Chapter 4

British Mining Operations 1915- early 1916

The year 1915 saw the spread of mining, usually directed at very local targets with little or no central coordination. The British started mining without the experience of the French or German military engineers of continental siege warfare. The vacuum was, of necessity, filled by civilian experts, who were given far more freedom and in time incorporated into the army structure far more effectively than in the German or French armies. This was to a great extent brought about by the forceful personality of Norton Griffiths, and it is hard to imagine a civilian exerting such influence in the German or French armies in the field in wartime. Ultimately this meant that the British in 1915-1916 developed a very powerful mining potential. Unfortunately, although they had the technique, they knew less about how best to use it.

Norton Griffiths reached France late on 13 February and the next morning was taken by Colonel Harvey to the front line at Givenchy. Griffiths established that the ground was suitable for the clay-kickers, whose technique he had demonstrated to Kitchener with the fire shovel.