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WW1 Royal Engineers Tunnelling Company Living History Group.
Introduction:Welcome to the web-site of the WW1 Royal Engineers Tunnelling Company Living History Group. We hope you enjoy site and learn something new about the Great War.
The Tunnellers Living History group was founded in September 2007. The aim of the group is to portray to the public the men who served in the Tunnelling units of the Royal Engineers during the Great War.
The group portray tunnellers from the 171st Tunnelling company during the period of 1916-1917 when the 171st were involved in constructing the Spanbroekmolen mine which was part of the great mining offensive at the Messine ridge.
The 250th Tunnelling Company originally started Spanbroekmolon back in December 1915 but in January they handed the mine over to the 3rd Canadian Company who worked Steadily for 3 months before exchanging sectors with the 175th TC, but they only worked the tunnel for 2 weeks before handing over once again, this time to the 171st, who completed and charged the mine by June 1916. It would be a year before the mine was blown, so during this time the men were charged with maintaining the 91 000lb charge of explosives under the German lines. They were also tasked with extending the tunnel further to reach further objectives.
On March 3rd 1917 an enemy Camouflet was fired, breaking the firing wires to the main charge. The main gallery was found to be so completely damaged that a new drive was started to by-pass it, rather than attempt repairs. Once the main charge had been reached new firing cables were laid, rather than repair the old ones. These cables were inserted into 1000lbs of dynamite, which was then placed in contact with the main charge. 400ft of tamping completed the job, just hours before Zero hour. The mine was ready in time, after it had been lost for nearly 3 months.
The group portray tunnellers from the 171st Tunnelling company during the period of 1916-1917 when the 171st were involved in constructing the Spanbroekmolen mine which was part of the great mining offensive at the Messine ridge.
The 250th Tunnelling Company originally started Spanbroekmolon back in December 1915 but in January they handed the mine over to the 3rd Canadian Company who worked Steadily for 3 months before exchanging sectors with the 175th TC, but they only worked the tunnel for 2 weeks before handing over once again, this time to the 171st, who completed and charged the mine by June 1916. It would be a year before the mine was blown, so during this time the men were charged with maintaining the 91 000lb charge of explosives under the German lines. They were also tasked with extending the tunnel further to reach further objectives.
On March 3rd 1917 an enemy Camouflet was fired, breaking the firing wires to the main charge. The main gallery was found to be so completely damaged that a new drive was started to by-pass it, rather than attempt repairs. Once the main charge had been reached new firing cables were laid, rather than repair the old ones. These cables were inserted into 1000lbs of dynamite, which was then placed in contact with the main charge. 400ft of tamping completed the job, just hours before Zero hour. The mine was ready in time, after it had been lost for nearly 3 months.
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