The Bellewaerde Ridge
A short video of me describing the importance of holding the Bellewaerde Ridge, the very apex of the Ypres Salient, and a look at RE Grave, the memorial to the men of 177 Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers, who spent just over two years of the war under the ridge, fighting the Germans underground.
Subterranean Sappers
177 Tunnelling Company was amongst the first group of Tunnelling Companies raised by the British Army in 1915 to combat the German underground threat. They remained continually in and under the front line for over two years, developing an extensive system of multi-level underground tunnels to both listen to and combat the German mining threat facing them, and underground dugouts to accommodate soldiers holding the trenches above them. My book, voted “Military History Book of the Month” in January 2016 by Britain At War magazine, follows movements of 177 Tunnelling Company from its formation in 1915, through the war, to its disbandment in 1919.
Links to War Graves Organizations and their searchable databases
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
American Battle Monuments Commission
Le Souvenir Français
Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge
The Vampir Dugout
This video illustrates the first WW1 archaeological project I was involved in. The team dig down and discover a WW1 British Dugout constructed by 171 Tunnelling Company in early 1918 for the purposes of troop accommodation. Abandoned in an unfinished state, during the German push in the Spring of 1918, the dugout filled with water that helped to preserve it in an amazing condition.
The Somme’s Secret Weapon
Filmed for UK Channel 4 TV, this project focused on the discovery and story of the development of a huge British flamethrower designed to be used against the German Army on the first day of the Somme in 1916. Investigations by an eminent historian uncovered documentation that revealed the possible location of parts of an unassembled flamethrower in a shallow British tunnel system just behind the British lines on the Somme. Capable of firing a ton of burning oil in just under ten seconds, this terrifying machine made it from the drawing board to being tested in a matter of weeks.
La Boisselle Study Group
The Website of The La Boisselle Study Group and the project at La Boisselle.
