The dangers of this service, at all times great; were
immensely aggravated by the extraordinary pains taken by those who
had constructed the fortifications to prepare for subterranean
warfare by the construction of galleries.
The miners frequently met underground, breaking into each other's
galleries. Sometimes the troops, mistaking friend for foe, fought
with each other. Sometimes whole companies entered mines by mistake
at the very moment that they were primed for explosion. They were
often drowned, suffocated with smoke, or buried alive. Sometimes
scores were blown into the air.
It was not surprising that even the hearts of the allied troops
were appalled at the new and extraordinary dangers which they had
to face at the siege of Tournai; and the bravest were indeed
exposed to the greatest danger. The first to mount a breach, to
effect a lodgment in an outwork, to enter a newly discovered mine,
was sure to perish. First there was a low rumbling noise, then the
earth heaved, and whole companies were scattered with a frightful
explosion.
On the 5th of August, a sally made by the besieged was bravely
repulsed, and the besiegers, pressing closely upon them, effected a
lodgment; but immediately a mine was sprung, and 150 men blown into
the air.
On the 20th, the besieged blew down a wall which overhung a sap,
and two officers and thirty-four soldiers were killed.
On the 23rd a mine sixty feet long and twenty feet broad was
discovered, just as a whole battalion of Hanoverian troops had
taken up their place above it.
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