During the month of September 1918, a few Tunnellers underwent an interesting reconversion by practising bridge construction at Rosel in Normandy[1]. This group of men had already erected a bridge during the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917, on the Bapaume–Cambrai road[2]. General Little, Chief Engineer of the Third British Army, and General Harvey, Chief Engineer of the IVth Corps, expressed great interest in the Tunnellers during a visit to the Rosel camp. Their admiration for the New Zealanders led to the decision to select this unit to construct the Havrincourt bridge over the Canal du Nord.
Begun in 1913, the canal was still under construction at the outbreak of the war. By September 1918, it resembled a massive dry trench and served as a front line between the British and German Armies. A major British offensive was in preparation for the end of September 1918[3]. If the attack succeeded, a bridge would need to be built to transport supplies, vehicles, and reinforcements across the canal.
The construction site was particularly challenging—located where the Hermies–Havrincourt road crossed the Canal du Nord. At this point, the smooth brick-lined walls of the canal were separated by 180ft and stood 100ft high. The standard bridges designed by the Royal Engineers spanned only up to 120ft, which was insufficient to connect the two sides[4]. The Tunnellers would therefore have to join two bridges together to form one large structure. From an engineering perspective, the task verged on the impossible.
On the morning of 27 September 1918, the First and Third British Armies launched an assault on the German front line near the Canal du Nord. This offensive served as the signal for the New Zealanders to begin construction of the bridge.
In order to optimize performance, the entire workforce was divided into two shifts[5]. The first worked from dawn until midday, and the second took over from then until dark. At 6am, the Tunnellers began work on the skeleton of the bridge. The plan involved erecting the bridge on the west side while two wooden towers were constructed to pull and carry the bridge across the canal to the east side.
The bridge structure was placed on slides that would guide it over the canal. In four days, the structure was ready for the great manoeuvre. A counterweight of 20 tons, built using rails, was placed at the end of the bridge[6]. Winches were installed on the two towers, each capable of lifting part of the total 70 ton weight.
By 5pm on 1 October, the launching operation began. Two days later, the structure was slowly sliding toward the far side of the canal. But the weight of the bridge tilted the frame slightly, and it ended up 12ft below the level of the bank[7]. The two wooden towers had only been designed to pull the bridge across the canal—not to lift it.
Then came the supreme phase of the manoeuvre. Any failure at this point would have spelled disaster. Both winches were activated, and they slowly began lifting the iron structure[8]. Inch by inch, the frame rose toward the level of the bank. Around 6pm, the bridge had been lifted several inches above ground level. With one final pull, it was secured into place—successfully linking both sides of the Canal. It was an extraordinary engineering achievement for men who had never erected a bridge under such extreme conditions.
Between the end of September 1918 and the Armistice, the fate of the New Zealand Engineers Tunnelling Company was closely tied to the movements of the infantry troops. The front line was no longer static. In just seven weeks, it saw not only the most significant withdrawal of the conflict, but also the deepest[9]. All the Allied Armies—from the North Sea to the Meuse—advanced simultaneously, forcing the enemy into a general eastward retreat.
The Allies moved forward cautiously, while the workload of the Royal Engineers was immense. Major communication routes had been severed and needed to be restored quickly: roads, railways, and bridges. The Royal Engineers were overwhelmed with work, and help from the Tunnelling Companies—such as the New Zealand unit—was more than welcome[10].
The New Zealand Tunnellers were assigned the task of erecting bridges, a job that may have seemed minor. They were not deployed at the front, but instead operated several miles behind the moving line, from Cambrai toward Maubeuge. Nevertheless, their work was essential in supporting the advance of the troops.
The bridges erected by the New Zealanders enabled crossings over three major river obstacles: the Canal de l'Escaut, which runs through Cambrai and links with the Canal de St-Quentin to the south; and the Selle and the Ecaillon, two parallel rivers separated by only two or three miles southwest of Le Quesnoy[11]. In doing so, the New Zealanders reconnected roads and railways across natural barriers at Noyelles-sur-Escaut, Masnières, Cambrai, Solesmes, Saint-Waast, and Romeries.
Beyond their successful reconversion, the Tunnellers worked alongside all divisions of the Royal Engineers to restore connectivity across a fractured landscape. Their efforts continued even after the hostilities ended on 11 November 1918.
1. Anthony Byledbal, Les Soldats fantômes de la Grande Guerre souterraine, 1915-1919. De l'Immigrant pākehā au vétéran oublié : les hommes de la New Zealand Engineers Tunnelling Company, Doctoral thesis, under the supervision of Sophie-Anne Leterrier (University of Artois) and in collaboration with Nathalie Philippe (University of Waikato), University of Artois, 2012, p. 724.
2. James Campbell Neill, The New Zealand Tunnelling Company, 1915-1919, Auckland, Whitcombe & Tombs, 1922, p. 103.
3. Brigadier-General James E. Edmonds, Official History of the Great War, Military Operations France and Belgium, 1918, 26th September – 11th November: The Advance to Victory, Uckfield, The Naval and Military Press, 2010 (1925), vol. 5, p. 14.
4. Work of Royal Engineers in the European War, 1914-19. Bridging, Chatham, W. & J. MacKay & Co., 1921, photographs IV-V.
5. Captain W. Grant Grieve et Bernard Newman, Tunnellers: The Story of the Tunnelling Companies Royal Engineers, during the World War, Londres, Herbert Jenkins Limited, 2002 (1936), p. 300.
6. James Campbell Neill, The New Zealand Tunnelling Company…, op. cit., p. 122.
7. The National Archives United Kingdom, WO 95/407, War Diary of the New Zealand Engineers Tunnelling Company, 3 October 1918.
8. James Campbell Neill, The New Zealand Tunnelling Company…, op. cit., p. 125.
9. Brigadier-General James E. Edmonds, Official History of the Great War…, op. cit., p. 222.
10. Major Norman Annabell, Official History of the New Zealand Engineers during the Great War 1914–1919, Wanganui, Evans, Cobb & Sharpe Limited, 1927, p. 211, “… the whole energies… were bent on the construction of heavy traffic bridges, with sufficient success to make possible a continuation of the attack on the 8th October.”
11. Anthony Byledbal, Les Soldats fantômes de la Grande Guerre souterraine…, op. cit., p. 749-762.
Anthony Byledbal, “Bridging At The End“, New Zealand Tunnellers Website, NaN (2009), Accessed: . URL: www.
