The British High Command detached officers of the New Zealand Engineers Tunnelling Company to search for old quarries beneath Arras in September 1916. Eventually, their efforts were rewarded by the discovery of not one, but several quarries beneath two major roads leading to the front line, in the Saint-Sauveur and Ronville neighbourhoods, to the east of the town[1].
The discovery of these abandoned quarries gave rise to an ambitious plan from the British Third Army to break the German front line—located just 1100 yards to the east of Arras—in early April 1917. Lieutenant-General E. H. Allenby of the Third Army hoped to gather a large body of troops underground for the forthcoming offensive without attracting the attention of the enemy, and thereby avoid the large-scale slaughter experienced at Verdun and the Somme[2]. The plan was to link these vast underground quarries with tunnels that would provide a safe passage for troops from the centre of Arras to the German front line.
More than 500 men from across the British Empire were involved in developing the underground quarries beneath Arras. The Third Army employed two sections of about 140 men from the 184 Tunnelling Company and the entire New Zealand Engineers Tunnelling Company to carry out this ambitious plan[3]. Despite the large number of New Zealand Tunnellers—about 300 sappers—it was still fewer than the number of men required to accomplish the mission.
The New Zealanders were especially surprised by the troops attached to work in the tunnels. At the end of November, men from the 17th West Yorkshire Regiment, the 9th Scottish Rifles, and the 6th King’s Own Scottish Borderers joined the Tunnellers, incentivised by the promise of an extra daily ration[4]. The English and Scottish soldiers were impressed by the New Zealanders. Most of the attached soldiers were Bantams—smaller than the average Tommy—and to them, the New Zealanders appeared as huge, strapping men.
Experienced engineering personnel also joined the Tunnellers. Along with them came 43 Māori from the Māori Pioneer Battalion, who arrived in Arras on 9 December 1916 under the command of Lieutenant Delautour[5]. The next day, the Māori got to work levelling spoil in the quarries. A good working relationship quickly developed between Pākehā—the white New Zealanders—and Māori[6].
The beginning of November was cold and rainy. On 16 November 1916, snow fell for the first time as the first section of the New Zealand Engineers Tunnelling Company began work in the quarries of the Ronville system, located beneath the Arras–Bapaume road. The 184 Tunnelling Company began digging in the Saint-Sauveur tunnel, located beneath the Arras–Cambrai road. Their first task was to open the underground quarries to the surface.
From the end of November, the Company—reinforced by new sappers—was working steadily. On 22 November 1916, the men dug a distance of 239ft: “the best to date”[7] as stated in the war diary of the New Zealand Engineers Tunnelling Company. Each new day’s footage surpassed the previous day's record. In just one day, the Tunnellers—assisted by explosives and a drilling machine[8]—dug about 240ft, and the first galleries appeared.
The large number of men at work in the quarries led to a new British Army tunnelling record in the first week of December: 1742ft in one week[9]. As more personnel joined the project, the widening of tunnels increased significantly. During December, daily footage records grew: 274ft on 8 December, 289ft the next day, 303ft on 13 December. Finally, a new record was set on 16 December, with 330ft of new tunnel driven.
Seven quarries were connected by 23 December, and work continued to link the remaining ones. Construction then proceeded with the installation of an electrical system to power and light the tunnels. Falling rocks and collapses occurred frequently in the quarries at the beginning of January 1917. The Tunnellers levelled the quarry floors to improve stability and safety[10].
By that time, the quarry connections were complete, and only the conversion work remained. In total, the Saint-Sauveur system required the excavation of 6600ft of tunnels, and the Ronville system, 7500ft.
The Tunnellers began naming the quarries after New Zealand towns in early December 1916. The Ronville system consisted of nine quarries: Russell, Auckland, New Plymouth, and Wellington, representing the North Island of New Zealand; and Nelson, Blenheim, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Bluff, symbolizing the South Island. The Tunnellers had simply used the names of New Zealand cities, arranged from north to south.
From 4 January 1917, the New Zealand Engineers Tunnelling Company installed electrical wiring in the Nelson cave and prepared for cable installation in the tunnels and other quarries in order to bring light. Finally, on 24 February, the electrical system in the Ronville tunnel was switched on[11]. Christchurch cave, the largest quarry in both systems, contained 248 lights, while the smaller caves had only a dozen.
Beginning in March 1917, the men focused on digging tunnels beneath no man's land, particularly on the Saint-Sauveur side. On 17 March 1917, the Germans withdrew to a location several miles behind the village of Beaurains, to the east of the Arras salient. This was part of a broader strategy to shorten their front line by retreating to the already-prepared defences of the Hindenburg Line. As a result, the Ronville system no longer brought soldiers directly to the German lines, but instead led into the British rear lines[12].
Work continued in preparation for the major offensive at the beginning of April. At the far end of the Saint-Sauveur system, three tunnels were extended beneath no man's land all the way to the first German trenches[13].
On the day of the offensive, the Tunnellers were confined to their camp in Arras. Only a few New Zealanders were present to detonate their mines, open the various tunnels to the surface, and allow the British infantry to reach the German lines directly[14].
1. Anthony Byledbal, Les Soldats fantômes de la Grande Guerre souterraine, 1915-1919. De l'Immigrant pākehā au vétéran oublié : les hommes de la New Zealand Engineers Tunnelling Company, Doctoral thesis, under the supervision of Sophie-Anne Leterrier (University of Artois) and in collaboration with Nathalie Philippe (University of Waikato), University of Artois, 2012, p. 370.
2. Jonathan Nicholls, Cheerful Sacrifice, The Battle of Arras 1917, Barnsley, Pen & Sword Military, 2005, p. 2.
3. Anthony Byledbal, Les Soldats fantômes de la Grande Guerre souterraine…, op. cit., p. 383-387.
4. Jonathan Nicholls, Cheerful Sacrifice…, op. cit., p. 28.
5. The National Archives United Kingdom, WO 95/407, War Diary of the New Zealand Engineers Tunnelling Company, 9 February 1917.
6. James Campbell Neill, The New Zealand Tunnelling Company, 1915-1919, Auckland, Whitcombe & Tombs, 1922, p. 69, “The Pioneers were great favourites with everybody, splendid toilers, always willing and cheerful; they supplied an inexhaustible fund of drollery and laughter that was sadly missed when they were recalled.”
7. The National Archives United Kingdom, WO 95/407, War Diary…, op. cit., 22 November 1916.
8. Ibid., 23 November 1916, “Acme drills and explosives being used effectively”.
9. Ibid.
10. James Campbell Neill, The New Zealand Tunnelling Company…, op. cit., p. 65.
11. The National Archives United Kingdom, WO 95/407, War Diary…, op. cit., 24 February 1917, “Ronville System of Electric Light complete except for a few details.”
12. Anthony Byledbal, Les Soldats fantômes de la Grande Guerre souterraine…, op. cit., p. 410-415.
13. The National Archives United Kingdom, WO 95/407, War Diary…, op. cit., 9 April 1917.
14. Ibid.
Anthony Byledbal, “Tunnelling Under Arras“, New Zealand Tunnellers Website, NaN (2009), Accessed: . URL: www.
