Tunnel Wars: Adventure of a World War One Sapper

By: Harry Davis Trounce

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Synopsis: Tunnel Wars, first published in 1918 as Fighting the Boche Underground, is the fascinating, little-known first-person account of what surely must rate as one of World War One's most dangerous assignments — that of tunneling through soil and rock underneath 'No Man's Land' and rigging explosive charges below the German trenches. The resultant explosions were often massive in scope, causing huge loss of life, and produced huge craters, some of which are still visible today on World War One battlefields. At the same time as the American and British forces were constructing tunnels, the Germans too were digging, and it was a constant chore of listening — via "geophones" — for the tell-tale sounds of enemy activity. Foul, sometimes fatally toxic air was always a concern, and canaries were used, as they were in early underground coal mines. Tunnel Wars includes descriptions of the fighting at Vimy Ridge, the Somme, Ancre, and Arras, and provides a unique look at this extreme aspect of the war associated with trench warfare. Included are 10 photographs and 2 diagrams.