Mines on the first day of the Somme
After the German advance towards Albert had been brought to a halt at La Boisselle and attempts to resume offensive warfare in October had not been successful, both sides reduced their attacks to local operations or raids and began to fortify their remaining positions with underground works.
In October, the 179th Tunnelling Company began to sink a series of deep shafts in an attempt to forestall German miners who were approaching beneath the British front line.
[9] On 19 November, 179th Tunnelling Company's commander, Captain Henry Hance, estimated that the Germans were 15 yards away and ordered the mine chamber to be loaded with 2,700 kilograms (6,000 lb) of explosive.
[9][a] As part of the Allied preparations for the Battle of the Somme, the British intensified their underground operations in several selected front line sectors.
The British Army would use the neighbouring villages of Hebuterne and Foncquevillers as bases for the assault on Gommecourt, resulting in a severe defeat for the attacking force.
In the British front sector allocated to VIII Corps at Beaumont-Hamel, 252nd Tunnelling Company dug a large mine, code named H3, at Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt.
[12] The two other tunnels were Russian saps, dug to within 30 yards (27 m) of the German front line, ready to be opened at 2:00 a.m. on 1 July, as emplacements for batteries of Stokes mortars.
[14] The tunnellers under the command of Captain Rex Trower[1] dug a gallery for about 1,000 yards (910 m) from the British lines about 57 feet (17 m) underground beneath the German position on the crest of the ridge.
In the X Corps front section allocated to the 36th (Ulster) Division, ten Russian saps were run from the British lines into no-man's land north-east of Thiepval Wood.
[7] A month before the handover, 18 men of the 185th Tunnelling Company (2 officers, 16 sappers) were killed on 4 February when the Germans detonated a camouflet near the British three-level mine system, starting from Inch Street, La Boisselle, the deepest level being just above the water table at around 30 metres (100 ft).
After the Black Watch had arrived at La Boissselle at the end of July 1915, many existing Allied fortifications, originally dug by the French, had been given Scotland-related names.
Spoil was placed in sandbags and passed hand-by-hand, along a row of miners sitting on the floor and stored along the side of the tunnel, later to be used to tamp the charge.
The tunnels did not quite reach the German front line but the blast would dislodge enough material to form a 4.6 metres (15 ft) high rim and bury nearby trenches.
It was thought the mines could raise a protective "lip" of earth that would obscure the view from the village and the German machine-gun positions but the effort failed.
"[33][c] The site of the mines appears as a small area of cratered ground in the field beyond the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Fricourt New Military Cemetery.
[28] In addition to placing the four mines, 183rd Tunnelling Company from February 1916 onwards prepared dozens of Russian saps for the attack, which ran from the British front line to the very edge of the German positions.
Two tunnels which housed such weapons – located at Kiel Trench south-west of Mametz and between Carnoy and Kasino Point – were damaged by German shellfire before the attack.
[39] In view of the work required, 183rd Tunnelling Company took a calculated risk by stopping its defensive mining activities between Carnoy and Fricourt, which had so far guaranteed the underground safety of the British trenches in that area.
The miners reported after the attack that the Kasino Point mine had buried three German dugouts and four sniper's posts, and probably a machine-gun emplacement as well.
The 2nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (86th Brigade, 29th Division), crossing no man's land to occupy the crater, came under heavy German rifle and machine-gun fire from either flank and the rear lip.
The explosion of the Lochnagar mine was initiated by Captain James Young of the 179th Tunnelling Company, who pressed the switches and observed that the firing had been successful.
[49] At Bulgar Point, located east of Mametz in the front sector allocated to XV Corps, the German position was completely destroyed by the detonation of the No 12 mine with 910 kilograms (2,000 lb) of ammonal.
[52] Looking back at building the Lochnagar mine, Captain Stanley Bullock of 179th Tunnelling Company described the conditions of the work, At one place in particular our men swore they thought he [the German enemy] was coming through, so we stopped driving forward and commenced to chamber in double shifts.
Half an hour, sometimes once sometimes three times a day, in deadly silence with the geophone to your ears, wondering whether the sound you heard was the Boche working silently or your own heart beating.
2nd Lieutenant Cecil Lewis' patrol of 3 Squadron was warned against flying too close to La Boisselle, where two mines were due to go up, but would be able to watch from a safe distance.
The barrage had lifted to the second-line trenches, the infantry were over the top, the attack had begun.In 1932, Brigadier Sir James Edmonds wrote regarding the mines that the "lack of manpower prevented more [from] being undertaken".
After advancing British infantry had failed to capture the crater permanently, 178th Tunnelling Company reopened the gallery, charged it with another 1,400 kilograms (3,000 lb) of ammonal and blew the mine again on 9 September.
[58] William Orpen, an official war artist, saw the Lochnagar mine crater in 1916 while touring the Somme battlefield, collecting subjects for paintings and described a wilderness of chalk dotted with shrapnel.
John Masefield also toured the Somme, while preparing The Old Front Line (1917), in which he also described the area around the Lochnagar Crater as dazzlingly white and painful to look at.
[60] The site attracts about 200,000 visitors a year and there is an annual memorial service on 1 July, to commemorate the detonation of the mine and the British, French and German war dead.
