Sint-Elooi is a small village, about 5 km (3.1 mi) south ofYpres in theFlemish province ofWest Flanders inBelgium. The former municipality is now part of Ypres. ThoughSint-Elooi is the Dutch and only official name, the village's French name,St. Eloi, is most commonly used in English due to its role inWorld War I. The village and the nearby locations ofVoormezele andHollebeke were merged intoZillebeke in 1970 and into Ypres in 1976.
The village takes its name fromSaint Eligius (alsoEloy orLoye,French:Éloi,c. 588–660 who worked for twenty years to convert thepagan population ofFlanders to Christianity.
InWorld War I, like other parts of theYpres Salient, the village was the site of theBattles of Ypres betweenGerman andAllied forces. From the spring of 1915, there was constant underground fighting in theYpres Salient atHooge,Hill 60,Railway Wood,Sanctuary Wood,The Bluff and St Eloi.[1] The Germans built an extensive system of defensive tunnels and were actively mining against the British trenches at the intermediate levels.[2]
In March 1915, they fired mines under the elevated area known asThe Mound just south-east of St Eloi[3] and in the ensuing fighting (theAction of St Eloi,[4] 14–15 March 1915), in which units of the British 27th Division participated,[4] the British infantry suffered some 500 casualties. A month later, on 14 April 1915, the Germans fired another mine producing a crater over 20 m (66 ft) in diameter. Counter-mining by thetunnelling companies of theRoyal Engineers began at St Eloi in spring 1915. Much of the mining in this sector was done by the177th Tunnelling Company and the172nd Tunnelling Company.[3] The geology of the Ypres Salient featured a characteristic layer of sandy clay, which put very heavy pressures of water and wet sand on the underground works and made deep mining extremely difficult.
In autumn of 1915, 172nd Tunnelling Company managed to sink shafts through the sandy clay at a depth of 7.0 metres (23 ft) down to dry blue clay at a depth of 13 metres (43 ft), which was ideal for tunneling, from where they continued to drive galleries towards the German lines at a depth of 18 metres (60 ft).[5] This constituted a major achievement in mining technique and gave the Royal Engineers a significant advantage over their German counterparts. After German successes at The Bluff, the British decided to use the deep mines created by172nd Tunnelling Company at St Eloi in a local operation (theActions of St Eloi Craters, 27 March – 16 April 1916) and six charges were fired.[6][3] However, the accompanying British infantry operation was a failure; the problem lay in the Allied inability to hold crater positions after they had been captured.[7] The CanadianHMCS St. Eloi was later named after the battle.
After theActions of St Eloi Craters, mining and counter-mining at St Eloi continued at a pace.[3] In preparation of theBattle of Messines in 1917, the British began a mining offensive against the German lines to the south of Ypres.Twenty-six deep mines were eventually dug byTunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers, most of which were detonated simultaneously on 7 June 1917, creating19 large craters. The largest of these mines was at St Eloi, dug by the1st Canadian Tunnelling Company.[6] The work was begun with a deep shaft namedQueen Victoria[8] and the chamber was set 42 metres (138 ft) below ground, at the end of a gallery 408 metres (1,339 ft) long and charged with 43,400 kilograms (95,600 lb) ofammonal. Building preparations had started on 16 August 1915 and the mine was completed on 11 June 1916.[9]
When the large St Eloi deep mine was fired by the 1st Canadian Tunnelling Company on 7 June 1917, it destroyed some of the earlier craters from 1916 (D2 andD1), although a double crater (H4 andH1) can still be seen. The successful detonation allowed the capture of the German lines at St Eloi by theBritish 41st Division.[6]
The area was fought over again during theSecond World War.[10] On 27 May 1940, the 17th Brigade of the British5th Infantry Division stopped the advance of three German divisions atHill 60, which enabled the British to make a general withdrawal towards St. Eloi,Kemmel andDikkebus.[11]
On a small square in the centre of Sint-Elooi stands the 'Monument to the St Eloi Tunnellers' which was unveiled on 11 November 2001. The brick plinth bears transparent plaques with details of the mining activities by172nd Tunnelling Company and an extract from the poemTrenches: St Eloi by thewar poet T.E. Hulme (1883–1917). There is a flagpole with the British flag next to it, and in 2003 an artillery gun was added to the memorial.[12]
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