Messines - Tunnellers and Mines
25 May 2007 by
Craig Tibbitts .
6 Comments
To Flanders Fields, 1917 , Messines - Mines
Tunnellers – Hill 60
The Battle of Messines was fought along a wide frontage. Australian infantry fought on the southern end of this line near Messines village, while to the north at Hill 60 near Ypres Australian tunnellers played a vital role in the detonation of part of a series of huge mines beneath the enemy’s trenches. The 1st Australian Tunnelling Company had worked there since November 1916, extending shafts for the mines while sometimes encountering German underground works. Finally, along the whole British front, 19 mines were exploded with a devastating effect and an impact that some said they felt in London. Many of the enemy were killed, and the survivors demoralised, even before the infantry attacked.
Read more on the mines at Hill 60, Messines (PDF - 10 pages)
Read more: ‘Phantom soldiers: Australian tunnellers on the Western Front, 1916-1918′ by Roy MacLeod
Miners of the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company excavating dug-outs in the Ypres sector. E02094
Australian Official War Artist Will Dyson visited Hill 60 where the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company had already operated for months counter-mining German tunnellers, prior to the opening of the Battle of Messines. Below are some of his impressions of that visit in drawings and lithographs.
'Battery Commander's dug-out, Hill 60' by Will Dyson ART02299.002
'The dynamo, Hill 60' by Will Dyson ART02209.013
'Dead beat, the tunnel, Hill 60' by Will Dyson ART02210
'Home comforts in the tunnels, Hill 60' by Will Dyson ART02280.005
Officers from the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company who fired the mine under Hill 60 P02333.002
John MacDiarmid Royle in 1934. In the photo above he is seen as a young lieutenant in the back row at left. In this photo he holds one of the electrical switches he used to detonate the mine under Hill 60, seventeen years before. P02333.003
Hill 60 crater E00580
The result was particularly deadly, for the mine was stated by the Germans to have taken up with it a whole company of Wurtumbergers…
Hill 60 crater E01911
The ground round about was strewn with pieces of iron, timber, concrete and wire … rifles, equipment and ammunition were scattered about. The unburied bodies, rags and human bones, told tales of a series of battles… (Frank Hurley, Official Photographer)
A German pillbox which was overturned by the explosion of a mine, opposite the front, on the early morning of 7 June, just prior to the attack which opened the Battle of Messines. The soldier on the right, carrying what appears to be the Kodak Pocket Camera case over his left shoulder, is 2585 Corporal Ernest Lionel Bailey, 51st Battalion and Australian Corps Salvage AIF, who was accidentally killed in France on 17 May 1918 while gathering exhibits for the Australian War Records Section. E01320
Wytschaete crater. A soldier standing next to a water filled mine crater near Wytschaete, which was blown up by Australian Engineers at the commencement of the Battle of Messines . A02326
September 4th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
To whom it may concern - I have maintained an active interest in the Messines Mines since 2000, as a retired coal geologist who attended Syd Uni, I have been fortunate to be aware of the substantial contribution of Prof. Edgeworth David in the ‘tunnelling geology effort in the Western Front’, and of course more recently my old mentor, Prof. David Branagan has finally published David’s biography, a substanial effort given the scope of the man’s extraordinary life.
In 2002 I lived in Belgium and got muddy doing my ‘mines field research’, spent time at IWM, collecting maps, etc, having earlier liaised with both Prof Branagan and Roy MacLeod. I would appreciate any effort to include in your AWM presentation any details of Prof David’s geological war work, as I strongly believe he ensured the success of the Messines Mine Explosion, (the first chess move breaking the 2 yr stalemate!), supply of useful water and other practical sapper resources.
Regards
Editor’s comment: Thanks for your comment Christopher, that sounds very interesting. Unfortunately I don’t have time to do any additional research at present. I’m already well and truly snowed under with several research and writing projects. However, feel free to put together your own piece if you like and post it to the blog as another comment.
Cheers,
Craig Tibbitts
September 8th, 2007 at 5:26 am
I enjoyed reading the article ‘Phantom Soldiers’ by Roy MacLeod. My grandfather William Perry was a sapper in the 2nd Australian Tunnelling Company from Sept 1916 to 1919 and I have been doing some research on the company. On page 36 of the article there is a reference to the 2nd ATC, viz: “The 2nd ATC lost 89 dead, including twenty at a single blow at Hill 70 in November 1916.” As the 2nd ATC unit diary held in the AWM does not go back as far as Nov 1916 I would be interested to know about this engagement of theirs at Hill 70. The footnote to the reference refers to a notebook of Sanderson of the 3rd ATC. Can you enlighten me? Thanks.
Editor’s comment: Thanks for your comment Liz, I’m glad you enjoyed the article. While the 2nd ATC war diary does in fact go back to February 1916, for reasons unknown, this year’s diaries are quite incomplete (we only hold them for Feb, Mar, Apr & July). The notebook referred to in the article is that of Major Alexander Sanderson of the 3rd ATC. It’s a personal notebook in which he records those members of 3rd ATC who died during the war, but it makes no mention of anyone from 2nd ATC. I suppose the end note referred to the whole paragraph where MacLeod was talking about casualties for both companies. I can only guess the figure of 20 killed at Hill 70 was from one of the other sources mentioned in that end note. Have you checked Appendix 3 of Bean’s Vol IV ?
Cheers,
Craig.
September 21st, 2007 at 9:44 am
i find this site very interesting and educative.
please send me more information.
Editor’s comment: Thanks Marnie, I’m glad you’ve found the site interesting. All the information we have about the exhibition is already on the blog, so I don’t have anything else I could send you at present. If you want more detailed information I suggest you look at the Official History, Volume IV, which covers the AIF campaign on the Western Front during all of 1917. You can find it at any decent library, and it’s also available to read on the War Memorial’s website here. For a more concise account, there’s also Anzac to Amiens, chapters 19-21. This is also available online here.
Regards,
Craig Tibbitts
September 9th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Dear Editor.
I was interested in mention of Major John Sanderson: he was my grandfather and I have suitcases full of old photos ,maps, diaries, cartoons,medals (see his decorations on the left of my website http://www.medalholder.com -MC with bar and DSO-my father Colonel John Sanderson’s medals-Burma 50 Para veteran- are on the right!)You can look up the action on Hill 70 on website googled ‘ hellfire corner’ article.Alex was the commander of the troopship home and his brother Lauchlan received the Croix de Guerre ,MC and led the procession of Australians on a white horse at the victory parade in London.I am currently working on a book about my family’s military history.Alex’s grandfather was a friend of George Stephenson and was a railway pioneer in India.
Incidentally my grandfather lived to 90 years and later was the chief engineer on Churchill’s whitehall bunker.When I have time I can see if I have reference
to Liz Turner’s grandfather ie ATC 2.Perhaps I could contact her directly?Could you ask if I could have her contact details.Thanks Robin Sanderson
September 9th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Can I get a copy of the notebook for Major Alexander Sanderson MC DSO CO of the 3rd Australian tunnelling? Please advise His grandson aged 57!!!!!
October 18th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Hi there, I am after some information on the 1st Aust Tunnelling Coy, as my great grandfather Andrew Francis Beecham was there and I would like some infoemation on him. Thank you. Regards Janyne Beecham.