World War 1 - Australian Mining Corps

‘Collie Boys’ of the 3rd Tunnelling Company

Back row L to R:  1252, Robert Watson (NSW).1186, Cpl, Evan Thompson Snr. 917, Spr, Robinson Barnes. 1166, Spr, Samson Simpson. 913, Cpl, Thomas Atherton.

Front row L to R: 488, Sgt, David Bedlington, Lieutenant Oscar Roy Howie MC, and an unknown soldier.

The Australian Mining Corps (David Lees, Engineers Aust)

The Australian Mining Corps was formed during WWI as a suggestion of Prof T.W. Edgeworth from the University of Sydney, who at the time urged that the exceptional skills of the Australian mining industry should be utilised at the front. It was not surprising that men were enlisted from the coalfields of Collie into the Mining Corps.

The Corps was formed in Australia in 1915 under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Albert Cecil Fewtrell. Fewtrell had started his career as a cadet mechanical engineer with the Queensland Government Railway Department in Brisbane, and began his military training at Ipswich, before relocating to Sydney where he became a commissioned officer in the 5th Field Company, Australian Engineers. Under his command 1000 miners were assembled.

The initial intention was deployment to Gallipoli, where miners had already been used to construct tunnels at the battlefront, but instead the battalion split into three Tunnelling Companies along with the Australian Electrical Mechanical Boring Company and dispatched to France in May 1915.

The 1st Australian Tunnelling Company went to Ypres and went on to relieve the Canadians at Hill 60. The 2nd Australian Tunnelling Company went to Neuville St Vaast and then moved to Nieuport to construct subways for Operation Hush. The 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company went to the Fauquissart area and took over chalk workings at Hill 70.

Typically the tunnels were dug by hand in clay using a technique called ‘clay kicking’. The tunnellers lay on a plank at 45 degrees, angled away from the working face, and inserted the digging tool, which had a cuplike rounded end, between their legs with their feet. Turning the tool manually, a section of soil was silently removed, which was then shovelled into sandbags and passed out of the tunnel through a chain of men.

Any sound could alert the enemy and consequently they would retaliate by raiding and capturing the mine or quietly countermine close by, exploding a charge that would collapse the tunnel killing all those trapped inside. The work was tiring and tense because the tunnellers rarely knew whether the other side were aware of their presence until it was too late.

Any available excavating machinery proved difficult to transport and assemble under bombardment, and was unable to operate effectively in the gluey clay conditions and would have been much too noisy.

Massive networks of tunnels were constructed by both sides and these provided some protection for sleeping, eating and medical care away from the carnage being reaped above. Deep mines were also sunk underneath the enemy’s lines and the shafts were filled with tonnes of explosives to be detonated, usually prior to a major attack.

The largest of these occurred along Messines Ridge on 7 June 1917. The ridge was a natural stronghold southeast of Ypres which had been held by a small German force since 1914. 

Planning to capture the ridge commenced in early 1916. The plans included the laying of mines in 22 mine shafts underneath the German lines along the ridge. These mines were to be detonated at zero hour (03:10 on 7 June), and followed by infantry attack to secure the objective.

Work on the shafts or galleries began some 18 months before zero hour. In the face of active German countermining, 8000m of tunnels were constructed underneath the German lines.  Occasionally the tunnellers would encounter German counterparts engaged in the same task and underground hand-to-hand fighting would ensue.

Hill 60

When the mines were detonated at 3:10 a.m. on 7 June 1917, 990,000 pounds (450,000 kg) of explosives went off under the German positions, demolishing a large part of Hill 60 and killing 10,000 German soldiers between Ypres and Ploegsteert. The explosion signalled the start of the Battle of Messines and was said to heard as far away as London.

The day before the explosion British General Charles Harrington is quoted as saying; ‘Gentleman, we may not make history tomorrow, but we shall certainly change the geography’

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Hill 60 was a spoil heap 230m long and 46m high, made from the cutting of the Ypres–Comines railway, and it formed a low rise on the crest of Messines Ridge on the southern flank. Deep mining under the German galleries beneath Hill 60 began in late August 1915. The British 175th Tunnelling Company Royal Engineers began digging galleries which commenced 200m behind the British front line and passed 27m beneath it. The 3rd Canadian Tunnelling Company took over in April 1916 and completed the galleries.

The 1st Australian Tunnelling Company led by Captain Oliver Woodward relieved the Canadians in November 1916, and maintained the mines throughout the winter and spring. At 03:10 on 7 June 1917, 19 mines filled with 450,000kg of explosives, were detonated underneath the German lines. Although two mines did not explode, the blasts created one of the largest pre-nuclear explosions in history. It was reportedly heard in London over 160km away and demolished a large part of the hill while killing more than 10,000 German soldiers.

A ‘Collie Boy’, Oscar Roy HOWIE, from Steere St, Collie, enlisted into the Mining Corps in 1915. Howie, a mining engineer, was employed as a colliery undermanager in the Collie coalfields. His engineering expertise saw him enlisted as a direct entry officer with the rank of Lieutenant. Lt Howie was awarded a Military Cross, MC, for actions in France, on the nights of 8th and 19th of July 1916.