War Diaries Talk

mined dugouts

  • erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be by erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be

    Why did the gunners mine their own dugouts? Training?

    Posted

  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    I have no idea. I don't think they would be doing training that close to the line.

    It certainly doesn't sound safe!

    Posted

  • marie.eklidvirginmedia.com by marie.eklidvirginmedia.com

    I don’t think the Gunners were mining the tunnels, I should think the Tunnelling Companies of the RE did this.
    I read it as: ( bottom of diary page) - work in hand – “Technical work on 2 mined dugouts being made by Gunners for their use”.

    Maybe the technical work was perhaps communication lines etc for the use of Gunners and maybe the Gunners were using the mined dugouts for their accommodation.

    *See Gunners in their dugouts in ww1. Link: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/383931936968701635/ 1st Image.

    When in spring 1917 the war became more mobile with the grand sequence of offensives of the Battles of Arras, Messines and Passchendaele, there was no longer a place for a tactic that depended upon total stasis for its employment. Offensive and defensive military mining largely ceased. Underground work continued unabated, however, with the Tunnellers concentrating on *mined ‘deep dugouts’ for troop accommodation.

    Also See Article Tunnelling Companies RE ww1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnelling_comanies_of_the_Royal_Engineers

    Posted

  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    Oh, now I understand. The holes for the dugouts were made by mines. They were not a place where mines were set or stored.

    Erik and I both read that as the dugouts had mines in them.

    Thank you, Marie. How did you find that information? I seem to be using the wrong terms in Google lately.

    Posted

  • marie.eklidvirginmedia.com by marie.eklidvirginmedia.com

    Cynthia, I did a Google search entering Tunnelling Companies RE ww1 which brought this link up as above as in my comment.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnelling_companies_of_the_Royal_Engineers

    Then I did another Google search entering Gunners in their dugouts ww1 which brought up this Link: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/383931936968701635/ as above in my comment.

    See 2nd Entry i.e. WWI, 22 Oct 1916, Guillemont, Somme; British gunners outside their dugout.

    PS If I do a search on Google in connection with the diaries I always enter, if applicable, WW1 after it. The diary in question being 1 DIVISION: 409 Field Company Royal Engineers

    Posted

  • cyngast by cyngast moderator in response to marie.eklidvirginmedia.com's comment.

    Thank you. It didn't occur to me to search for tunneling companies. I always use ww1, and often I have to add British to a search term or else I end up with the US Army. Google must think I'm very patriotic!

    Posted