Tunnel warfare

Tunnel warfare is a type of warfare that occurs in tunnels.

It can be sometimes linked with urban warfare, as tunnels are often found in urban area and cities, although urban warfare as a whole usually dominates any tunnel considerations. Tunnels can be used to undermine fortifications and slip into territory, 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.

Tunnels, due to their nature, restrict fields of fire and thus any troops in a tunnel usually only have a few areas exposed to fire or sight at any one particular time. Also they can be part of an extensive labyrinth and have cul-de-sacs as well as reduced lighting that can create a closed-in night environment.

Tunnel wars in ancient warfare

Tunneling in order to mine enemy fortresses and make the walls crumble is an ancient military art that has been put in use all over the world. A famous mine made the walls of Kazan crumble, allowing the Russians to take it. The only countermeasure was to dig down, intercept the mine, and fight the advancing enemy soldiers underground. Sometimes the tunnels collapsed during the fighting, and both sides were buried alive.

The oldest known sources about employing tunnels and trenches for guerrilla-like warfare are Roman. After the uprising in Germania the insurgent tribes soon started to change defence from only local strongholds into utilising the advantage of wider terrain. Hidden trenches to assemble for surprise attacks were dug, connected via tunnels for secure fallback.^[1] In action often barriers were used to prevent the enemy from pursuing.

Roman legions entering the country soon learned to fear this warfare, as the ambushing of marching columns caused high casualties. Therefore they approached possibly fortified areas very carefully, giving time to evaluate, assemble troops and organize them. When the Romans were themselves on the defensive the large underground aqueduct system was utilised in the defence of Rome, as well as to evacuate fleeing leaders.

The use of tunnels as a means of guerrilla-like warfare against the Roman Empire was also a common practice of the Jewish rebels in Judea during the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE). With time the Romans understood that efforts should be made to expose these tunnels. Once an entrance was discovered fire was lit, either smoking out the rebels or suffocating them to death.

Medieval warfare

Tunneling was used throughout the world in the medieval period. Often they connected fortifications, towns, villages, religious and political buildings. They were used for supply, communication and as escape routes.

A particular use of tunneling was in mining, where tunnels, braced with timber supports, were dug under the fortifications of besieged castles or towns, which when fired would collapse, bringing down the overlying wall.

Modern warfare

Increased firepower that came with the use of gunpowder, cordite and dynamite made above ground fortifications very expensive if they should withstand any attack. Fortifications were covered with earth and finally they were built totally underground to protect crews and ammunition. For the purpose of firing, artillery and machine gun emplacements had loopholes.

Such a tunnel fortress was difficult to enter and inside there was no room for the attackers to hide from gunfire and explosives. On the other hand poison gas proved to have a devastating effect.

In trench warfare with heavily fortified strongholds, the tactic of digging and mining the enemy positions was used in the American Civil War during the Siege of Petersburg and the Russo-Japanese War during the Siege of Port Arthur. Extensive mining warfare was conducted by German, French, British and Australian troops on the Western Front during World War I, where the largely static frontlines created favourable conditions for mining.

The largest mining operations were conducted in the Battle of Messines, where specialist Royal Engineer tunnelling companies placed 22 mines under German lines. 19 were eventually exploded, killing about 10,000 German soldiers. Underground attacks especially broke the morale of the enemy if he was surprised in his secure positions. However, the huge craters that are the results of mining enemy positions could be obstacles during an advance, as was found at Petersburg Battle of the Crater and the Somme. Tunnels built to secure frontline supply were built in several places on the Western Front.

On the Eastern Front, the successful Brusilov Offensive employed tunnel/trenches to allow the Russian troops to start the initial assault very close to the Austrian trenches. During World War II, the rapid transit systems that existed in many cities became another military consideration.

The lessons of these battles led to the construction of even bigger systems of defence underground, like the Maginot line or the Westwall with their own infrastructures.

North Korea, it has been claimed, has prepared several transport tunnels with a capacity 10,000 troops per hour for a possible invasion of South Korea. This melds the defensive tunnel warfare with mobile warfare.

The term tunnel war or tunnel warfare (地道战) was first used for the guerrilla tactic employed by the Chinese in the Second Sino-Japanese War. The tunnel systems were fast and easy to construct and enabled a small force to successfully fight superior enemies.

Tunnel war usage during Sino-Japanese war

During the Second Sino-Japanese war, the Chinese Communist forces or local peasant resistance used tunnel war tactics against the Japanese (and later Kuomingtang during Chinese Civil War). The tunnels were dug beneath the earth to cover the battlefield with numerous hidden gun holes to make a surprise attack. The holes and entrance usually were hidden beneath a straw mat inside a house, or down a well. This allowed flexible manoeuver or exit.

However, the main disadvantages of tunnel war is that usually the Japanese could fill up the holes or pour water in to suffocate the resistance fighter inside the tunnels. This proved to be a major problem but was later solved by installing filters that will consume the water and poisonous gases. It is said that there were even women and children who voluntarily fought in the tunnels.

Later usage

The first to copy tunnel warfare were the Japanese themselves. In the battles of the Western Pacific, they would maximize their capabilities by establishing a strong point defense, utilizing cave warfare. The first encounter of the US Marines with this new tactic was the island of Peleliu. The invading marines suffered twice as many casualties as on Tarawa, where the old Japanese tactic of defending the beach had been employed. The pinnacle of this form of defense, however, can be found on Iwo Jima, where the Japanese engineered the whole Mount Suribachi with many tunnels leading to defensive emplacements, or exits for quick counterattacks. Tunnel warfare by the Japanese forced the US Marines to adopt the "blowtorch and corkscrew" tactics to systematically flush out the Japanese defenders, one cave at a time.

In the Korean War, the tactic of tunnel warfare was employed by the Chinese forces themselves. "The Chinese resort to tunnel warfare, and the devastating losses to American soldiers, led to the sealing of tunnel entrances by United Nations Command. According to later prisoner of war interrogations, Chinese officers had killed a number of their own soldiers in the tunnels, because the latter had wished to dig their way out and surrender to the United Nations Command." ^[2]

The Viet Cong copied the tactic during the Vietnam War against the US and their Southern Vietnamese allies and added some new developments. Systems of tunnels were not occupied temporarily for military purpose, but began to contain whole villages of people living permanently underground. An infrastructure of communication, supply lines, hospitals and for manoeuvering was established. These tactics were also applied against the Chinese during the Sino-Vietnamese War.

Tunnel war in Israel

Sometimes the ongoing conflict between Israeli Army and Palestinians under the border of Gaza is called tunnel war. The Palestinians have used tunnels in three ways: 1) Tunnels have been dug from the area of the town of Rafiah in the Gaza Strip into the area of Rafiah in Egypt. These tunnels are used to smuggle a wide variety of material into the Gaza Strip - some for civilian use (food, fuel etc.) but also a large amount of military supplies - weapons, ammunition and other military equipment.^{[dubious – discuss]} 2) Tunnels have been dug under Israeli army positions, filled with explosives and exploded. 3) A small number of tunnels were dug under the Gaza - Israel border on order to infiltrate into Israel. In one such incident in 2006 a tunnel was dug to a hidden position behind an Israeli tank position. At night a Palestinian team came out of the tunnel and fired an anti-tank rocket at the tank, then charged it. The crew was taken by surprise, three Israelis were killed and one was captured and abducted through the tunnel back into Gaza. The smuggling tunnels are by far the most numerous type because they are economically lucrative for the diggers, who earn a commission both for the digging and for the materials that pass through their tunnel. The Israelis conduct routine counter-tunnel operations in which over the past ten years they have discovered and destroyed hundreds of tunnels of all types.

Hezbollah tunnel war in Lebanon

Famous tunnel war victories

Ranzhuang in Hebei
Jiaozhuanghu (焦庄户) village that defeated the Japanese Army (later made into the movie Didao Zhan by the PRC)
Củ Chi tunnels a complex of over 200 km of tunnel systems that allowed NLF guerrillas during the Vietnam War to keep a large presence relatively close to Saigon.

References and footnotes

^ Sextus Julius Frontinus; Strategemata: De Constituendo Statu Belli III./10
^ Major Allen D.Reece

External links

[1] Sextus Julius Frontinus; Strategemata: De Constituendo Statu Belli III./10

[2] Major Allen D.Reece

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