German Tunneller's straw shoe, St Elie: Lieutenant James Barry Shaw, 3rd Tunnelling Company, AIF

Slipper constructed from woven, plaited braids of straw. It has an enclosed toe and raised heel back.

Straw shoes were used by German tunnellers on the Western Front in underground listening posts to minimise noise so that their enemy counterparts in nearby tunnels would not hear their movements.

This example was found at St. Elie on 13 June 1918 by Lieutenant James Shaw, from No. 4 Section, 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company. His men were working with a battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment in the Hulluch-St Elie area, north of Lens. He, with an Australian and a British officer and a British sergeant, was making a reconnaissance on the nearby German listening system. They spent three hours in the system, inspecting the position, cutting wires, disconnecting gas bells and disconnecting some leads believed to be attached to a mine as they went along.

They did not meet up with any German troops and the listening posts showed no signs of recent occupation. After grabbing some souvenirs, including this shoe, they quickly left the system, although later that night Shaw returned with a British lieutenant to get some bearings and measurements as he did not have a compass with him the first time.

The West Yorkshires had discovered they could enter the German positions in certain areas and during a day patrol discovered a German shaft leading from the German front line to the British lines. They asked the 3rd Tunnelling Company to prepare a mobile charge to blow up the shaft and the tunnellers prepared a charge of Ammonal. Shaw's inspection was in anticipation of this demolition to try and get an idea of what damage it might do to the German listening system. The demolition successfully destroyed the shaft.