What was the purpose of tunnel fighting in a 17th century siege?
score:3
During the 17th century, combat for control of tunnels was primarily enacted as a defensive maneuver utilized by a besieged fortification.
Defenders would counter-mine to prevent successful entry into the fortification or collapse of major defensive walls. Once the defenders located the attackers tunnel, combat for control of the tunnel would take place. In the event that no counter-mine attempts were made to intercept the attackers tunnel, the defenders would instead provide fierce resistance at the main breach and attempt to gain tunnel control by force of arms.
Some fortifications were built with counter-mine galleries to provide the defenders with the ability to detect tunneling activity from the safety of their own walls.
In reference to "pigs on fire" ~ some attacking sappers would use the carcasses of dead pigs (their fat known to burn with intense heat) to destroy the supports of their tunnels, bringing on the collapse of fortifications.
As time went on, major developments in rifling and explosive devices rendered wall fortifications obsolete. Thus, tunnel mining to capture a fortification became unnecessary.
Fighting for control of tunnels was still exercised during WWI, WWII, Vietnam, and even as recently as the Lebanon-Israeli conflicts ~ although for varying reasons and strategic needs in each conflict.
I leave you an excerpt from The New Cambridge Modern History, chapter "Military Forces and Warfare 1610-48", illustrating mining siege tactics during the 17th century:
“Once the foot of the wall had been reached, usually, after the requisite mine galleries had been dug out, an attempt was made to blow it up. Both of these tasks were always given to experience sappers or professional miners. It sometimes required weeks of struggle underground before before the breach could be stormed. Often, however, the defender did not allow things to reach this extreme, but capitulated in order to avoid the slaughter and plundering which, according to the rules of war, inevitably followed upon capture by storm; and also to obtain favorable conditions.”
Sources and suggested reading:
The New Cambridge Modern History: The decline of Spain and the thirty years war, 1609-48/59. Vol. IV edited by J. P. Cooper
Upvote:0
The moment you believe that an avenue of approach is not useful and not worth defending is the moment when a good strategist will use that particular approach to your disadvantage.
Tunneling is labor-intensive, aimed against fixed locations, and best used where there isn't a lot of underground infrastructure, e.g., sewer lines, power lines, and natural gas conduits. It would not work well against a mobile enemy or a location with potentially dangerous underground infrastructure.
More post
- 📝 Why did the UK allow India to be a republic rather than a democratic parliament under the British Monarch?
- 📝 Why are some New Kingdom dates quotes in pairs two years apart?
- 📝 Did France & Italy continue to develop and manufacture sophisticated military hardware once under German control?
- 📝 Who are the three men standing and what are they holding at this University of Paris Doctors' Meeting?
- 📝 Ancient Greek term rendered incorrectly as numbers and Latin letters, "01KCDÇ". What is it?
- 📝 Did anyone warn about the potential for stock market crashes in 1929, and if so why were their warnings ignored?
- 📝 How many ministerial deferments were there during WWII for the United States?
- 📝 Why was William Tyndale burnt at the stake?
- 📝 How was the Cuban military capable of performing African interventions?
- 📝 Mesopotamia laws 196, 197 and 198
- 📝 How could a deserter go West in 1863?
- 📝 Did Alexander the Great win or lose against Porus (before the eventual 'fleeing')?
- 📝 On what accomplishments does Theodore Roosevelt's present day reputation rest?
- 📝 When did dueling with weapons become socially unacceptable in the western world?
- 📝 Who are the three people in the Twilight Struggle card "Red Scare / Purge"?
- 📝 Was there ever a series of leaders who passed their positions to the most capable candidate?
- 📝 PhD dissertations from Nazi Germany
- 📝 What is meant by this medieval reference to combat 'under-ground'?
- 📝 Why did the Germans use the Enigma machine rather than the far superior "Lorenz" cipher machine?
- 📝 What was the largest place to be named after a specific, individual animal (i.e. not a species)?
- 📝 How did communist authorities decide who is "German" and who is "Polish" when expelling Germans from recovered territories?
- 📝 Did the old-west style duels (as depicted in movies) actually occur?
- 📝 Why did Gandhi give the violent "Do or Die" slogan to the Quit India movement?
- 📝 Where was the operation Market Garden UK planning headquarters?
- 📝 If a merchant ship captain joined the Royal Navy during the age of sail, would they be put in command?
- 📝 When did Soviet authorities first plan/conceive of migrating their industry if war broke out?
- 📝 What are examples of official documents or speeches composed in verse?
- 📝 Do revolutions always need public support in order to succeed long-term?
- 📝 Was bronze ever used for chainmail?
- 📝 Thirteen "colonies", "provinces", "states", etc.?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What was the purpose of tunnel fighting in a 17th century siege?
- 📝 What was the fighting style and equipment of 13th century Eastern European Baltic and Slavic cavalry?
- 📝 What was the purpose of Nazi extermination camps?
- 📝 What was the purpose of the breastplate rings on samurai armor?
- 📝 What did the top minds of the late 17th century have to say about Salem witch trials?
- 📝 What was the political consciousness of a 15th century English peasant?
- 📝 What is the flag in this 17th century painting?
- 📝 What did European people of the 5th century AD eat during spring and what was the availability?
- 📝 What was Finland's role in the siege of Leningrad?
- 📝 What is the purpose of this Roman siege tactic as shown in this Illustration?
- 📝 What was the purpose for Kaiser Wilhelm's visit to Jerusalem?
- 📝 What was the typical range of travel of a Pennsylvanian resident for everyday life in the late 18th early 19th Century Pennsylvania?
- 📝 What was the average age of first marriage in 18th century Russia?
- 📝 What was the average size of a guild in 13th century Europe?
- 📝 What was the impact of utilitarianism upon the development of psychiatric care in 18th-19th century England?
- 📝 What was the purpose behind Charles II's charter for Connecticut squatter settlements?
- 📝 Was it widespread during the 17th and 18th Century for British country people to be evicted and replaced with more profitable agriculture?
- 📝 What was the purpose of military prefectures in Song?
- 📝 What was the purpose of a division staff in a US Navy Task Force/Fleet in WWII?
- 📝 What was the main purpose in Japan trying to capture the Dutch East Indies oil fields intact?
- 📝 What was the prevalence of ethnic minorities in 15th century Bohemia?
- 📝 What was the purpose of the 1991 referendum on the future of the Soviet Union?
- 📝 What was the purpose of Lt. Gen. Frank M. Andrews' flight when he was killed in the Iceland crash on May 3, 1943?
- 📝 What was the judicial body in 16th century France called?
- 📝 What was the available level of agricultural technology in late 2nd century China?
- 📝 What was the difference between Hussars and Chasseurs à Cheval in the 19th Century French army?
- 📝 What was the origin and purpose of the "Montes"?
- 📝 What was the status of travelling perfomers in the Middle Ages (specifically, 13th century Germany)?
- 📝 What was the purpose of creating the Weimar Republic?
- 📝 What was the heaviest example of horse armor (barding) from 16th and 17th centuries?