The Wellington Quarry, or Carrière Wellington, is a World War I memorial, museum and battlefield site, in, or rather under, the streets of Arras in Pas-de-Calais, France. It played a significant role in hiding thousands of British & Commonwealth troops for weeks before unleashing them in a major assault on German lines in April 1917.

The History of the Quarries

The original chalk quarries, or mines, were dug in the middle ages to provide building materials for Arras. By the 12th century, quarrying had moved to the outskirts and the tunnels were used for storage, or became derelict… until the 20th century.

In 1916 after being bogged down for months in trench warfare, Gen. Robert Nivelle, Commander-in-Chief of the French Army, create a plan to quickly end the war with a colossal French attack in the Aisne region. However, in order to distract and draw away German reserves just before the French offensive, British and Commonwealth forces would assault the Hindenburg Line on an 11-mile (18 km) front from Vimy Ridge to Bullecourt. Arras was in the centre of this attack, which would be known as the Arras Offensive or the Battle of Arras.

Suddenly those tunnels, 20 metres under Arras had a new purpose.

They were already big enough to house thousands of troops, but they needed to be connected up and then expanded to handle 25,000 troops with new tunnels and secret exits onto the battleground. So the engineers started work in mid 1916, led by 500 miners of the New Zealand Tunnelling Company, a tunnel warfare unit of the Royal New Zealand Engineers. By the time the troops were being assembled, the 20 km tunnel network had bunk beds, electricity, running water, toilets, stores, at least one chapel, hidden exits close to the German trenches, and medical aid centres for use once the battle started.

Let’s clear up the name thing.

The definition of a ‘quarry’ (carrière) is a big pit on the surface, which is where the chalk at Arras was first extracted. Although the extraction process quickly moved underground and therefore it technically became a chalk ‘mine’, however the ‘quarry’ name stuck.

‘Wellington’ – nothing to do with the Duke – was a name allocated by the New Zealand tunnellers to this particular section of the tunnels. They allocated names of their cities to identify different caverns connected by passages. North of Wellington was Auckland. To the south was (is) Nelson and then Blenheim. Southwest of them was the massive cavern of Christchurch and a spur to Dunedin. These caverns, and others still exist, but only Wellington has been made safe for visitors. See details on the archived NZ government WW1 centennial website What New Zealanders Left Behind in Arras page.

The Wellington Quarry Experience

The Wellington Quarry operates guided 1hr 20min small group (17 max) tours at specific times. You can pre-book these online or at the visitor centre desk. If you are lucky, you may be able to turn up and get on the next available tour.

As the group gathers in the visitor centre, there are a number of exhibits to look at while getting kitted out in a British Tommy helmet and an audio headset*. The guide then gives a briefing before you step into the glass lift that takes you down to the atmospheric tunnels where you are greeted with the sound of rumbling shellfire on the surface.

As you move about – following the guide – the audio headset will tell you about your surroundings, punctuated by the testimony of soldiers, voiced by actors. For example, Lt J.C. Neal, a New Zealand officer impressed by the scale of the tunnels, recalls that “the ceiling was so high that you could barely see it by candlelight in some places”.

A key spots the guide will stop and explain what you are looking at, aided by photographs, projections, video, and artefacts found in the tunnels**. The route takes you past typical scenes such as living quarters, or officer’s quarters, and canteen areas.

The route is also chronological, moving inexorably towards the day and hour of the attack. So, the narrative on the headphones helps to build the feeling of tension, as soldiers sing happy songs to keep their spirits up, read their letters to loved ones at home, and, on Easter Sunday, the day before the attack, attend their underground chapel.

Then the pace begins to pick up as you hear the constant rumbling of the artillery barrage*** above, and the sounds of passages being cleared, soldiers preparing their kit, filling their water bottles, and the urgent demands of runners as they ask you to step to one side so they can deliver their last minute orders.

Finally, all steps lead to the dreaded moment at 05.30 British time, on 9th April 1917. Your group gathers with moving silhouettes of the ‘Tommies’ nervously waiting at Exit 10 for the whistle to be blown.

It’s a very evocative moment, cleverly done. But thankfully for you, you just follow the troops out… to the visitor centre where there’s a short film covering the Battle of Arras.

The Aftermath

So what happened when the British emerged from their tunnels? Well for one thing, it was snowing heavily, which must have been a shock after the balmy 11°C underground! Snow drifts might have slowed their progress, but a westerly wind was driving snow and sleet into the eyes of the Germans who’s front lines were caught completely by surprise. As a result, the British at Arras made significant progress on Day 1 of the battle. The Canadians too made good progress, capturing Vimy Ridge. The Australians on the right flank at Bullecourt were not so lucky. Their advance got quickly bogged down.

Unfortunately for the Allies, German defensive tactics had changed; instead of defending everything, they concentrated their resources on key points and then counter-attacked when the enemy’s assault began to run out of steam. The battle dragged on for days and weeks with ground being captured and then re-captured. The Allies made significant gains but eventually failed to break through and by the end of the battle on 16 May, the whole front had returned to a stalemate.

A costly stalemate. The Allies had suffered around 160,000 casualties (killed, wounded, captured) and the Germans had lost an estimated 125,000.

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* Audio guides are available in English, French, German and Dutch.

**Some fittings in the tunnels date from WW2 when locals used the tunnels to shelter from the bombings.

*** The Allied artillery barrage opened up on 4 April and pounded the German trenches along the whole front with 2,689,000 shells for four days. On the morning of the assault there was a 5-min ‘hurricane barrage’ and then a ‘creeping barrage’ as Allied troops emerged in no man’s land and moved forward.

Declaration: I was on a self-driving research trip supported by Pas-de-Calais Tourisme. Museum entry was complementary.