THE BIG "BLOW-UP? AT MESSINES

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3118, 23 June 1917, Page 2

THE BIG "BLOW-UP? AT MESSINES

MINERS' NARROW ESCAPES

HEROIC AUSTRALIANS Melbourne, June 12. Another description of the .mining operations is given by Jlr. PercivalPbil- ' lips, tho special correspondent of tho "jJiiily Express." Ho says:— "There arc no happier men in this happy army of tho north than the minora 'who iiiid been toiling underground for mouths ami prepared the chambers for tho explosive charges. They courted death there as freely as the infantry; charging through the broken barbedwiro above tho surface. Beneath 'No Man's Land' they dug and carvedi through narrow, tortuous channels, some of them only three feet by two, using ■ infinite pains and skill, working in semidarkness and in foul air, facing a variety „ of hidden dangers, boring their way cau-' tiously onwards foot by foot, with eare attuned to the slightest. Sound. The success of these tunnel-drivers, who came to Franco with years of experience in mining, fully compensated them for their weary efforts and their days and nights of semi-suffocation in the bowels of the earth. They had regarded Hill CO with ferocious delight during tho months of preparation. They came to know the hill as 'our hill,' using the phrase in a, grim, business-like way, which would have been extremely disquieting to the complacent Wurteinbergere if they could have heard these dangerous, squarejawed Australians quietly prophesying doom as they wielded pick; and shovel. ■

Facing Death. "The miners narrowly escaped dis-< eovci'y and death. The German pioneers were unconscious of the Australians' proximity. So warily had the Australians crept forward that, though the Germans actually mined to within 40ft. of the Australians' main charge under. Hill 60, and within 20ft. of their gallery, they remained unaware that the Australians were there. On another occasion tho enemy camo so close that they dislodged a portion of the roof of an Australian mine-chamber, and the earttt' foil upon a stack of explosives. The Australians heard tho Germans' guttural conversation, and only a thin layer oil earth separated the enemies. "The Australians had to overcome many difficulties. At one time 100 minora worked together to pump out the water from a 400 ft. stretch of flooded gallery. On one occasion the Germans blew in the front line. The miners ran out of their dug-outs with no Txiots on and chased the raiders out. A week ago the Germans blew in a new mine gallery. Two Australian listeners were ■buried alive, one for 17 hours and the other for 40. They were dug out unhurt, and both had throughout their imprisonment recorded every sound heard in the darkness. I have found no finer record of cool courage and devotion to duty in the annals of this war than that shown by these two men."

An Eerie Picture. Mr. Phillips paints an eerie picture of the scene which preceded the explosion. He says: "In the misty moonlight thousands of figures were lying crouched on the ground, to which they had been brought up from their shelters. They, had crouched down in order to bear the tremendous shock better. Two minutes before tho appointed moment the men poured up silently from the depths, and passed tho group of officers' dug-outs surrounding the fatal brass lever. One afterwards said that the final two Binutes seemed interminable. The la?t 30 seconds, as they watched the second hand crawl round tho dial, was , the time of tensest strain.

"When a young officer jammed down tho lever the ground rose like a billow. Tho noise of tho explosion was prolonged by a mighty cheer from the men. They could not help it. They had been given orders to. keep the strictest silence, and thoro were even 'battle-police' on duty to - see that'the order was obeyed, but when the raine-i lifted the miners realised,' that their long work was a glorious success, and could not restrain their jubilation. Anyhow, the Germans were past hearing the cheers."