"Simon Jones's graphic history of underground warfare during the Great War uses personal reminiscences to convey the danger and suspense of this unconventional form of conflict. He describes how the underground soldiers of the opposing armies engaged in a ruthless fight for supremacy, covers the tunnelling methods they employed, and shows the increasingly lethal tactics they developed during the war in which military mining reached its apotheosis. He concentrates on the struggle for ascendancy by the British tunnelling companies on the Western Front ... This wide-ranging study also tells the story of the little known but fascinating battles fought in the French sectors of the Western Front which have never been described before in English. Vivid personal testimony is combined with a lucid account of the technical challenges -- and ever-present perils -- of tunnelling in order to give an all-round insight into the extraordinary experience of this underground war"--Jacket.

Military mining before 1914 -- Mining operations 1914 -- early 1915 -- French mining sectors : Carency, Oise, Les Eparges and Vauquois -- British mining operations 1915 -- early 1916 -- Hohenzollern and St Eloi 1916 -- The Somme 1916 -- Vimy, Arras and Messines 1917 -- Miners and technology -- Tunnels and the Infantry attack -- Underground accommodation and communications.