UNDER THE EARTH.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1729, 23 June 1917, Page 4

UNDER THE EARTH.

“OUR HILL,” WORK OF THE MINERS. Mr Percival Phillips writes: “There are no happier men in this happy army of the north than the miners. They toiled underground for months, and prepared the chambers for the explosive charges. They courted death as freely as the infantry charging through the broken wire. They have dug and carved through the narrow, tortuous channels beneath No Man's Land, some only 3ft. by 2ft., using infinite pains and skill, working in semi-darkness breathing foul *ir, and facing a variety of hidden dangers, boring their way cautiously foot by foot, with their ears attuned to the slightest sound. The success of these tunneliers who came to France with years of experience in mining, has fully "compensated them for their weary effort and days ant] nights of semi-suffocation in the bowels of the earth. They regarded Hill 00 with ferocious delight during their months’ preparation, and got to know the hill as ‘Our Hill,’ using the phrase in a grim, business-like way, which would have been extremely disejuieting to the complacent Wurtembergers if the latter could have heard these dangerous, square-jawed Australians and New Zealanders quietly, prophesying its doom as they wielded pick ami shovel. The miners narrowly escaped discovery and death. The German Pioneers were unconscious of the Australasians’ proximity, so warily had the Australians and New Zealanders crept forward, but the Germans actually mined to within 43ft. of the Australasians’ main charge, but they were unaware of what the Australasians had done. On another occasion the enemy was so close to the dislodged portion of the roof of an Australasian mine that the earth was falling upon the stack of explosives. The Australasians heard guttural conversation only. A thin layer of earth separated the combatants, but the Australasians overcame many difficulties; At one time a hundred miners were together, and pumped out a 400 ft. stretch of gallery. On another occasion the Huns blew in the front line, and the miners ran out of their dug-outs bootless, and chased out the raiders. A. week ago the Germans blew in a new mine gallery, and two Australian listeners were buried alive. One was buried for 17 hours and- the other for 40, but they were dug out unhurt. Both throughout their internment recorded every sound beard in (he darkness. “I found no liner record of cool coprage and devotion to duty in (he annals of this war than these two men’s.” Mr Phillips paints here a picture of the scene preceding the explosion —misty moonlight, thousands of figures lying crouching on the ground, who were brought up from the shelters in order to bear the tremendous shock. “Two minutes before the appointed moment (he men poured up silently from the depths. Passing a group of officers in a dug-out surrounding the fatal brass lever, one afterwards said; “ ‘The final 30 seconds, as (hey watched the second-hand crawl round the clock dial was the tensest strain.’ “When a young officer jammed down the lever the ground billowed, and the poise of the explosion was prolonged by the mighty cheers of the men, who could not help it. They had been ordered to observe the strictest. silence. Even battle police on duty and the miners, who realised at last that their long work had ended in' a glorious success, could not restrain their jubilation. Anyhow, the Huns were past hearing the cheers.”