183rd Tunnelling Company

Map of chalk areas in northern France

Geological cross-section of the Somme battlefield

After its formation, the unit proceeded to Fontaine-lès-Cappy, south of the Somme. Moved to Carnoy-Maricourt to prepare mines and saps for Sir Henry Rawlinson's Fourth Army and its attack on the Somme on 1 July 1916.[2] In the Somme sector of the Western Front, local but very fierce underground fighting had taken place in the winter of 1914 and spring of 1915 at La Boisselle, Fricourt, Bois Français and Carnoy. Fowke moved the 174th and 183rd Tunnelling Companies there to relieve the French engineers, but the British did not have enough miners to take over the large number of French shafts and the French agreed to leave their engineers at work for several weeks. To provide the tunnellers needed, the British formed the 178th and 179th Tunnelling Companies in August 1915, followed by the 185th and 252nd Tunnelling Companies in October.[9] The 181st Tunnelling Company was also present on the Somme.[5]

As Allied preparations were under way for the Battle of the Somme (1 July – 18 November 1916), the tunnelling companies were to make two major contributions by placing 19 large and small mines beneath the German positions along the front line and by preparing a series of shallow Russian saps from the British front line into no man's land, which would be opened at zero hour and allow the infantry to attack the German positions from a comparatively short distance.[10] Under the command of Captain Horace Hickling, 183rd Tunnelling Company placed four mines (the Mametz East group) in the front sector allocated to XV Corps near Mametz[11] and three mines (the Carnoy group) in the front sector allocated to XIII Corps near Carnoy.[12]

The Mametz East group consisted of four mines: Bulgar Point, a heavily wired[13] German strong work[14] facing the 1st Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment's attack south-east of Mametz, was mined with 910 kilograms (2,000 lb) of explosives;[15] a sap further west was loaded with a 91-kilogram (200 lb) charge[15] in support of the Gordon Highlanders' attack;[16] and two more 230-kilogram (500 lb) mines were laid beneath Austrian Trench, on the extreme right of the 7th Division's sphere of action, on the boundary with the front sector allocated to XIII Corps.[16]

Livens Large Gallery Flame Projector

In addition to placing the four mines near Mametz, 183rd Tunnelling Company from February 1916 onwards prepared dozens of Russian saps in the front sector allocated to XV Corps, which ran from the British front line to the very edge of the German positions. Small charges could be blown from the end of these tunnels and they could then be used to reinforce the captured positions.[11] Four saps were further equipped with Livens Large Gallery Flame Projectors, ready to cover the German front line with liquid fire. In order to protect them from enemy fire, the flame throwers were hauled into the saps just hours before the battle. Two tunnels which housed such weapons – located at Kiel Trench south-west of Mametz, and between Carnoy and Kasino Point – were damaged by German shellfire before the attack. The two remaining were put to use from saps immediately left of the mine crater field at Carnoy.[17] In view of the work required, 183rd Tunnelling Company took a calculated risk by stopping its defensive mining activities between Carnoy and Fricourt, which had so far guaranteed the underground safety of the British trenches in that area.[18] By 1 July, the British tunnel network excavated in this sector extended 91 metres (300 ft) under no man's land.

Miners laying charges for one of the mines on the Somme, 1–13 July 1916.

The Carnoy group consisted of three mines. Two were to be fired north of Carnoy on 1 July 1916 at 07.27 hours,[13] a 2,300-kilogram (5,000 lb) charge under a German salient at Kasino Point and a 230-kilogram (500 lb) charge on the extreme left flank, intended to collapse German dug outs and destroy machine-gun nests.[19] The third mine also held a 230-kilogram (500 lb) charge. Underground fighting at Carnoy had taken place in the winter of 1914 and spring of 1915,[9] and mine warfare directly in front of Carnoy, near the Carnoy–Montauban road, was conducted by both sides from May 1916.[20] As in the Mametz East sector, 183rd Tunnelling Company had to stop its defensive mining activities so the work in the Carnoy sector could be finished in time. All deep mining was halted, except at Kasino Point where an inclined gallery was built. As the chalk grew harder, the method of softening involved drilling holes with a carpenter's auger, into which the miners poured vinegar. When it was fired, the mine produced a crater with lips 30 metres (97 ft) in diameter and 9.1 metres (30 ft) deep. The miners reported after the attack on the First day on the Somme that the Kasino Point mine had buried three German dugouts and four sniper's posts, and probably a machine-gun emplacement as well.[18] During tunnelling at Kasino Point, the British broke into a German dugout but were able to cover it up before the breach was noticed.[20] Edmonds wrote in 1932 that this incident occurred during the digging of Russian saps rather than the Kasino Point mine.[21] Middlebrook wrote in 1971 that the Kasino Point Salient was between Mametz, Carnoy and Montauban and the mine planted there was one of seven large mines that were due to be detonated on 1 July.[22]

As part of the preparations for the Battle of Messines in June 1917, the 183rd Tunnelling Company began work on deep dugouts in the Ypres Salient. The Battle of Messines was a prelude to the much larger Third Battle of Ypres (31 July–10 November 1917). The underground building activities of the Royal Engineer units consisted of a series of deep mines dug by the British 171st, 175th, 250th, 1st Canadian, 3rd Canadian and 1st Australian Tunnelling companies to be fired at the start of the Battle of Messines (7–14 June 1917), while the British 183rd, 2nd Canadian and 2nd Australian Tunnelling companies built underground shelters in the Second Army area.[23] The mines at Messines were detonated on 7 June 1917, creating 19 large craters.

In April 1918, the 183rd and several other tunnelling companies (171st, 173rd, 184th, 255th, 258th and 3rd Australian) were forced to move from their camps at Boeschepe, when the enemy broke through the Lys positions during the Spring Offensive. These units were then put on duties that included digging and wiring trenches over a long distance from Reningelst to near Saint-Omer.[2] The operation to construct these fortifications between Reningelst and Saint-Omer was carried out jointly by the British 171st, 173rd, 183rd, 184th, 255th, 258th, 3rd Canadian and 3rd Australian Tunnelling Companies.