Fighting the Boche Underground: (Illustrations) (Interesting Ebooks)

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It has been frequently suggested to me that I write of my experiences at the front. As one of the advance-guard of the American army who participated in the great struggle for freedom long before the United States espoused the cause of the Allies, I am more than willing to do this, owing to my strong desire that the public should know something of the constant fighting which is going on underneath as well as on the surface and above the ground of the trenches both in France and elsewhere, especially if, by so doing, I can help the people at large more fully to appreciate the importance of the work and the unflinching devotion of that branch of the army which but seldom finds itself singled out for the bestowal of special honors or for the expression of public approbation.

This narrative will be mainly concerned with the engineers and sappers who are so quietly and unostentatiously undergoing extraordinary hardships and dangers in their hazardous work below the ground, in order that their comrades of the infantry may occupy them above, safe, at any rate, from underground attack. In no species of land warfare is a cool head and clear brain, combined with decisive and energetic action and determined courage, more required than in the conduct of these military mining operations.

The value of mines and of similar contrivances of the engineer is partly psychological. Though hundreds of men only may be put out of action by their use, thousands of valuable fighting men suffer mentally from the knowledge or from the mere suspicion that their trenches are undermined by the enemy. Such a suspicion causes the strain on their morale to be very severe and their usefulness to be correspondingly diminished.

The men engaged in this work do not receive that inspiration and access of courage which comes from above-ground activity and which enkindles and stimulates enthusiasm, as in a blood-stirring charge. This trench tunnelling and mine laying requires a different form of bravery: that unemotional courage which results from strong self-control, determination, and perseverance of purpose. The personnel of these engineer-mining regiments usually work in twos and threes, or in small groups, cramped in narrow galleries, sometimes 20, sometimes 200, feet below the surface; and often immediately under or beyond the enemy's front trenches. On numerous occasions they silently force their way underground, despite great difficulties and risk, to within a few feet of the enemy sappers, hardly daring to breathe. A cough, a stumble, or a clumsy touch only are necessary to alarm the enemy, cause them to fire their charge, and thus send another party of opposing soldier miners to the "Valhalla" of modern fighting men. In this war, enormous charges of the highest and deadliest explosives known to man are used. Instant annihilation follows the slightest mistake or carelessness in handling such frightful compounds. Always is there excitement in abundance, but its outward manifestation is of necessity determinedly suppressed. No struggle with a living and resourceful enemy comes to stimulate the soldier mining engineer; only a ghostly adversary has he to contend with, one who is both unresponsive and invisible until the final instant.

No part of such work can be hurried. Underground surveys are calmly and efficiently made, huge mine charges deliberately and quietly placed, electrical connections carefully tested, and at the precise moment fired with terrific detonation and damage. The earth is shaken for miles around, trenches are entirely buried with the débris, while companies of men are engulfed, and immense mine-craters formed.

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