Word: sapper
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Dates: during 1910-1919
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...Middle Ages besieged cities were surrounded by a wall, and the wall was surrounded by a moat. The sapper (or miner) dug under ground until he reached the foundations of the wall. Here he built a shelter by leaning beams against the wall to protect him while he undermined its foundations. As fast as he made a breach in the wall he propped it with beams to keep it from tumbling on him as he worked. Finally he set fire to the beams and fled, leaving the wall to cave in as the supports burned away...