Tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers | Wikipedia audio article
Channel: wikipedia tts
Date: 2019-10-02

This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnelling_companies_of_the_Royal_Engineers


00:01:33 1 Background
00:03:07 2 First World War formation
00:04:05 2.1 Request and proposal
00:05:52 2.2 Kitchener responds
00:09:42 2.3 First tunnelling companies
00:11:36 2.4 First action: Hill 60, Ypres Salient
00:13:39 2.5 Expansion
00:15:17 2.6 Methodology
00:16:09 2.7 Recruitment
00:17:35 2.8 Digging
00:19:18 2.9 Working conditions
00:21:00 2.10 Mine rescue
00:23:20 2.11 Underground fighting
00:24:17 3 Counter-mining
00:24:25 3.1 Listening
00:26:32 3.2 Underground tactics
00:27:46 4 British advantages
00:30:30 5 Operations
00:32:16 5.1 Hooge and Mont Sorrel
00:34:07 5.2 Battle of the Somme
00:36:43 5.3 Battle of Messines
00:41:30 5.4 Battle of Vimy Ridge
00:44:22 6 End of mining operations
00:46:20 6.1 Battle of Arras
00:49:33 6.2 Second Battle of Passchendaele
00:50:55 7 Remains and memorials
00:54:27 8 Awards
00:54:35 8.1 Victoria Cross
00:56:15 8.2 Distinguished Conduct Medal
00:56:45 9 Units
00:59:49 10 See also



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SUMMARY
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Royal Engineer tunnelling companies were specialist units of the Corps of Royal Engineers within the British Army, formed to dig attacking tunnels under enemy lines during the First World War.
The stalemate situation in the early part of the war led to the deployment of tunnel warfare. After the first German Empire attacks on 21 December 1914, through shallow tunnels underneath no man's land and exploding ten mines under the trenches of the Indian Sirhind Brigade, the British began forming suitable units. In February 1915, eight Tunnelling Companies were created and operational in Flanders from March 1915. By mid-1916, the British Army had around 25,000 trained tunnellers, mostly volunteers taken from coal mining communities. Almost twice that number of "attached infantry" worked permanently alongside the trained miners acting as 'beasts of burden'.From the spring of 1917 the whole war became more mobile, with grand offensives at Arras, Messines and Passchendaele. There was no longer a place for a tactic that depended upon total stasis for its employment. The tactics and counter-tactics required deeper and deeper tunnelling, hence more time and more stable front lines were also required, so offensive and defensive military mining largely ceased. Underground work continued, with the tunnellers concentrating on deep dugouts for troop accommodation, a tactic used particularly in the Battle of Arras.