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Sint-Elooi
Sint-Elooi is a small village, about south of Ypres in the Flemish province of West Flanders in Belgium. The former municipality is now part of Ypres. Though ''Sint-Elooi'' is the Dutch and only official name, the village's French name, St. Eloi, is most commonly used in English due to its role in World War I. The village and the nearby locations of Voormezele and Hollebeke were merged into Zillebeke in 1970 and into Ypres in 1976. Name The village takes its name from Saint Eligius (also ''Eloy'' or ''Loye'', , who worked for twenty years to convert the pagan population of Flanders to Christianity. History World War I In World War I, like other parts of the Ypres Salient, the village was the site of the Battles of Ypres between German and Allied forces. From the spring of 1915, there was constant underground fighting in the Ypres Salient at Hooge, Hill 60, Railway Wood, Sanctuary Wood, The Bluff and St Eloi. The Germans built an extensive system of defensive t ...
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172nd Tunnelling Company
The 172nd Tunnelling Company was one of the tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers created by the British Army during World War I. The tunnelling units were occupied in offensive and defensive mining involving the placing and maintaining of mines under enemy lines, as well as other underground work such as the construction of deep dugouts for troop accommodation, the digging of subways, saps (a narrow trench dug to approach enemy trenches), cable trenches and underground chambers for signals and medical services.The Tunnelling Companies RE
, access date 25 April 2015


Background

By January 1915 it had become evident to the BEF at the
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Actions Of St Eloi Craters
The Actions of St Eloi Craters from 27 March to 16 April 1916, were local operations in the Ypres Salient of Flanders, during the First World War by the German 4th Army and the British Second Army. Sint-Elooi (the French is commonly used in English) is a village about south of Ypres in Belgium. The British dug six galleries under no man's land, placed large explosive charges under the German defences and blew them at on 27 March. The 27th Division captured all but The 46th Reserve Division counter-attacked but the British captured on 30 March. The Canadian Corps took over, despite the disadvantage of relieving troops in action. The Canadians inherited positions in a deplorable state, the British having pressed their advantage, rather than consolidating the captured ground. On the night of a German methodical attack () recovered the captured craters. Canadian runners struggled to deliver messages and for several days the Canadian and British staffs were ignorant of whic ...
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Ypres Salient
The Ypres Salient, around Ypres, in Belgium, was the scene of several battles and a major part of the Western Front during World War I. Location Ypres lies at the junction of the Ypres–Comines Canal and the Ieperlee. The city is overlooked by Kemmel Hill in the south-west and from the east by low hills running south-west to north-east with Wytschaete ( Wijtschate), Hill 60 to the east of Verbrandenmolen, Hooge, Polygon Wood and Passchendaele ( Passendale). The high point of the ridge is at Wytschaete, from Ypres, while at Hollebeke the ridge is distant and recedes to at Polygon Wood. Wytschaete is about above the plain; on the Ypres–Menin road at Hooge, the elevation is about and at Passchendaele. The rises are slight, apart from the vicinity of Zonnebeke, which has a From Hooge and to the east, the slope is near Hollebeke, it is heights are subtle but have the character of a saucer lip around Ypres. The main ridge has spurs sloping east and one is particularly ...
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Tunnelling Companies Of The Royal Engineers
Royal Engineer tunnelling companies were specialist units of the Corps of Royal Engineers within the British Army formed to dig attacking tunnels under enemy lines during the First World War. The stalemate situation in the early part of the war led to the deployment of tunnel warfare. After the first German Empire attacks on 21 December 1914, through shallow tunnels underneath no man's land and exploding ten mines under the trenches of the Indian Sirhind Brigade, the British began forming suitable units. In February 1915, eight Tunnelling Companies were created and operational in Flanders from March 1915. By mid-1916, the British Army had around 25,000 trained tunnellers, mostly volunteers taken from coal mining communities. Almost twice that number of "attached infantry" worked permanently alongside the trained miners acting as 'beasts of burden'. From the spring of 1917 the whole war became more mobile, with grand offensives at Arras, Messines and Passchendaele. There was ...
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177th Tunnelling Company
The 177th Tunnelling Company was one of the tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers created by the British Army during World War I. The tunnelling units were occupied in offensive and defensive mining involving the placing and maintaining of mines under enemy lines, as well as other underground work such as the construction of deep dugouts for troop accommodation, the digging of subways, saps (a narrow trench dug to approach enemy trenches), cable trenches and underground chambers for signals and medical services.The Tunnelling Companies RE
, access date 25 April 2015


Background

By January 1915 it had become evident to the BEF at the
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Ypres
Ypres ( ; ; ; ; ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres/Ieper and the villages of Boezinge, Brielen, Dikkebus, Elverdinge, Hollebeke, Sint-Jan, Vlamertinge, Voormezele, Zillebeke, and Zuidschote. Together, they are home to about 34,900 inhabitants. During the First World War, Ypres (or "Wipers" as it was commonly known by the British troops) was the centre of the Battles of Ypres between German and Allied forces. History Origins Ypres is an ancient town, known to have been raided by the Romans in the first century BC. It is first mentioned by name in 1066 and is probably named after the river Ieperlee on the banks of which it was founded. During the Middle Ages, Ypres was a prosperous Flemish city with a population of 40,000 in 1200 AD, renowned for its linen trade with England, which w ...
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RE Grave, Railway Wood
RE Grave, Railway Wood is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) memorial and war grave located in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front. It is located on the Bellewaerde Ridge near Zillebeke, about 4 kilometres east of Ypres, and a little north of Hooge. The area of the ''Cambridge Road'' sector, halfway in between Wieltje and Hooge, was the site of intensive underground fighting in the First World War. The Liverpool Scottish Memorial, Railway Wood is located nearby. History The Royal Engineers grave at Railway Wood marks the site where twelve soldiers (eight Royal Engineers of the 177th Tunnelling Company and four attached infantrymen) were killed between November 1915 and August 1917 whilst tunnelling under the hill near Hooge during the defence of Ypres. The men were trapped underground and their bodies not recovered, and after the war, the memorial was erected on the hill.
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Ammonal
Ammonal is an explosive made up of ammonium nitrate and aluminium powder. TNT is added to create T-ammonal which improves properties such as brisance. The mixture is often referred to as Tannerite, which is a brand of ammonal. The ammonium nitrate functions as an oxidizer and the aluminium as fuel. The use of the relatively cheap ammonium nitrate and aluminium makes it a replacement for pure TNT. The mixture is affected by humidity because ammonium nitrate is highly hygroscopic. Ammonal's ease of detonation depends on fuel and oxidizer ratios, 95:5 ammonium nitrate and aluminium being fairly sensitive, however not very oxygen balanced. Even copper metal traces are known to sensitize bulk amounts of ammonium nitrate and further increase danger of spontaneous detonation during a fire, most likely due to the formation of tetramines. More oxygen balanced mixtures are not easily detonated, requiring a fairly substantial shock, though it remains more sensitive than trinitrotolue ...
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1st Canadian Tunnelling Company
The 1st Canadian Tunnelling Company was one of the tunnelling companies of the Canadian Military Engineers during World War I. The tunnelling units were occupied in offensive and defensive mining involving the placing and maintaining of mines under enemy lines, as well as other underground work such as the construction of deep dugouts for troop accommodation, the digging of subways, saps (a narrow trench dug to approach enemy trenches), cable trenches and underground chambers for signals and medical services.The Tunnelling Companies RE
, access date 25 April 2015


Background

By January 1915 it had become evident to the BEF at the
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Mines In The Battle Of Messines (1917)
Several underground explosive charges were fired during the First World War at the start of the Battle of Messines (1917), Battle of Messines . The battle was fought by the British Second Army (United Kingdom), Second Army (General Sir Herbert Plumer, 1st Viscount Plumer, Herbert Plumer) and the German 4th Army (German Empire), 4th Army (General Friedrich Sixt von Armin) near Mesen (''Messines'' in French language, French, also used in English language, English and German language, German) in Belgian West Flanders. The mines, secretly planted and maintained by tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers beneath the German front position, killed many German soldiers and created craters. The explosions rank among the Largest artificial non-nuclear explosions, largest non-nuclear explosions. Before the attack, General Sir Charles Harington (British Army officer, born 1872), Charles Harington, Chief of Staff of the Second Army, told the press, "Gentlemen, I don't know whether ...
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Battle Of Messines (1917)
The Battle of Messines (7–14 June 1917) was an attack by the British Second Army (General Sir Herbert Plumer), on the Western Front, near the village of Messines ( Dutch: Mesen) in West Flanders, Belgium, during the First World War. The Nivelle Offensive in April and May had failed to achieve its more grandiose aims, had led to the demoralisation of French troops and confounded the Anglo-French strategy for 1917. The attack forced the Germans to move reserves to Flanders from the Arras and Aisne fronts, relieving pressure on the French. The British tactical objective was to capture the German defences on the ridge, which ran from Ploegsteert Wood (Plugstreet to the British) in the south, through Messines and Wytschaete to Mt Sorrel, depriving the German 4th Army of the high ground. The ridge gave commanding views of the British defences and back areas of Ypres to the north, from which the British intended to conduct the Northern Operation, an advance to Passchendaele ...
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Battle Of Messines 1917 Mine Plan - St Eloi
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force commitment. An engagement with only limited commitment between the forces and without decisive results is sometimes called a skirmish. The word "battle" can also be used infrequently to refer to an entire operational campaign, although this usage greatly diverges from its conventional or customary meaning. Generally, the word "battle" is used for such campaigns if referring to a protracted combat encounter in which either one or both of the combatants had the same methods, resources, and strategic objectives throughout the encounter. Some prominent examples of this would be the Battle of the Atlantic, Battle of Britain, and the Battle of France, all in World War II. Wars and military campaigns are guided by military strategy, whereas batt ...
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