The Great Underground War

They dug tunnels for victory – into the mud of Flanders, the chalk of Champagne and the granite of the Alps - and many died inglorious deaths. The men who dug these tunnels are some of WWI's unsung heroes – miners who dug and chiselled and tunnelled deeper and deeper, risking life and limb for a few meters of underground terrain. This spectacular series about the miners of World War I explains how the strategy of tunneling evolved, a technique initiated by Germans, perfected by the British and French and then converted into high mountain warfare tactics by the Italians and Austrians, who dug into the impossible granite and ice of the Alps in order to position artillery and explode entire mountain sides. (texte officiel du distributeur)