'Ten seconds, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one - fire! Down goes the firing switch. At first, nothing. Then from deep down there comes a low rumble, and it is as if the world is spliting apart...'

On 7 June 1917, 19 massive mines shattered the Messines ridge near Ypres. Ten thousand German soldiers died and the largest man-made explosion in history up until that time smashed open the German frontline. Two of these mines, at Hill 60 and the Caterpillar, were fired by men of the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company, made up of miners and engineers rather than parade-ground soldiers.

This is the untold, devastatingly brutal story of the battle underground during the First World War, where men suffocated in the blue-grey clay, drowned in the liquid chalk, choked on the poisonous air or died violently in the darkness and foetid air in hand-to-hand fighting.

Details: Non-fiction, published 2011.

Format: Soft cover, 304 pages.

Dimensions: 19.8 cm (h) x 13.1 cm (w) x 2.0 cm (d) / 244 grams.