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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
And a small number of buildings, L'îlot became known as Granathof (Shell Farm) to the Germans and later as the Glory Hole to the British. On Christmas Day 1914, French engineers sank the first mine shaft at La Boisselle.[1]Map of chalk areas in northern FranceFighting continued in no man's land at the west end of La Boisselle, where the opposing lines were 200 yd (180 m) apart, even during lulls along the rest of the Somme front. On the night of 8/9 March, a German sapper inadvertently broke into French mine gallery, which he found to have been charged with explosives; a group of volunteers took 45 minutes to dismantle the charge and cut the firing cables. From April 1915 – January 1916, 61 mines were sprung around L'îlot, some loaded with 20–25 long tons; 44,000–55,000 lb (20,000–25,000 kg) of explosives.[2] At the end of July 1915, fresh troops were observed moving into the French positions north of the Somme and on 1 August, they were identified at Thiepval Wood as British soldiers ("dressed in brown suits").[3] The British had formed the 178th and 179th Tunnelling companies in August, followed by the 185th and 252nd Tunnelling companies in October.[4] Brigadier-General George Fowke the Engineer-in-Chief of the BEF, moved the 174th and 183rd Tunnelling Companies into the area but at first the British did not have enough miners to take over the large number of French shafts; the problem was temporarily solved when the French agreed to leave their engineers behind for several weeks. On 24 July, the 174th Tunnelling Company established headquarters at Bray, taking over some 66 shafts at Carnoy, Fricourt, Maricourt and La Boisselle.[4] No man's land just south-west of La Boisselle was very narrow, at one point about 50 yd (46 m) wide, and had become pockmarked by many chalk craters.[5] Elaborate precautions were taken to preserve secrecy, since no continuous front line trench ran through the area opposite the west end of La Boisselle and the British front line. L'îlot was defended by posts near the mine shafts.[6] Geological cross-section of the Somme battlefieldThe underground war
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