Tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers - Wikipedia
WEBThe relatively small-bore tunnels were being driven by a manual technique known as clay-kicking. Only useful in firm clay soils, the man doing the digging sat with his back supported by a wooden frame, with his feet pointing towards the cutting face.
The 18 sewer men who changed the war - BBC News
WEBJul 1, 2016 · Their technique - known as "clay kicking" or "working on the cross" - involved a man sitting with his back supported against a wooden rest (the cross) and pushing a small, razor-sharp...
How a clay-kicking team worked - BBC News
WEBJul 1, 2016 · Military historian Peter Barton created a reconstruction of how a clay-kicking team worked during WW1.
The Hidden Tunnel Warfare of World War One - History Hit
WEBMar 10, 2023 · Clay-kicking earned the tunneller the name ‘clay-kickers’, although they were also known as ‘sappers’ meaning military engineers. The technique was quiet and much quicker than the Germans, who continued to dig counter-tunnels in the hopes of destroying the Allied shafts.
Tunnelling Companies in the Great War - Tunnellers Memorial
WEBClay-kicking (also known as ‘working on the cross’) was a specialist method used in England for driving tunnels for sewer, road and railway works through clay-based geology.
‘Peaky Blinders’: Inside the Real World War I History That Made the ...
WEBMar 12, 2022 · Tunnelers — known colloquially as “clay kickers” or “moles” — were tasked with digging long tunnels underneath contested no-man’s-land territory to bury explosives underneath enemy trenches.
The Underground War: Tunnel Warfare in World War 1
WEBMay 26, 2024 · Hundreds of "clay-kickers" were recruited from mining communities to serve as military engineers, or sappers. Using timber to shore up the tunnel walls, they would lie on their backs, stabbing out chunks of clay with sharpened spades or bayonets.
Beneath Their Very Feet - HistoryNet
WEBDec 20, 2018 · Leading the way were soldiers known as “clay-kickers,” who leaned back on inclined boards and kicked spades into the heavy French soil, carving it out inch by inch. Following on their bootheels were the “moles,” who enlarged each cavity.
Tunnelling Companies of the Royal Engineers (underground warfare)
WEBOn 28 December, in the tense time following the first German mine attacks, Major John Norton Griffiths – a larger than life character, formerly an MP and an officer of the 2nd King Edward’s Horse – suggested the hiring of ‘clay kickers’, men with a particular skill who had been employed in mining for the London Underground.
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