{"html":"\u003cdiv class=\"timeline-details-description \"\u003e\n  \u003ch4 class=\"js-timeline-anchor timeline-anchor\"\u003eThe Affair at Nieuport (Battle of the Sand Dunes)\u003c/h4\u003e\n  \u003cp class=\"tiny-mce-underline\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTHE 2nd TUNNELLING COMPANY IN THE AFFAIR AT NIEUPORT\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe Fourth Army’s project was a difficult one—a thrust from the narrow foothold beyond the Yser, and a simultaneous landing of one division on the coast; and General Rawlinson was particularly anxious to help it by undermining a prominent German strong-point in the dunes; Australian miners, and probably others, had assured General Harvey that they were accustomed to tunnel through sandy drift, and he concluded his report:\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e“It may be possible to drive a mine gallery under the Grande Dune.  This work will be attended with great difficulty and will be slow, but with care, and the right sort of men, I think. . . it is worth while to make a trial. . .\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e“I would be prepared to recommend that half a tunnelling company be detailed. . . to make a real trial of the possibility of mining in the dunes.  The company selected should be one accustomed to working in soft ground, and I recommend either 171st Company R.E., or 2nd Australian Tunnelling Company. . .”\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe Australian company was chosen, and was sent to report to the 29th French Division, and made a preliminary experiment on the beach at Coxyde Bains a few miles behind the front.  This was completely successful and, on the 1st British Division relieving the French, work was at once begun in the small area of the sand dune held by the British beyond the Yser.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe British dune area beyond the river was only 600 yards deep by a mile wide.  Bordering the beach a long dune ran through the British line into the German line; and 250 yards inland another, known as the “Black Dune,” also ran curving across No Man’s Land, the two enclosing a curiously circular flat which had formed part of a well-known golf-links.  Any digging in the level sand almost immediately ran into deep water; but by tunnelling into the dunes, and keeping a few inches above water-level, 15 or 20 feet of head-cover could be obtained, and the German strong-points on those dunes might be undermined. . .    \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe company, 566 strong, had been increased by the attachment of 160 of its reinforcements and working parties of 500 British Infantry.  Three-quarters of this force were worked beyond the Yser, and, within two and a half weeks, their tunnels were approaching No-Man’s Land and, General Harvey’s doubts had been dispelled.  In addition the battalion headquarters was practically completed, and one underground communication trench had gone 100 yards with five entrances at intervals, and was being simultaneously worked on at several points farther ahead.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe story of the 1st Division and the Tunnellers is a short one.  The sandbagged trenches had given little protection from the bombardment, and the infantry losses had been very severe; the Germans easily overran the position. The Australians and attached working parties in the tunnels were fairly secure, except where tunnels were broken in by minenwerfer shells; indeed, for some of these the first evidence of the attack was the non-arrival of reliefs to dig them out.  Recognising then that they were cut off, Lieutenant W. M. Mortensen and Corporal M. G. Dunn with a dozen men in one of the tunnels barricaded the gallery and held out until dawn next morning, when the exhaustion of the air and its pollution by German smoke-bombs thrown from the sap-head forced them to surrender.  In one of the tunneled communication trenches, which served as headquarters of the left battalion, a number of British officers and men under Captain Smith of the 2nd Bn. King's Royal Rifles offered some resistance to Germans who penetrated thither, Sapper C. G. McGlinchey playing a leading part.  Another tunneller, Sapper P. Minogue fought the Germans with his rifle until wounded through thigh, abdomen, and ankle.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt was largely the survivors of this party who escaped across the river.  As some could not swim, two Australians, Sappers T. F. Burke M.M. and J. Coade M.M., KIA 9 April 18. obtained a rope.  Burke swam across with it and Coade remained to hold it taut while the non-swimmers escaped, and then followed them [McGlinchey, trying to escape at 1 a.m., ran into Germans and was captured].  Of necessity the wounded were left; but when a party of Germans was seen working round the river bank, and it was explained to those in shelter that it was a case of swim or be captured, an Australian, Sapper J. O'Connell D.C.M., who lay there bandaged after fighting with bombs and being wounded and burnt with a flammen werfer, to the surprise of everyone, stood up.  He made his way across part of a broken bridge, and then swam across.  As he climbed out he heard a British soldier in the water calling for help.  He at once swam out again, brought the man in, and then fainted. Sergeant F. Birrelland three other Australians, Sappers J. O'Neill, T. O'Neill, and L. G. Hinds, and a British working party, trapped by the falling in of a tunnel, dug themselves out by next morning only to find Germans in their rear.  Their rifles had been destroyed and most of the infantrymen decided to surrender, but the four Australians and two of their British comrades asked the others to give them ten minutes start before putting up the white flag.  Though they were bombed by the Germans and Birrell was wounded, the six reached the river, but Germans followed them and, having no weapons, they were captured.  Of 50 tunnellers beyond the river, only Lieutenant E. P. Hargraves and the three men already mentioned escaped. 25\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFootnotes:\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e25  The company lost only one man killed; 4 officers and 3 others were wounded.  1 officer and 41 others were missing - a few of these were wounded.  \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eOfficial History of WW1, C.E.W. Bean, pp 960-964\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFor more information : \u003ca href=\"/admin/campaigns/tunnellers.net\"\u003etunnellers.net\u003cspan class=\"link-domain\"\u003e (/admin/campaigns/tunnellers.net)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n"}