Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-03-05
MILITARY SAPPINC
of the Trench Work of the
Modern Battlefield.
DUG BY PEASANTS.

= Miners and Their Successors.
In stories and reports of modern
battles the work of the sappers is Of
ten mentioned. ITO sap" or .'sapping"
was an early way Of approaching a
strongly fortified position by means OF
a ditch. 1t was also a very early form
Of trench work. The fortified posi-
lions against which saps were employ.
Ted we're the stone walls Of castles or of
II When the making of nno had not
progressed so far that solid shot could
breach stone walls. but when mo
were powerful enough 10 keep armed
'enen at bay or to destroy them, it be-
rcame% necessary to make an approach
ITO the walled position in a way which
was difficult to attack successfully and
for which at that time no way of
's~checkmating had beer thought of by
1.-THE defenders. A narrow ditch was
dug in the direction of the wall to be
assailed. This ditch. which was wide
enough for one man to dig in. was
called a sap, the digger a sapper, and
the end of the ditch toward the enemy
was the saphead. AS the leading sap
per dug forward he protected himself
and the %saphead in various ways, usu-
ally by pushing a screen ahead of him.
This screen was of various forms, a
bag of sand or a sheet of metal in
clined to defect arrows or gun shots.
When the saphead had reached the
desired point the ditch would be wild
ened. the ~excavated earth forming a
would be brought so close to the wall
that they could not be reached by guns
mounted ON the wall. for in the times
IN which these conditions prevailed
walls were high and cannon crude and
they could not be sufficiently depressed
to reach an enemy at the foot of the
wall.
Sapping was usually done by peas
ants impressed or hired for that serv-
ice. because soldiers In the armies of
the middle ages were more skillful
with weapons han with tools and the
work of digging trenches was beneath
their dignity. while it also savored of
a dissemination to close with the enc
my. ven though that enemy was be-
hind stone walls with cannon-cannon
at which men armed with modern
weapons would smile. but which In
their day were weapons of great effect.
Vauban. the great military engineer,
refined sappIng and brought 1t into a
system by which any fortified place
could be approached, reached. mined
and preached.
These saps after awhile were dug in
a number of ways. Many forms ofthe
approach trench were devised. I'm
covered trenches were cut forward, de-
Gected at right angles and then cut
for ward TO be again detected further
along. each of these reflections from
the straight course of the trench form
ing a for the protection of
the trench. Some trenches were roof
ed in with timber and earth as they
were cut forward, thus forming a
bombproof covered way. Some saps
were cut or dug in the fashion of a
tunnel. the surface of the earth not
being disturbed at all. Double saps or
numerous parallel saps were dug close
up to the position to be attacked.
Mining OF castle and city walls or
city gates is as old as the use of gum
powder in war, and undermining of
walls was practiced in wal before the
use of gunpowder. When sapping had
become systematized and generally en-
ployed in offensive operations against
fortified positions the military work of
sapping and mining was combined and
instead of being done by peasants or
.'civilian" labor was committed TO spe-
cial troops. These troops became
adept in this important work. and be-
cause of the extra labor involved and
the hazard of this duty these. called
sappers and miners. were given high
er pay than other troops.
AS the years and the centuries went
by other duties were put upon these
troops-erection of field Notifications,
erection of many forms of obstacles to
impede an aggressive enemy and hold
him under fire Mt d known range, de-
struction of bridges, construction of
bridges. demolition of buildings and
many other things. Gradually the sap
pers and miners duties became greatly
enlarged and refined. and in many
armies they came to be called engi-
neers.
In all armies every soldier today does
work that formerly fell to the laboring
and hard working sappers. Every sol
der today knows how to handle a pick
and spade as well as to shoot a rifle.
pistol. magazine gun or cannon All
soldiers now dig trenches. gun pits and
the like. but construction work, requir-
ing higher technical training, is done
by the engineers. successors to the sap
pers of old. In many kinds of construc-
tion the engineers may be aided by
troops of other branches and by civil
ians, hired or impressed. Washington