Tunnel warfare

Tunnel warfare is using tunnels and other underground cavities in war. It often includes the construction of underground facilities in order to attack or defend, and the use of existing natural caves and artificial underground facilities for military purposes. Tunnels can be used to undermine fortifications and slip into enemy territory for a surprise attack, while it can strengthen a defense by creating the possibility of ambush, counterattack and the ability to transfer troops from one portion of the battleground to another unseen and protected. Also, tunnels can serve as shelter from enemy attack.

For the 1965 Chinese Film, see Tunnel War. For tunnels as a battlefield, see Subterranean warfare.

Since antiquity, sappers have used mining against walled cites, fortresses, castles or other strongly held and fortified military positions. Defenders have dug counter-mines to attack miners or destroy a mine threatening their fortifications. Since tunnels are commonplace in urban areas, tunnel warfare is often a feature, though usually a minor one, of urban warfare. A good example of this was seen in the Syrian Civil War in Aleppo, where in March 2015 rebels planted a large amount of explosives under the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Directorate headquarters.

Tunnels are narrow and restrict fields of fire; thus, troops in a tunnel usually have only a few areas exposed to fire or sight at any one time. They can be part of an extensive labyrinth and have culs-de-sac and reduced lighting, typically creating a closed-in night combat environment.

Access to German counter-mining shaft – Bayernwald trenches, Croonaert Wood, Ypres Salient

Mine craters – Butte de Vauquois memorial site, Vauquois, France

German trench destroyed by the explosion of a mine in the Battle of Messines. Approximately 10,000 German troops were killed when the mines were simultaneously detonated at 3:10 a.m. on 7 June 1917.

At Jiaozhuanghu (焦庄户) in Ranzhuang, province, the Japanese Army was defeated in tunnel warfare in 1942, during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The event was later made into the movie Tunnel War by the PRC.

Hebei

a complex of over 200 kilometres (120 mi) of tunnel systems that allowed NLF guerrillas during the Vietnam War to keep a large presence relatively close to Saigon.

Củ Chi tunnels

Tunnels after war[edit]

Many of the famous war tunnels were later turned into tourist sites due to their historic significance in wars. For example, the Sarajevo Tunnel is now converted into a war museum, with 20 metres (66 ft) of the original tunnel open for tourists visit.^[38] The Hebei Ranzhuang tunnel is also a famous war tourism site in China.^[39]

Attrition warfare

Breastwork (fortification)

Early thermal weapons

Explosive mine

Land mine

Maneuver warfare

Sapper

Sapping

Siege warfare

Subterranean warfare

Trench warfare

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A Manual Of Practical Military Engineering, Prepared for the Use of the Cadets of the U. S. Military Academy, and for Engineer Troops

Ulmer, D. S. (2008). Shaping Operational Design: A Counter to the Growing Trend of Underground Facilities and Tunnel Warfare. Air Command and Staff College.

Jones, Simon (2010). Underground Warfare 1914–1918. Pen & Sword Military. 978-1-84415-962-8.

ISBN

Archived 2012-12-27 at the Wayback Machine