August 10th 251st  Tunnelling Company
     

On this day in 1917, the 251st  Tunnelling Company exploded the last mine to be fired beneath German lines.

The 251st Tunnelling Company was part of the Royal Engineers and was created by the British Army during World War I.   Their tasks were to dig and maintain mines under enemy lines to be packed with explosives, as well as creating the dugouts and trenches for the soldiers on the front line.

The Germans had similar forces and it has been said that both sides could hear the work of the enemy either above or beneath them and were armed in case the tunnel collapsed into that occupied by the other side.

Formed in Hayle, the 251st Tunnelling Company was manned by volunteer Cornish tin and copper miners and was first based in the French region of Loos, which became notorious for the eponymous battle, being the first occasion of the British using poison gas. 

The miners were paid roughly twice their earnings from mining but also satisfied the patriotism of men who were not cleared for other military service.

Posted to Arras, the Company fired the last mine on this day in 1917, causing an explosion which could be heard on the English coast.

 

 



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