The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1918-08-29
WAR UNDER THE EARTH.
Strange Underground Battles De-
scribed by American Officers.

There is a very marked difference
between mining in clay and chalk.
Later on in the Vimy ridge area we
had considerable mining in chalk. In
| clay it was possible for the Germans
and ourselves to tunnel to within a
| few feet of each other before We could
hear any sound of mining; and elab-
crate precautions were taken to in
7 sure silence. In chalk it is possible
to hear from much longer distances,
especially where the chalk contained
any amount of flint.
To insure silent working in the
clay we would use grating tools in
stead of shovels. No nails were used
in the timbering, all sets being Wag-
ed with sand bags. Blankets were
hung in the end galleries to deaden
the noise. AS we approached nearer
to the enemy, the men working in ad-
vanced tunnels would have to use
canvas shoes or work in their socks.
AS the lives of everyone in the gal
leries depended on silence the work
was conducted within striking dis
tance of the enemy we would build a
charge chamber and load it with gun
cotton, connecting up with detona-
tors and a double set of leads to the
charge, and at the right moment fire
these charges from the trench above
by means of blasting machines. From
this clay soil and at depth of from
20 to Is feet, we would blow craters
sixty to seventy feet wide with a
small charge of 600 or 700 pounds of
guncotton.
AS a matter of fact when we met
the Hun below ground mo Mans
Land we would endeavor to fire
"camufets, that is, charge calcu-
lated to destroy enemy galleries but
not to break the surface of the
ground. We would usually carry on
our work until we heard the Ger
mans talking. When you can hear
the enemy talking in clay you can
bet they are pretty close. On some
occasions we have in this way fired
our mines when within three or four
feet of enemy mines.
Deep Under Earth.
Some of our mines were $50 feet
deep, and after the battle of the
Somme we found the Germans at
Fricourt had a mine system 200 feet
deep. For these chalk mines we used
different and much stronger high
explosive than guncotton.
With the British, we used individ-
ual mine charges as large as 100,-
900 pounds. These would blow cone
shaped craters several hundred feet
in diameter and we'll over 100 feet
deep.
Some idea of the terrific force of
these mines can be obtained when you
compare the bursting charge of the
Mills bomb, which contains four
ounces of ammonal with the single
mine charges of 100000 pounds or
100000 times that amount. You can
| not see a hand bomb like the Mills
burst without having some respect
for it's destructive qualities-partic-
ularly if you are close up.
Nearly all of our work on these
Flanders mines was done by hand.
At times>our galleries and tunnels
would be half full of water and it re-
quired constant pumping, day and
| night, to carry on with the opera
| tions.
All the dirt was handled in sand
bags and brought out from the main
galleries on rubber tired mine cars
and hoisted to the surface by wind
lasses.
breaking Through"
In March, 1916, we had fired a
camuflet when within a few feet of
an enemy party underground.
After the poisonous gas had been
pumped out, we started work again
On the surface. The next day we
broke through into their old gallery
and found we had wrecked it. After
leaving this tunnel alone for a few
days, work was resumed at right
angles to the German gallery and car
ried on for distance of so feet when
we turned off to the left.
Some two hours after I had been
relieved by Lieutenant G. and had re-
turned to the rest billet at Sally, I
received an S. O. S. call from the
trenches, "broken into enemy gal
lery." promptly rode up on my mo-
torcycle and reported to the mine
shaft.