Underground Mine Warfare

a means of combat by troops in attacking and defending fortresses, fortified cities, and positions. It was based on the construction and use by the combatants of underground tunnels, or mine galleries.

Underground mine warfare has been practiced since ancient times, when besieging forces secretly dug underground tunnels under the walls of a city for the purpose of forcing an entrance, wresting control of the gates, and opening the city to the attacking forces. The sap could end up under the fortress wall in a chamber, which was reinforced by wooden posts. When the posts were set on fire and burned, a segment of the fortress wall would collapse and the besieging forces would pour into the fortress or city through the breach that had formed. The task for the besieged forces was to quickly detect and destroy the tunnels or to flood enemy underground passages or fill them with smoke. In the late 15th century powder was used in underground mine warfare; at first it was used to blow up the posts in the mined chambers beneath the fortress walls. Later it was applied directly to blow up the fortress walls.

Russian troops made skillful use of underground mine warfare in the defense of their fortresses, such as Pskov in 1581 and the St. Sergius Trinity Monastery in 1608, and in the siege of fortified cities. Russian troops waged particularly successful underground mine warfare in the defense of Sevastopol’ in 1854–55, at which time they used countermine tunnels and underground charges. After World War I, as weapons developed further and methods of waging combat changed, underground mine warfare lost its importance.