Tunnels of Arras

Issue Number: 5117

By 1916, the Allies had taken a pounding at the battles of Verdun and the Somme. Desperate to avoid more unnecessary casualties, a decision was made to embark on one of the largest and most ambitious tunnelling works ever undertaken by the British Army in the First World War.

New Zealand diggers, coal miners and quarrymen, alongside contingents from the Maori Pioneer Battalion and New Zealand Tunnelling Company were drafted in to help excavate medieval tunnels in order to sneak up to the German front line.

This is the story of those who dug the Tunnels of Arras.

Story: Jason Cobley

Art: Carlos Pino

Cover: Carlos Pino