The Lead Up

EASTER WEEKEND RAID 6-9 April, 1917

THE LEAD UP

February, 1917 Hill 60 vicinity.

Both the Australians and the Germans were active, each making great efforts to create deep workings, maintain their shallow operations and assist their Infantries’ tactics by using camouflets to support their raids. A series of retaliations from both sides took place. One on February 21st in which two shallow Australian mines were blown for the British 47th Division’s raid; then three days later the Germans fired near the same point, thought to be a bore-hole from the crater formed on February 21st and luckily with little consequence to the Australians.

March, 1917 Hill 60 vicinity.

By March the Australian’s deep mining structures were swiftly developing and great urgency to drive these defensive galleries was anticipated because of reports from the listening posts of German activities at work. The enemy fired a very weak camouflet on March 8th.

On 20th March a dummy raid was organised for Hill 60 to be a focus for the enemy as the raiding party was using this attack as a distraction in conjunction with the specially set up mine to be blown as part of their strategy. The next day, 21st, however at the nearby canal cutting the enemy retaliated with a firing that damaged both front lines and killed one of the infantry but fortunately did not damage any of the Australian system. Again on the 24th the enemy fired another mine probably after hearing further activity from the Australian’s low workings.

Military intelligence had sourced information of an undertaking by the Germans to sabotage the Mining System and this intelligence was taken seriously by the Superiors in Command who issued orders to totally close all important entrances that lead to the Trench System. The work was carried out but was interpreted as inconvenient and not all that necessary at the time.

The 47th Division was preparing for another raid and the Australians were shallow tunnelling the foundations for a charged mine to assist them. The listening post closest to the enemy kept sending reports of their activities and the Infantry tried to hamper their operations by using trench-mortars but the enemy’s underground goings-on quickly resumed again when these stopped. The Germans perhaps overheard the Australian’s excavations and on the 27th blew their mine, further to the left than previously before. The Australian listening post was crushed entombing Sapper J.T. Landrigan but he was rescued after an hour’s frantic excavation, unfortunately two men were killed, being Sapper T. Hutchison and an attached member of the 19th London Regiment, Private C.R. Couves. Although devoid of a lot of debris damage from this event it had now left the shallow galleries wobbly and would only be suitable for listening which had to continue. Around March 31st the Germans could distinctly be heard charging the bore-hole and fearing a blow could be imminent Corporal Snedden and his listeners withdrew just in case. Major Henry’s idea was to coerce the enemy to fire the bore-hole needlessly by imitating work being performed there, yet remaining empty. A simulation like this would likely take time and nothing transpired immediately. On the 5th April Lieutenant Hinder heard at his listening post the Germans in close proximity to his shaft, winching through metal-lining.

EASTER WEEKEND 1917

Early on April 7th Corporal James Snedden decided to return alone to the gallery and he had almost reached his post when at the same time the foe decided to fire their mine shattering the already wobbly gallery which killed him. A Rescue Team would excavate the gallery to reach the Corporal’s body. A few hours later the Australians blew two camouflets from their shallow galleries. In an almost parallel situation in the area known as the Hooks & Eyes System Corporal William O’Dea also was killed on April 5th.

The British raid carried out on April 7th from the Ravine was duplicated to match the tactics used on 20th March; again Hill 60 was to be dummy-raided to catch the enemy’s interest while the raiding party followed their plan. Only one mine was exploded and Listening Post No 15 as well. The mine was fired at 7.55 p.m. by Capt O.H. Woodward, the Artillery conducted their routine and the Raiding Party was fortunate the enemy again rushed to secure the area and fell for the trap enabling the capture of 26 prisoners. 1 After this success the Tunnelling personnel returned to Camp on Easter Sunday afternoon to rest. The next afternoon Easter Monday they watched and played Rugby Football against the Northumberland Fusiliers in a tough game winning 3-nil which left them weary, they retired early in the evening but at 10 p.m. news that Hill 60 had been intensely raided and great damage had occurred was conveyed to them. Assembled they dashed for Hill 60 arriving at 1.30 a.m. Easter Tuesday and upon reaching the Larchwood area saw the whole of their trench system before Larchwood had been totally destroyed by the well planned raid. Looking for answers Capt Woodward immediately contacted the Infantry who surprisingly were in a state of disarray meanwhile those in command of other Tunnelling sections rallied their men in planning to reclaim their previous Front Line.

The alert enemy had taken the opportunity of the Divisional change-over the previous night between the 47th Divisions being relieved by the 23rd Division but the relieving Artillery had neglected to perform their “ranging shoots”. The Artillery defence was somewhat lacking giving the Germans a relatively trouble- free mission than necessary when those working on the Hill System came up from the Front Line Saps unwittingly were pounced upon by the waiting enemy. The German Raiding Party was made up of 600 brave men chosen to boldly investigate and quickly devastate the British Mining System.

Fortunately a section of the No 1 Company was on duty commanded by Sergeant John William Bott and his men fought to prevent the enemy from entering any of their deep mining system.

Daybreak revealed the distressing analysis that the Swift Street Trench was now the Front Line and the Shafts of the Front line saps were out in No Man’s Land which in some sections was about only 30 feet wide.

It was imperative to quickly get organised and all Tunnelling men with the exception of the listeners were engaged to form bombing posts in the initial Front Line. Capt Woodward wanted to get these posts at every Shaft head and robust groups toiled to set this up despite the enemy blowing a mine at Listening Post No 26 at 8.30 a.m. Lt Hubert Henry Carroll led a reconnaissance party to discover what remained of the entry and exit openings and also ascertain where the British barbed wire boundaries were, also if and where any breaks in the German wires occurred. His search party would discharge a mills-bomb into the enemy trench then quickly attack the trench, determine and reveal the situation and take any remaining Germans as prisoners. In addition to protecting the mine system Temp. Capt William John McBride organised his section to take charge of Trench Garrison duty. The Infantry took over each post as they proceeded to repair the wreckage and by early evening the task of securing their Front Line Trench was well advanced but required non-stop work throughout the night in order to fully restore the trench system. With assistance from the Infantry, the men slogged without a break until first light next morning.

Assessment of the enemy’s mine blast showed a section of a gallery broken with no major destruction caused to the all important “deeps” apart from ventilation damage and the demolition wires severed by the German barrage. If the camouflaging or dismantling of the major entrances had not been carried out the situation could have been much worse. When the whole area was viewed, the flags that the enemy had positioned to mark the furthermost position infiltrated was about 200 yards and went from the cutting side of Hill 60 behind Bensham Road and to the other side behind the Dump and estimated by the devastation, would have taken about an hour to inflict. The raiders penetrated and demolished entrances to several “shallow subways” in the Infantry Dugout System, one sheltering the Special R.E. Listening Apparatus which they also destroyed and in another Dugout detonated a demolition charge in which the gas eventually asphyxiated 25 British Infantrymen despite attempts by Australian “proto-men” to guide them out. Sergeant J.W. Bott repeatedly crossed the open area under intense fire to rescue the entombed infantry garrison. Capt Lewis Tuckett and his men from the 3rd D. Signal Company provided invaluable assistance in re-establishing and repairing the communications despite the hostilities taking place around them during the raid.

The Rescue Team excavating the gallery in order to retrieve Corporal Snedden were “driven from their work by the cessation of the pumps” when the area became very water logged, they quickly returned to the entrance and were bombed, with 5 Australian tunnellers captured for interrogation. Fortunately Sergeant Harry M. Dean considered by the Germans as dead was able to give his account of the raid but Sergeant Ernest Alexander Bennett was killed. A further tally of the human loss revealed 33 British and 43 Germans killed and 200 more were casualties, the number of wounded Tunnellers is not known but information on Lieut. Leonard Langdale Wrathall says, he suffered a gunshot wound to the head entering behind his right ear and lodged in his cheek, he quickly recovered and rejoined his unit two months later.

2 The enemy was active again during the night raiding Allan Crater to the left line, but the Artillery had learnt its lesson and was alert and on the defensive stopping the assault.

The Tunnellers remained constantly on duty until the evening of April 12th and although extremely tired left the area with the contentment that they had made a great contribution to assisting and preserving the Troops serving at the Front Line.

Sergeant Harry Michael Dean had been wounded in both legs and the injury to his left leg was so severe it was amputated below the knee. In a cable sent around April 17th from Belgium by Chaplain Gray to Sergeant Dean’s father in Brisbane related his condition as “improving nicely” and before Harry eventually returned to Australia on 16th December, 1917 he was successfully fitted with an artificial leg.

German Military Records showed that those tunnellers captured and interrogated did not reveal any information on the Mining System but the soil sample taken, provided evidence that the British had driven further beneath the German stratum.

ACCIDENTAL EXPLOSION

There are differing versions of how the explosion occurred, the first begins with the combined accounts from two Officers Captain Woodward and Temporary Captain McBride’s recollections and supplemented with the official reports submitted to Headquarters.

‘ The next two weeks passed routinely until the second anniversary of Anzac Day 25th April (Australians landing at Gallipoli) when at Proven just after the return Rugby Football match with the 177th Tunnelling Company (3-nil) had been completed, orders were conveyed to Captain Woodward to return to camp and then Hill 60 without delay together with a relief team as a disaster had occurred with three officers and seven men killed and four officers and about a dozen men badly gassed.

At Hill 60 an untimely and accidental explosion had occurred when a mine charge was being set up in “D” gallery situated in the “sandy layer”. Little was known but Captain William Percival Avery and Lt Arthur Elton Tandy were preparing the charge and killed instantly. The possible explanation came from an Officer who escaped the explosion because he came back to the Headquarters Dugout to obtain a measuring tape, retold he remembered hearing “We did not test the detonators for continuity” as the 50 pound box of Guncotton, the primer for the charge was being arranged. It was concluded by those experienced in these situations that the disaster was caused by the circuit receiving the test current during checking of the detonators, still assembled in the primer, a “supersensitive” detonator had exploded during the test. Other probable errors were, they hadn’t put the detonator under a sandbag whilst running the current from the battery to the detonator’s filament or did not use enough current to reach the filament. Comments at the time described it as a thousand-to-one chance.’

Commanding Officer Major J. Douglas Henry’s report states that “during a heavy enemy bombardment a minenwerfer exploded in the Officers’ Mess” and Lt Robert Adam Clinton, Proto Officer in charge of the rescue squad in his commentary also said “enemy bombardment, a minenwerfer or heavy shell pierced the Officers’ Dugout Quarters, exploding therein”.

Whether it was human error or enemy gunfire that caused the explosion, the loss of life and destruction were the same.

The layout of the Dugout system was extremely defenceless to an unfortunate situation such as this. With the corridors, quarters and common rooms underground, poisonous gasses permeated anywhere it could by the pressure of the discharge.

The Company’s Advanced Headquarters Dugout was shattered allowing sand to collapse into what remained of the area. The intense toxic force sped down the corridor to the “proto-room”, overpowering those there with carbon monoxide and nitrous fumes.

Lt Clinton’s assessment of the blast’s destruction was localised to the O.C. Advance Mica’s Office, Mess Room and the flight of stairs which led to the Dugout System of Larchwood. Major Henry stated the

3 Officer’s Mess, the kitchen and adjoining sleeping room were completely wrecked and the Batmen’s dugout damaged. Timbers were driven thirty to thirty-five feet into the Berlin section by the detonation.

Lieutenants John Edward Armstrong and Paul Jones, the Proto-men and Non-Commissioned Officers and Sappers from the vicinity went quickly into action to rescue those gassed or buried by the blast. An immediate attempt was made to prise an access for releasing those trapped but the poisonous vapours were too lethal to allow a quick penetration.

The Batman’s Quarters which were at the other end of the system but closest to the detonation point therefore had high levels of toxic gasses and fumes and were now isolated from the structure except for one opening which allowed Proto-man Corporal John William Saxton to enter wearing his Proto apparatus and make a quick inspection of this area, but the collective concentration of gas haze made visibility difficult and he could not instantly see any men alive in their quarters. Corporal Robert James Treacy then followed further to inspect the situation and to give a report in which “all bodies appeared to be lifeless” but during his inspection sand from above dislodged by the blast now began pouring in from where he had entered forcing him to squeeze back through the small opening, not only was it difficult to do this wearing his breathing apparatus but his feet also got caught in electrical cabling as he made his hurried escape as well. Saxton and Treacy were then ordered to stand by from Lt Clinton, but in the urgency of the situation Corp Saxton decided to make an assessment of the exit part of the system and with the surrounding deteriation above “a fall of earth” buried him there. Lt P. Jones and Corporal A.J.? Smith together with other men was able to expose his head and put a Novite Apparatus mask on his face as they proceeded to unearth him. His head and shoulders were excavated many times but each time another collapse of earth would engulf him again, sometimes for two minutes but he continued breathing. The cylinders were quickly transferred over to his mask and excavation continued for almost two hours because only one man could work in the confined hollowed space changing over every five minutes on account of the toxic gasses seeping through the sand from the Batman’s Quarters. Despite the dedicated attempts to release Corporal Saxton he was unable to be saved by those in the rescue party.

The Rescuers succeeded in resuscitating the Officers and men found and immediately arranged for them to be quickly transferred to the nearest medical facility. Due to the enemy bombardment along Marshall Walk, the closest service was the A.M.C. Dressing Station at Larchwood where twenty to thirty men were taken with severe symptoms whilst mild cases were treated by the Proto team who had been trained at the 2nd Army’s Proto School for treatment of gaseous poisoning. The four surviving officers were lucky to escape, with Lts H.H. Carroll and W.S. Jones being recorded among those gassed.

As soon as the dangerous gasses had dissipated the rescue and relief teams went into action and eventually found the bodies now amongst the collapsed timber and sand. When Corporal Saxton’s body was recovered it was found that his feet had become entwined with the exit’s electric wires and another wire unseen by his rescue crew was wedged against his throat, both wires were responsible for his unsuccessful release.

The “rescue” room was cleared first then the sand from the dugouts had to be removed and sieved and it was not until 28th April that all the bodies of those killed were retrieved and placed in blankets, with Capt Avery and Lt Tandy buried at Poperinghe New Military Cemetery and the others in the Railway Dugouts cemetery. The repairs to the Dugouts were well underway when the section was relieved that same day. A few days later Lt W.S. Jones cabled home he was in hospital as a result of being gassed but not seriously and would return to duty in a few days time.

Lt Clinton observed the treatment used for gas poisoning proved effective but that in some instances where the sufferer was under the A.A.M.C. Stretcher Bearer’s care, after the resuscitation when treated with Ammonin lapsed the victim back into unconsciousness.

Those accidentally killed were: Capt. William P. Avery, Lts. Arthur E. Tandy and Glydwr David Evans, and batmen Sappers Charles Glew, Arthur Alva Gray, Kenneth George Hamilton, Walter Manhood, Lyle Ranger, John Wallace and Proto-man Corporal John William Saxton.

The Tunnelling Company received many decorations for their devotion to duty during the Easter Monday Raid and the unintended explosion of April 25th. Military Crosses were received by Lt. H.H. Carroll for his efforts on Easter Monday and to Lts. W. Seaborn Jones and Donald Yates for showing courage and initiative on several occasions for their organisation in rescuing buried men. Temp. Capt William McBride for his mine defence and prompt action in saving gassed men and also Capt Lewis Tuckett from the 3rd D. Signal Company who was attached to the Engineers during this time for invaluable service repairing 4 communications under heavy fire. Sergeant John W. Bott received a Military Medal for the splendid way he worked his men to prevent the enemy entering the deep mining system and also for his courage in repeatedly crossing under fire to rescue the British infantry garrison entombed in a dugout.

Major Henry’s notification to the Controller of Mines gave credit to the 2nd Army Mines Rescue School for “the efficient training in rescue work done by the Proto Staff of this Company. An extraordinary confidence comes only with a thorough knowledge of their job” he recorded.

Lt James Bowry in a letter to his parents wrote: “many men were buried but we recovered them and on one occasion got two men out, one after twenty hours and the other after 42 hours and both alive and well. We lost in all only six men underground”. He does not seem to include the explosion in his tally.

The Tunnellers adaptability in both underground and aboveground warfare demonstrates the collective diversity of their talents, great courage and determination, whilst displaying how vulnerable they were in all areas of their work, and yet, in relaxation were still able to enjoy friendly competitive sport with their Allies despite the gruesome traumas of war that surrounded them.

Sources

The Official History of WWI. C.E.W. Bean. The A.I.F. in France –The Mines at Hill 60 p 955& 957, 958 My Story of the Great War. O.H. Woodward The Brisbane Courier Jul 6, 1917. Recollections by William McBride c1960 interviewed by Alex Barrie & Mentioned in Despatches. Capt L. Tuckett – Mentioned in Despatches WWI Personnel Records Lt. L.L. Wrathall The Brisbane Courier Apr 19, 1917 & The Brisbane Courier Feb 5, 1918 Minierkampf und Kriegsgeologie im Wytschactebogen Major . Dr Walter Kranz. Report Proto-Officer Lt R.A. Clinton, 4 May, 1917. & C.O. Major J.D. Henry’s report to Controller of Mines, 2nd Army IWM WO95/489. The Queenslander May 12, 1917. Nominal Roll of A.I.F. 1919 Letter to parents Lt J. Bowry, Military Honours The Northern Miner Jun 20, 1917 & Aug 21, 1917