Beneath Flanders fields
Subtitle: the tunnellers' war, 1914-1918
By: Peter Barton, Peter Doyle and Johan Vandewalle.
Contributors: Doyle, Peter, 1960-; Vandewalle, Johan.
Publisher: Spellmount
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Staplehurst [England]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 304
Subjects: World War, 1914-1918 -- Engineering and construction; World War, 1914-1918 -- Tunnel warfare -- Belgium; World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Belgium; Tunneling -- Belgium -- History -- 20th century
Description: "The product of over twenty-five years of research, Beneath Flanders Fields illustrates the evolution of military mining, leading to its deployment in the greatest siege in military history - in the trenches of the Western Front." "In the words of the tunnellers themselves, and through previously unpublished photographs - many in colour - as well as contemporary plans and drawings, this book reveals how this most intense of battles was fought - and won. Few on the surface knew the horrific details of the tunnellers' work, yet this silent, claustrophobic conflict was a barbaric struggle that raged day and night for almost two and a half years, and one which generated mental and physical stresses often far beyond those suffered by the infantry in the trenches. On 7 June 1917 at Messines Ridge, the tension was broken with the opening of the most dramatic mine offensive in history."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.