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New Zealand Tunnellers' mascot, Snowy the cat
Soldiers of the New Zealand Tunnelling Company play with their mascot, Snowy the cat in Dainville, France.
New Zealand tunnellers on board the Ruapehu
Members of  the New Zealand Tunnelling Company on board the troop ship Ruapehu, on Christmas Day, 1915
Listening underground with a geophone
The best way for tunnellers to locate the enemy under ground during the First World War was to use the geophone
Wellington cavern, Arras
Cavern build by New Zealand tunnellers under the town of Arras in France.
Steps in the Arras tunnels
Steps and First World War helmets in one of the Arras tunnels
Writing in the Arras tunnels
 Writing on the cavern walls at Arras
New Zealand Tunnelling Company, 1918
Prime Minister William Massey addresses soldiers of the New Zealand Tunnelling Company at Arras, 1918.
Christchurch cavern, Arras, 1917
This photograph shows the tunnel leading to the Christchurch cavern under Arras, France, which was built by the New Zealand Tunnelling Company during the First World War.
Tunnellers mining a road near Arras, 1918
Members of the New Zealand Tunnelling Company lay mines in a road near Arras, France, on 17 July 1918.
Map showing the tunnels at Arras
Map showing the tunnels beneath Arras where the New Zealand Tunnelling Company was active
Further information - Arras tunnels
This web feature was written by Ian McGibbon and Neill Atkinson and produced by the NZHistory.net.nz team.This feature was developed as part of the Shared Memory Arrangement that was signed between New Zealand and France on 6 June 2004.LinksThe New Zealand Tunnellers - by Anthony ByledbalBattle of Arras 1917 (Wikipedia)John Duigan biography (Dictionary of New Zealand Biography)Video of the Carrière Wellington and Arras tunnels (Arras Web TV)The New Zealand Tunnelling Company website by Sue Baker WilsonBooksIan McGibbon, New Zealand battlefields and memorials of the Western Front, Oxford Univer
The New Zealand Tunnelling Company
With both the Allies and the Germans trying to tunnel under each other’s lines to lay mines, the New Zealand Tunnelling Company's experience was invaluable.
The Arras tunnels
During the First World War the men of the New Zealand Tunnelling Company, many of them hardbitten West Coast miners, helped create a vast network of military tunnels under the French town of Arras.
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