Beneath Flanders fields : the tunnellers' war, 1914-1918 / Peter Barton, Peter Doyle and Johan Vandewalle.

Collection type	Library
Author	Barton, Peter.; Doyle, Peter, 1960-; Vandewalle, Johan.;
Call Number	940.4114 B223
Document type	Monograph
Year	2005.
Pagination	304 p. : ill. (some col.), maps (some col.) ; 29 cm.
Publisher	Spellmount,
Note	Includes bibliographical references and index. "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 "In the words of the tunnellers themselves, and through previously unpublished photographs - many in colour - as well as contemporary plans and drawings, this book reveals how this most intense of battles was fought - and won.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 trench es. On 7 June 1917 at Messines Ridge, the tension was broken with the opening of the most dramatic mine offensive in history."--BOOK JACKET.
Place made	Staplehurst [England]

Abstract

I. Flanders fields : the Ypres Salient -- II. From seige war to world war -- III. Sappers and miners -- IV. Mine warfare, tunnellers and pioniere, 1915 -- V. Kriegsgeologie : going underground -- VI. The silent war -- VII. Enemies below -- VIII. The mine war deepens, 1915-1917 -- IX. 'Earthquaking' the ridge : Messines, June 1917 -- X. Mountains in the sky : Messines and after -- XI. 'A hole in the ground with a lid on' -- XII. Degrees of protection, 1917-1918 -- XIII. Back to the front : the legacy.