THE TUNNEL.CHS.

Hokitika Guardian, 20 October 1917, Page 4

THE TUNNEL. CHS.

All Canada and the United States have been electrified by an inspiring report on the work of the Canadian tunnelling companies in Franee, written by Major Roland Hill, of Ottawa, at the war correspondents’ headquarters in France. The article has just been released for publication by the Canadian Militia Department, and says“ A major from British Columbia showed me a crumpled, twisted mixture of earth and concrete, wrecked entanglements, parts of splintered facings of dug-outs, under which hundreds of Huns were lured, and turned his professional eye to the depths of the crater in the centre. ‘ It should have been much deeper,’ he said. ‘ I wanted them to put another 5,0001 b of ammonal down there, but they said it was enough.’ ‘ Thev ’ were the staff of explosive experts who plan destruction for the Germans. On the right was the scattered rubble of brick that had been Wytscliaete, from which the Huns could once see all over the British line at this section. Canadians knew it to their cost in the spring of iqi6. To the left, now for ever in British possession, were the Ypres-Commes Canal and the Bluff, where our sth. 7th, 28th, and other fine battalions fought bitterly. Further still were the almost unrecognisable chateau of Hooge, Hill 60, and Mount Sorrel, one of Canada’s few black spots ; and just ahead were the craters of St Eloi, which, when the Canadians, were there, used to change hands' times beyond count. “ All of it was ground of bitter memory for. the Dominion corps; almost every yard of it filled with bright spots for the unadvertised, hard-working officers of these three Canadian tunnelling companies, who were in among the first and stayed with it until the first glad news was flashed to their comrades, soon after glorious Vimy, that they had taken full measure of revenge for the gruelling days Canadians spent on the southern end of the Ypres salient or in front of Messines. The major was one of the ‘ ground hogs ’ who stayed behind and were lost to Canada and the enemy. Fie had worked on the same shetor for something like 18 months. “ From January, 1916, until June 7, 1917, they threw out long arteries far down into the earth that were to carr\ r the life-blood of final victory. Early one morning, when the usual time came Tor changing shifts, an officer and a score of men came from their silent work underground into the hubbub’of a firstclass enemy raid. The trench was full of excited Germans, who were trying to find and destroy this particular mine. The officer grabbed a box of bombs, told his men what to do, and, aided with picks and shovels, established a post that soon had Fritz thinking he was attacked from the fear. When the British garrison came back on the counterattack the officer in command, with eyes full of hysterical tears, .volubly thanked the men.

Nothing at all,’answered the Canadian. ‘ Did you think I "was going to let him destroy two months

of our hard work ?’

“ Fie had come from home, I believe, as a private in one of the drafts from M’Gill. Now he is captain, with a bar to his Military Cross. Another of these Canadian tunnelling companies started the offensive mining in the neighborhood of Hill 60. Two shallow shafts had already been sunk, but the ground was so bad it was difficult to drive a tunnel in the direction of the Germans’ main workings. Steel casings were obtained, and nine yards of main, tunnel constructed in this way. ‘We could often hear the Hun sappers working over us,’said the Canadian captain, who had charge of this working,‘and when they got too near we dug upwards and blew him up.’ This tunnelling was responsible for a famous fortress near Hill 60. now almost unrecognisable, then a nien.acing thing bristling with machine guns, which could have held any attack at bay.

“ The main offensive galleries were started for, a high mound to the south of the railway cutting. After many vicissitudes, including constant enemy opposition underground, the charge of yo.ooolb of ammonal was placed in a most advantageous position right under the mound, and in October, 1916, the charge was loaded and tamped. In plain English, this meant that the Hun garrison of a certain place near Hill 60, often mentioned in British communiques, had been sitting over a first-class volcano for nine months ancl the skilful energetic countermining of this Canadian company kept him in blissful ignorance until he went up in the air,’ literally, on the famous Messinespush. For the numerical strength these tunnelling companies have probably the greatest number of honors of any units in the Canadian overseas forces. One company I visited while at rest in their little green bungalows among the field, can count seven officers with the Military Cross and 27 men with other decorations won in this work alone. Their commanding officer had been mentioned three times in despatches. “Another company has four Military Crosses and 14 Military Medals, while the remaining camp counts one Croix de Guerre, six Military Crosses, five D.C.M.s, and 12 Military Medals. Some of their officers, keen men from Canada’s technical schools, have staff appointments at various army headquarters, and there is one who has gained a fineadvisory post at British General Headquarters itself. That is only part of the record, and some day when, the censorship is unnecessary, the whole tale of these splendid units . will be given to their friends in the Dominion.” ,