Facebook X YouTube Instagram TikTok NetGalley
Google Books previews are unavailable because you have chosen to turn off third party cookies for enhanced content. Visit our cookies page to review your cookie settings.

Tunnelling Commander on the Western Front (Hardback)

Major Alexander Sanderson DSO, MC & Bar in Two World Wars

Military > Frontline Books

By Myles Sanderson
Frontline Books
Pages: 288
Illustrations: 16 Colour and 16 mono
ISBN: 9781399088879
Published: 25th September 2024

in_stock

£20.00 was £29.99

You save £9.99 (33%)

You'll be £20.00 closer to your next £10.00 credit when you purchase Tunnelling Commander on the Western Front. What's this?
+£4.99 UK Delivery or free UK delivery if order is over £40
(click here for international delivery rates)

Order within the next 1 hour, 57 minutes to get your order processed the next working day!

Need a currency converter? Check XE.com for live rates



Major Alexander Sanderson DSO, MC & Bar, MiD was one of the ablest and most experienced mining engineers to serve on the Western Front in the First World War. Following on from his early, adventurous life in the outback, in this biography, written by his grandson, we reveal the full story of the highly technical war he waged below, and above, No Man’s Land near Lens in France as part of the 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company.

As a young New Zealand-born student of the West Australian Engineer-in-Chief, he attended the School of Mines and became an underground goldmine manager alongside H.C. Hoover, the future US President. After a construction business venture with his friend John Monash (later General Sir), he undertook camel treks across the harsh Ashburton desert, sinking artesian wells and gold prospecting, before joining the Army, having abandoned his claim to a million-acre cattle station to do so.

Enrolling as a Captain (HQ staff), as a Mining Corps expert Sanderson was tasked with listing all the equipment, such as winches, fans, generators etc., necessary for speeding up a war underground.

Sanderson’s first Military Cross was awarded for his role during the Battle of Fromelles in July 1916, during which he was wounded by shellfire while repairing an explosive charge in No Man’s Land. Sent to Hill 70 at Loos, his Company was at once pitched into a silent, deadly underground ‘cat and mouse’ war of nerves with German pioneers. Sanderson’s rapid survey of the galleries and his alert listeners’ acuity soon pinpointed the tunnels of the out-manoeuvred enemy miners. Hit by three huge camouflets, the enemy ceased mining.

Sanderson’s second MC and wound stripe were awarded after a successful night-time raid to destroy enemy shafts. When his CO was killed by a sniper, he took over command.

We also read how the Australians constructed a vast network of defensive subways for the infantry from La Bassée to Hill 70. Sanderson’s defensive Hythe Tunnel, constructed in 1918, complete with pivoting bascule doors and sliding internal walls, was considered one of the finest tunnels on the Western Front.

During the Blitz in the Second World War, Sanderson was put in charge of repairs to the bomb-damaged London Underground. Such was his tunnelling skills, he was also a consultant structural engineer for both the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill’s underground bunker, following which Winston presented him with a box of his cigars as a token of the Prime Minister’s appreciation.

Such was Sanderson’s technical ability, in 1942 he submitted secret revolutionary ‘Tilt-engine’ and ‘Vertical Take Off’ aeronautical designs to the Air Ministry, all of which are revealed in this biography of one man’s service in two world wars.

There are no reviews for this book. Register or Login now and you can be the first to post a review!

About Myles Sanderson

A graduate of London and Brunel universities, MYLES SANDERSON taught Design Technology in Australia and the UK. Myles spent his childhood in Turkey, Sudan, Egypt, Cyprus, Communist Bulgaria, France, Germany and Holland, where his father was posted in diplomatic, intelligence or military roles. Since 2006 he has lived in Paris, researching and writing history. Myles has written articles for National Trust Australia magazine, broadcast in French on Paris radio, and presented a ‘France 2’ TV news report on an Australian Imperial Force relative killed in 1917. Recently, Myles gave a talk in the Arras caves on the New Zealand Tunnelling Company to the New Zealand ambassador, Military Attaché and other service personnel. Myles is a qualified SCUBA wreck diver.

Perfect Partner

Secret Service in the Cold War An SIS Officer from Philby to the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Balkans (Hardback)

The Second World War had been won, but relationships between the Western allies and the Soviet Union were becoming increasingly strained, as the nuclear arms race made world peace precarious. It was vital that Britain knew the Soviets’ intentions and military capabilities, both offensive and defensive. As a Military Attaché in Sofia, and Commandant of an Intelligence Centre in the Balkans, it was SIS officer Colonel John Sanderson’s job to find out. Sanderson handled agents who operated secretly behind the Iron Curtain at the height of the Cold War and organised hidden arms depots for stay-behind…

By John B Sanderson, Myles Sanderson

Click here to buy both titles for £45.00
Other titles in Frontline Books...