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In 1916, the British discovered the potential of these forgotten chalk quarries. In November of the same year, the Allies were mounting the 1917 spring offensive: a British diversionary attack in Artois, followed by a French attack at the Chemin des Dames. The British stroke of genius was to have the former chalk extraction tunnels below the town linked up to create a network of underground barracks which could accommodate up to 24,000 soldiers while waiting for the Battle of Arras to start. The mission was entrusted to the New Zealand Tunnelling Company who, in just 6 months, accomplished a feat that is considered as the greatest engineering achievement of the Great War.