During troubled periods, all around the world, people dug underground passages (souterrains) to protect and defend themselves and also to attack the enemies.

This book presents a panorama of underground warfare around the world developed in the following chapters :

- underground cities dug in Cappadocia (Turkey) between the 8th and  the 15th century,
- underground refuges used in the west of France from the 12th to the 16th century,
- village underground refuges dug and used by the villagers in northern France between the 15th and the 18th century,
- methods of undermining in the world from the Antiquity to the 20th century,
- use of quarries  by soldiers in the north-east of France during the First World War,
- tunnel warfare in Vietnam during the Indochina war, then the Vietnam war (20th century),
- cave warfare in Algeria from the 19th century to the 20th century,
- high mountain complexes used by Mudjahideen and Taliban in Afghanistan during 20th and early 21th century,
- tunnels used at present in Lebanon and Gaza.

Thanks to more than 25 years of research and thought, this original synthesis is based on exploration, archaeological evidences and various testimonies. It is the first time that a book shows and explains how the circumstances lead populations or combatants to choose underground warfare.  

Published by Perrin publishing house, Paris, 2011, 348 p.
Book published with the support of Centre national du livre (France).