Tunneller: The World War of Colin Thompson

by Allan A. Murray

Mateship and tragedy on the Western Front.This book in the Series, Their World War, is the story of an ‘ear wigger’.Colin Thompson, from Newcastle, New South Wales, had a background in mining. In the early years of World War I he saw his family home empty as his sisters married and his brothers enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. Following the enlistment of his brother-in-law, Robert Hughes, Colin also decided to join-up. His intention was to look after his younger sister’s husband.After eight months of training together in Australia and England, both men were serving in Flanders as tunnellers on preparations for the 1917 Messines Offensive. Tragically, Robert was killed during this work near Hill 60, an outcome that Colin had tried to prevent. Colin’s unit, the 2nd Australian Tunnelling Company, was then moved to the Belgian coast. After another significant engagement with the Germans near Nieuport-Bains, Colin fell sick and was evacuated back to England. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis and returned to Australia where he died in 1922.In Colin’s brief period as a tunneller he served through the two most dramatic incidents Australian tunnellers were to be involved in during World War I – the preparations for the Messines Offensive and the ‘Affair at Nieuport’.This is a story that starts with a great act of mateship and ends in gut-wrenching tragedy for all the key players. The book also tells the story of how two men whose service, and cause of death, was so similar yet they have been remembered so differently.The Foreword for this book was written by Allan's Duntroon classmate, Timothy J. Cook. Following a career as an Intelligence Corps officer in the Australian Army, his interest in history and family links to World War I led him to write the acclaimed book, Snowy to the A History of the 55th Battalion.

128 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 4, 2018

Reviews

[Chris Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't do book reviews.......


I don't do book reviews like you keep seeing, as I find that some give too much of the plot away and I personally hate that, as it makes the book not worth reading. I much prefer to take the authors back cover write up as a review as it can either intrigue you enough to read the book of provide you enough information to make you decide that the book is not for you.
My review rules are: The more stars, the more I liked it.
If there are too many typos or errors the less stars I give
If the storyline or plot is poor or contains too many errors, the characters are too weak, the ending lacking something, then the less stars I give.
Simple, uncomplicated and to the point without giving anything away.
Some of the books I read have been given to me by the author as a pre-release copy and this does not bias my reviews in any way