Tunnels of doom

[flyboys90]

Channel 5 tonight 8pm, an archaeological team explores trenches,bunkers & tunnels! One never knows it might be worth a watch?

 

[TeeJF]

Thanks for tyhe tip off bud.

 

[night crawler]

See if I can remember to watch.

 

[TeeJF]

Ahhhh... on the one hand it's Channel 5 (blooargh), but on the other it is about Messines Ridge and therefore prolly the mines there.

There's still one that hasn't gone off you know.

 

[leftorium]

when we visited Beaumont hammel on the Vimy ridge a few years ago the previous year they had found one of the missing mines under the tour guides hut - it was made up of thousands of charges in waxed canvas bags with wooden rims designed to swell when wet to protect the contents - literally keeping their powder dry.

The people who initially found it assumed that the contents would be sodden but decided that it would be sensible to remove a sample to check prior to hoiking the whole lot out - when the bags were opened every single charge was bone dry and perfectly capable of exploding over 80 years later. just goes to show that the lo tech solution is often a perfectly adequate one.

We were told that they have no idea how many mines are left on the western front as when they moved to more smaller miines rather than the spectaculars earlier in the campaign it was almost impossible to determine whether all of the mines had gone up and where exactly they were when you were on the surface.

 

[TeeJF]

Beaumont Hamel isn't on Vimy Ridge mate, it's on the Somme...

You're bang on about the viability of the explosive, and to make matters worse it's very unstable. As I recall two mines out of twenty some on the Messines Ridge failed to detonate at zero hour and one went off in a thunderstorm in the fifties or sixties. The other mine was found to be rather too close to a modern farmhouse for comfort! The instability of the explosive, often (but not exclusively) ammonol which is basically "bigger the bang", has led to some deaths whilst trying to remove it. I think there was an RE officer killed not too long ago in just such a situation.

 

[BTP Liam]

Recorded! Sounds good

 

[leftorium]

Beaumont Hamel isn't on Vimy Ridge mate, it's on the Somme...

.

oops AND the vimy ridge - we were staying in Arras in 2003 I think and did a mini tour of Canadian memorials for no other reason than the newfoundland memorial which we stumbled upon being so moving ... top tip - don't round a romantic fortnight in the loire off with a drive back through the somme it'll put a bit of a sombre twist to an otherwise joyful holiday

 

[night crawler]

Thought the program very good, can't wait till next week.

 

[TeeJF]

top tip - don't round a romantic fortnight in the loire off with a drive back through the somme it'll put a bit of a sombre twist to an otherwise joyful holiday

VERY true! My Great Uncle is buried at Beaumont Hamel. Strangely I had been walking within 15 feet of the grave for years before my mum found out. Poor sod didn't get more than a few feet out of the trench before he copped it. His brother survived both the Boer War and the Great War then died 0ff consumption in the 1920s.

If you go over to Vimy again do yourself a big, big favour and try to find a small sign at the road side near La Targette crossroads which says "Ici Souterran" or something like that. It points to a privately owned section of tunnels used by the British in the war and blows the socks off the formal tunnel tour up on the Ridge. There are still small arms ammunition scattered about everywhere and the guide (it was a spritely old man of 80 + when we went though I doubt it will still be him now) will show you places where the two sides met underground and fought a running battle.