great difficulties and risk, to
within a few feet of the enemy sappers, hardly daring to breathe. A
cough, a stumble, or a clumsy touch only are necessary to alarm the
enemy, cause them to fire their charge, and thus send another party of
opposing soldier miners to the "Valhalla" of modern fighting men. In
this war, enormous charges of the highest and deadliest explosives
known to man are used. Instant annihilation follows the slightest
mistake or carelessness in handling such frightful compounds. Always
is there excitement in abundance, but its outward manifestation is of
necessity determinedly suppressed. No struggle with a living and
resourceful enemy comes to stimulate the soldier mining engineer; only
a ghostly adversary has he to contend with, one who is both
unresponsive and invisible until the final instant.
No part of such work can be hurried. Underground surveys are calmly
and efficiently made, huge mine charges deliberately and quietly
placed, electrical connections carefully tested, and at the precise
moment fired with terrific detonation and damage. The earth is shaken
for miles around, trenches are entirely buried with the débris, while
companies of men are engulfed, and immense mine-craters formed.
During the progress of this war there has been a constant increase in
the number of engineering troops and development in engineer
equipment. While the organization of the German troops at the outset
of the war included large numbers of engineer soldiers specially
trained for military purposes, the number of engineer units in the
British forces as well as those of our other allies was comparatively
small.
The training of engineer troops among the Allies for use in trench
warfare was extremely limited; their work was confined generally to
the operations of open warfare.
Trench warfare changed the whole course of events and rendered
necessary wide and sweeping changes in organization, training, and
equipment. It has been often stated that this is a war of engineers,
and it is certainly true. Engineers and engineering problems are found
in every branch of the service.
Instead of being a small and comparatively unimportant corps in our
great army machine, they are now of the first importance, and no
operations of any magnitude are undertaken without including the
necessary engineer forces.
In almost every instance careful liaison or co-operation must be
effected with the infantry or other arms concerned in the operations.
I can hardly begin to enumerate the different activities of engineers
in trench and open warfare. Some of the most important work done by
them in this trench warfare includes the construction, repair, and
general maintenance of all trenches (assisted by the infantry); the
building of all mined dugouts and shelters of all descriptions; the
construction of all strong points and emplacements, machine-gun posts,
trench-mortar posts, artillery gun-pits, snipers' posts, O.P.'s, or
artillery observation-posts, and so on; all demolition work, such as
the firing of large charges of high explosives in mines under the
enemy's positions, the destruction of enemy strong points, etc.; the
building and maintenance of all roads; the construction and
destruction of all bridges, construction and operation of light and
heavy railroads, and many other duties too numerous to mention.
It is a work of alternate construction and destruction. The sapper
must be a real soldier as well as an engineer. With the possible
exception of some of the troops on lines of communication, and some
railway, harbor, and other special units, they are all combatant
troops, and are so rated and recognized. Many thousands of them are on
constant trench work and other thousands on work close up, where they
are continually shelled and exposed to fire.
The training of the majority of engineers includes the same methods of
offense and defense as the infantry, and well it is that it does so.
Almost every day on the western front they are called on to accompany
the infantry "over the top," or on a raid on enemy trenches; to
destroy enemy defenses; or to consolidate captured trenches; or again
to "man the parapet" in holding off enemy attacks until infantry
reinforcements can come through the usual "barrage." These things
happen every day in the trenches, and the engineer soldier would be at
a serious disadvantage if he had not been trained in the use of rifle,
bomb, and bayonet. No one has a stronger admiration for the infantry
than I have, and every one must take off his hat to these "pucca"
(real) fighting men, but the fact remains that the sappers who have
continual trench duty are subject to the same constant trench fire as
the infantry are every day--the only real difference is that they
seldom get a chance to "hit" back. They have their work to do, and
seldom have a chance to return the compliment and "strafe the Hun,"
except in self-defense.
Strategists are pretty well agreed that the main successes of the war
must be won by sheer hard trench fighting, and continued until the
Germans will not be able to pay the cost in lives and munitions.
In this underground warfare the work of the engineers whose business
it is to protect the infantry from enemy attacks below ground is both
serious and interesting. At the headquarters of the mining regiment a
note is opened from the Brigade Staff: "Enemy mining suspected at K 24
b 18--request immediate investigation." An experienced mining officer
is at once detailed to proceed to the area in question and report on
the situation.
At times it is a question of nerves on the part of some lonely sentry,
but quite as often it develops that the enemy are mining in the
immediate vicinity. Measures to commence counter-mining are at once
started.
Then the game of wits below ground begins. Mine-shafts are sunk and
small narrow galleries driven at a depth which the engineers hope will
bring them underneath the German attack galleries. From day to day and
even from hour to hour when they are within striking distance careful
and constant listening below ground is undertaken, both friend and foe
endeavoring to make progress as silently as possible.
In a regular mine system all manner of ruses are adopted to keep the
enemy guessing as to the exact locality of each of their tunnels:
false noises in distant or higher galleries; plain working of pick and
shovel in others; meanwhile they are silently and speedily making
progress in the genuine tunnels to the real objective.
Often we delay the laying of our charges of high explosive until we
are within two or three feet of the enemy gallery and can even hear
the enemy miners talking. On three occasions I have heard them talking
very plainly, and listened for hours to them working on, quite
unconscious of their danger. It was always a source of annoyance to me
that I could understand so little German. At other times, and this has
happened more than once in the clay soil of Flanders, we have broken
into enemy galleries and fought them with automatic pistols, bombs,
and portable charges of high explosives.
As a means of offensive warfare, mining has taken an important part,
particularly in the launching of infantry attacks and night raids.
The battle of Messines Ridge in July, 1916, was started by firing at
the "Zero" hour some 19 mines, spread over a front of several
kilometres. In these 19 mines the aggregate of the total high
explosive used and fired at the same instant was a few thousand short
of 1,000,000 pounds. Some of the individual charges were nearly
100,000 pounds each, and had been laid ready for firing for over
twelve months. Some idea of the frightful force and power of these
charges may be obtained when it is remembered that each of the "Mills"
bombs, or hand-grenades carried by British soldiers, contains one
quarter of 1 pound, or 4 ounces, only of this explosive. As a result
of this terrific blow the Germans retreated for over a half-mile on
the entire front mined, and the initial objectives of the British were
captured with astonishingly low casualties.
In counter-mining, when the enemy are met below ground in crossing
under No Man's Land, it is the usual practice of the Allies to explode
a charge or mine which they call a "camouflet." The camouflet totally
destroys the enemy's gallery, but does not break the surface. The
common and the overcharged mine always blow a deep and wide
cone-shaped crater. Large charges of explosive blow craters several
hundred feet in diameter and well over 100 feet in depth.
In almost every sector of the western front in France where the
trenches are close together, (that is, from 20 or 30 up to 200 yards
apart), these mine-craters are found in No Man's Land. In sectors
where mining has been very active, mine-craters are so common that
they intersect each other. The "blowing" of a crater in No Man's Land
at night and the immediate occupation and consolidation of it by the
infantry and engineers is a wonderfully stirring affair. The strain on
the morale of the infantry occupying sectors which are known to be
mined is a terrible one, especially if they have no engineers to
combat the stealthy attack. For the hundreds who are killed, buried,
or injured from enemy mines there are thousands who suffer a mental
strain from the mere suspicion of their existence.
Trench mining now, I am glad to add, is not the menace that it was in
1915 and 1916, but when the good-weather offensives cease and the
usual winter trench warfare is renewed, mining will probably make its
reappearance.