Digger is a military slang term for primarily infantry soldiers from Australia and New Zealand. Evidence of its use has been found in those countries as early as the 1850s, but its current usage in a military context did not become prominent until World War I, when Australian and New Zealand troops began using it on the Western Front around ...

Dec 2, 2018 · The Diggers and Doughboys would support each other through every world conflict after 1945 from Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. The military alliance endures today in Syria and Iraq combating the threat of terrorism and as peacekeepers world-wide.

World War One is known for the advent of trench warfare, with opposing forces pitched against one another from dug-in positions. Yet as machine guns roared overhead at troops unable to advance over no man’s land, the only remaining way to undermine the enemy was by digging extensive tunnels beneath their trenches – and filling them with ...

Sep 22, 2017 · Mining (digging under no-man's land towards the enemy trenches) was first used offensively by the Germans on their VII Corps front around Givenchy-Festubert on 20 December 1914, when they detonated 10 'small' (by later standards) explosive charges under the trenches of the Indian Army's Sirhind Brigade.

On the Western Front during the First World War, the military employed specialist miners to dig tunnels under No Man's Land. The main objective was to place mines beneath enemy defensive positions. When it was detonated, the explosion would destroy that section of the trench.

[1] 179th Tunnelling Company is particularly known for its role at L'îlot de La Boisselle and for firing the Lochnagar mine during the Battle of the Somme 1916. The Lochnagar mine formed part of a series of 19 mines that were placed beneath the German lines on the British section of the Somme front to assist the start of the battle.

Feb 27, 2011 · A treasure trove of photographs of Australian diggers taken during the First World War have been discovered in an attic in France, in a major find hailed as ”one of the most important discoveries from World War I” by military historians.

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.

Mar 15, 2015 · There is one area of World War One trench warfare on which little light has been shed. Underneath the trenches lies the secret history of the Royal Engineer Tunneling companies. These men had the task of digging underneath the trenches into no-man’s-land and planting explosives under enemy territory.

1918: Australians in France - The Diggers relation... A common remark made by veterans of the First World War in looking back on their experience is that what made it worthwhile was the close friendships and mates they found in the war. Until he fell, shot through the heart. Through mud, and snow, and damp. And help to bear the brunt.