| Accession Number | E03656 |
|---|---|
| Collection type | Photograph |
| Object type | Black & white - Glass original half plate negative |
| Maker |
Unknown Australian Official Photographer |
| Place made | France: Picardie, Aisne |
| Date made | 26 October 1918 |
| Conflict |
First World War, 1914-1918 |
| Copyright |
Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain
|
The Riqueval entrance to the St Quentin Canal Tunnel which extended for three and a half miles ...
Description
The Riqueval entrance to the St Quentin Canal Tunnel which extended for three and a half miles from Bellicourt to Vendhuille, photographed a month after its capture by Australian and American troops in the attack on 29 September 1918. Twenty yards inside the entrance a thick concrete wall, loopholed for machine guns, had been built across the waterway. With the spoil bank above it honeycombed with dugouts, and the canal bank lined with machine guns, the place was practically a fortress. There was said to be room for two divisions in the tunnel into which the Germans had made several stairways from his trench line to the east of the tunnel.