Asiago Plateau, June/July 1918, daily life at the Cesuna Tunnel

This photo was taken by an Italian officer June/July 1918. The location is a railway cutting leading to the Cesuna Tunnel, just behind the front line on the Asiago Plateau in northern Italy. The tunnel was used to shelter battalions held in reserve.

The two men in the centre of the photo, minus helmets, are Italian and the face at the window of the sandbag hut is Sapper Harold Atkinson (no. 277413) of Section 2, 54th Field Company, Royal Engineers. Sapper Ernest Bracewell, whose face had swollen up like a football due to a gum boil, is lurking in the shadows to the left of Atkinson. The soldiers in kilts were described by Ernest as "a tough bunch of the 2nd Gordons - and I mean tough" who had taken over the Cesuna section of the front line on 15 June 1918.

The hut housed a Petter Junior oil engine which powered a dynamo providing lighting in the tunnel for specified periods each day. The chimney of the engine is sticking out of the roof on the left. Next door was another shed used as a cookhouse.

54th Field Company had arrived on the Asiago plateau on 5 April 1918 and were based at Magnaboschi, a mile and a half from the front line near Cesuna. They were withdrawn on 30 May 1918 and, when the Austrians attacked on 15 June, were undergoing training at Mt. Grumo (just to the north of the village of Pedemonte Grumolo, near Thiene). Up on the plateau, the enemy made some inroads but were successfully repulsed after some hard fighting.

The REs arrived back at Magnaboschi on 24 June 1918 and the following morning, Ernest, Atki and another sapper called Francis were despatched to the tunnel to operate the engine.

Although things had quietened down at the front, there was still the odd gas alarm or rumour of imminent attack to keep everyone on their toes.  Ernest recorded that they lay ready all night on 30 June (his birthday) expecting another raid.

Although the engine hut was "cosy", the tunnel itself was "draughty and rat-infested". When an ammo dump blew up nearby, throwing Atki off his feet, the wooden superstructure in the mouth of the tunnel was disturbed along with a rat's nest. Ernest watched the mother transfer her litter of baby rats to safety on the other side of the cutting and didn't have the heart to kill her.

A group of the 2nd Gordons were standing around the mouth of the tunnel when the Italian officer arrived with his camera and an English-speaking orderly. The officer took a photo of the tunnel entrance (possibly this one at http://www.cesuna.it/archivio-notizie/98-foto-archivio-scozzesi-in-galleria.html) and Ernest and Harold asked if he would take a photo of their hut as well. He agreed and his orderly returned with the photo a week later.

Ernest was not short of advice on how to treat his gum boil and the 2nd Gordons recommended their battalion dentist. Having suffered the pain of fitting his swollen face into a gas mask on 11 July, he knew could put it off no longer and visited the 2nd Gordons' first aid station, finding "a brawny kilted six-footer" who "turned out to be a broad Cockney". Sitting the patient on a dentist's chair (consisting of two Mills bomb boxes with rope handles to hold onto), the dentist took a pair of forceps from his tunic pocket, got Ernest in a head lock and extracted the tooth with some difficulty. He was keen to remove the tooth next to it as well but one was enough for Ernest.

The sappers took turns to walk to Magnaboschi each day to draw rations and rum but it turned out they had a supply of rum closer to hand. Three or four rum jars had been abandoned near the hut and everyone assumed they must be empty. One day Ernest decided to take a look and found one was about a third full. Suspecting a practical joke, he removed the cork and smelt the contents - rum. He poured a little out - it looked like rum. He poured a drop in his palm - it tasted like rum. It was rum! Needless to say, that evening "the sound of song was heard in the land" until the Adjutant of the resident infantry battalion sent his orderly to tell them to be quiet or he'd have them arrested. They took the hint and slept soundly.

The little pencil drawing of the entrance to the tunnel was done by Ernest during a quiet moment.

The three sappers were recalled to Magnaboschi on 24 July 1918 and found that their spell at the tunnel had been a lucky break. The rest of Section 2 had been put to work repairing gaps in the barbed wire where the enemy had broken through. With no wiring gloves, their hands had been lacerated with many cuts turning septic. This depleted the ranks so much that only Ernest, Atki, Francis and the NCOs turned out on parade one morning.

The Cesuna tunnel is still in existence, close to the site of the old station (now demolished) and forms part of a walking/cycling route. Several recent photos of the tunnel can be found on the internet and one end is visible on Google Street View on the Via Ka Balla, just to the right of the Bar-Restaurant Baita-Jok and opposite a children's playground.


Sources:
Papers of Ernest Bracewell;
War Diary of 54th Field Company Royal Engineers;
MacKay, Francis, Asiago, 15/16 June 1918, Battle in the Clouds and Woods; Pen and Sword Books, 2001.