THE TUNNEL OF CHILLY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14185, 30 December 1916, Page 2

THE TUNNEL OF CHILLY.

400 GERMANS ENTftAPPED U^DEB GROUND; ; ,/.._ v

A UALJP-¥ILJS PASSAGE,

: NEW YOKK/Oct; 18. '•", Mr Henry Wood, the correspondent of the United; Press, Association with the French arihies-, \ri . a, despatch, f ays :— ' ■! Followinor,' the -.cantuVe p'f, .Chilly, the French troops found ;&t 'the; o| forty to -sixty feet belW ' the" BiiVface' of the earth a- tunne! ovei^ half a mil© m length, constructed!' 'from; the-: lieadqu'ai'ters of the Commanding officei' m Qiilly to the front line, German trenches th^n well m advance of the village. For the construction of this tunnel cx r pert miners had 1 becirv. broiight , from Germany, and it 'represented 'on, tlieiiv part not les?i than six month's oil work. v: By its. use the Germans, who are not so prodigal m the snci'inceiof theit'riien.as they were before their reserves were exhausted, were ablertosend not only their men iiUo.^.the - 'front-Jin© £ trenches, but also mwnitiqhs and f supplies, without exposing a single man to the constant, bombardment to which tho French confltaiUlv subjected ,;the,.'trencheft ' niid German f ortificationn. at the surface.

1 had; tfiß good): fortune / to "approapli Mohjiricoui't, tho point froi^v which ilie French assault on GliiUy .< starred .on, September 4, -on a, day so rainy and: *°ggy t'mt artillery observation vpn the, part -iff thei 'Germans wM utterly sible, and wKielff albSol cfiabl&il fee iej work my vf&y- thrfyug^, th'& villages, of; Maucourt arid' Chjtfy to'.^lie mcnitli of tine' tunnel m vrhfCb had : 'been the !' German first line trenches, without, drawing do^rri; .011 myself a bombardment that the ac-

companying French officers would never have permitted a correspondent to risk. BATHROOM AND W[NE CELLAR.

The descent into the tunnel from the first line trenches) was by three successive flights of stairs; for the Germans, naturally figuring that their first line positions would suffer the heaviest bombardment, hac^ sunk the tunnel at that poiii,t"to-}a depth 6f 60ft. Entering, the tuiyiel '1 found it ..entirety walled up with heavy timber, thfe ceiling high enough to permit the troops tc pans without stooping down, and with a narrow-gauge .railway running the entire length for the hurrying of munitions to the front-line trenches. Pipes for mechanical ventilation, as well a, 1 electric light wires, ran the full length of the tunnel. The, plants' at 40ft below the mu'faoe earth had been destroyed b^ lhf» Germans at the moment of, , captures From botli sjVles of ; the tiuinel sleeping rooms branched: off, .^and the • buulcS ir these , containctcl, -still' shoes, yCgfl-ts, caps and other articles \ai clotliing*ust as the Germans had. left them at the moment of, surprise. A little further o?i I came: upon a widened poi-tion of the tunnel that had been the dressing rooir and surgical station for the wounded.

The approach to the other end of the tunnel, that comes nut m.. Chilly - was marked 1 , ns at the end where I had entered, by. groups of chambpi's. The "piece-dehi'esijjfcancp" ' came. at>. the end of the tunnel, wlie'r.e,'-^ opened' into the underground; apar,t^4n/s. of jbliQ Germar officer . who. ; had. cojr^ijii'i^ejd' |fie pdsition. AjUhough his apartmerit' was 40 feet below 'Iho ' snrfa-ao of the earthy all the rooms wcro plastered m white and per feet in- 'at-W dpjib'hitineht's,- -even to o bathroom and a we.ll-stocked wine cellai'. . ' THE SUPuRENPEPw

So deep and so solid had been the con. struction of the .tunnel that' when, m the early days of. .September, the French subjected thel .whple.ppsj.tipn yto, one ol the bombardinsnts. ; tliat have preceded every aroault on the Somrae, and whicl have nevel* befor,^ equalled m the world's hustory, tlie' tuhrier'remained absolutly intact.' Only tile', exits arid .entrances m the first line, trenches suffered 'slightly. : ...... v ■ V. , : .„,-.- — .. Following fh© - artillei-y; vpreparation. when the first Avave- of "French infantry swept over the position on Septemiber 4, the soldi&ra ,wer.e imaware of the existence of the. tunnel 1 . . Over.^Op^ermans still remained m it, % /and? as ; -the Frencr s\yept on and encircled the,; village of Clully the Germans' emerged) from •■Hub tunnel and fired on them m the rear. A second waye ; ' of '.French vinfaiiiiy then swept over the position, with the same result-* but when th^ third arrived, Iwitli a" little rnorei leisure, ior Tboldng . abbut ; and cleaning -up th^ capbured:^' position.. the existence of. the tunnel, wais. discover-' edaivd troops placed to guard all exits. For twenty-four hours -the 400 Germans refused to come out, afraid, as they admitted afterwards, .ttifit , they would bf shotsdown,; man Jay, man., .as they emerged, from v tW exi^s. ..Facing .finally, ,th>', choice ; between starva,tibh. ,; " ; ;,and "facing:, .the. French 3Keyma(le t|i| latter experiment, and', with' the discoveay that the French were merely .disposed, to make them prisoners "the entire. ■^pOi'jSurren.d^ed.