Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
- Start date
A excellent book covering all aspects of the war fought underground is this one, it really answers all your questions in detail. Kind of pricey to buy but maybe your local library can get it in.
Also just goggling will answer lots of questions.
if you are unfamiliar with "mines" then you may not know that Canada was pretty good at it. Here's an oldie but goldie that some folks may not be aware of (was a TOP 10 non nuclear blast)-- just one video of Ripple Rock ... but well worth looking at other material and film from the time:
I believe it was Forcite 75% but someone can correct me
and for the Military film - "Hawthorn mine exploding at Beaumont Hamel, Somme, France, 7.20 a.m. lst July 1916. The mine was exploded by 252 Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers using about 40,000 lbs of ammonal. The resulting crater was 80ft deep and measured 150 yds by 100 yds."
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A search of the largest non-nuclear explosion turned up a large number of examples.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_artificial_non-nuclear_explosions
Mind you this example from the list is a bit extreme !
Operation Blowdown
On 18 July 1963, a joint UK-Australian test in the Iron Range area of Queensland, Australia, tested the feasibility of nuclear weapons for clearing forests and using mangled forests to slow troop movement in South East Asia, primarily Indonesia and Malaysia in the escalation against Sukarno and the Konfrontasi Malayan Emergency.[33][34]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_artificial_non-nuclear_explosions
Mind you this example from the list is a bit extreme !
Operation Blowdown
On 18 July 1963, a joint UK-Australian test in the Iron Range area of Queensland, Australia, tested the feasibility of nuclear weapons for clearing forests and using mangled forests to slow troop movement in South East Asia, primarily Indonesia and Malaysia in the escalation against Sukarno and the Konfrontasi Malayan Emergency.[33][34]
On the subject of great authors - here's a man from the WW1 that any student of the period should know and have read. Wilfred Owen
(if you have a chance there are a couple of readings of his poetry by Richard Burton on Youtube - they are not the best poems - those are contained on a full album by Burton that is tough to find!)
and another who was married to my great aunt.. Gilbert Frankau
http://2.bp.########.com/--tlEF0UrOzg/UCdkRu5flAI/AAAAAAAAAz8/UYQnAgfY2Qc/s1600/Gilbert+Frankau.jpg
and a more "stylized" rendition
(if you have a chance there are a couple of readings of his poetry by Richard Burton on Youtube - they are not the best poems - those are contained on a full album by Burton that is tough to find!)
and another who was married to my great aunt.. Gilbert Frankau
http://2.bp.########.com/--tlEF0UrOzg/UCdkRu5flAI/AAAAAAAAAz8/UYQnAgfY2Qc/s1600/Gilbert+Frankau.jpg
and a more "stylized" rendition
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The Battle of Messines was one of the most spectacular examples of sapper mining in WWI. There over a year's worth of planning, and tunnelling done in advance of the operation, and then they lit off some truly massive mines on the morning of June 7, 1917, killing upwards of 10,000 German troops in one fell swoop. The explosions could be heard in London.
The craters still exist today - most of them have filled up and become ponds. Google for "Mines of Messines" and you'll come across a lot of interesting photos, both historical and current.
Interesting side note:
They tunnelled in a total of 25 mines for the operation, but because it took a year to do it, by the time of the actual offensive the front line had shifted somewhat, and only 19 were lit off (the remaining 6 being too close to British/Anzac lines). Instead of removing the explosives, they just sealed off the tunnels and buried them in place. They have a general idea where they are, but not precise, and so there's been a lot of hesitation to go digging around looking for them. One of them was set off by a lightning strike in 1955.
As far as I know, the other 5 are still un-excavated, and there isn't a lot of research into the effects on the stability of Amatol after being buried in soggy mud for 100 years or so.
Absolutely!! Its so hard to understand fully! For example - I think if we could really comprehend the details of the Japanese treatment of the Chinese (Nanking) and Allied POW's AND they were more widely known by (or even released to) North Americans -- it is unlikely that Sony, Honda or Toyota would exist today imo. There are many reasons why Truman had little reservation about giving his approvals for use of atomic weapons - one example of so many tragic effects of war.
In my experience they come back with various degrees of mental damage, depending on what they did or saw.
My grandfather was a welder and served in the RCAF in WWII. He got stationed at one of the many training bases in North Ontario for the duration of the war. He spent the war on crash crews, cutting open wrecked planes so they could pull out what was left of kids who "failed" their solo flight tests. At one point, more pilots were dying in training in North Ontario that were in the skies over England and Europe - they were pushing people through the mill so fast, that it was a case of selection by survival.
He never even left Canada, and he was badly scarred by what he saw. He had to be a very special level of drunk to talk about it.
^^ The understatement of the century. There are so many things we aren't educated about in our past. This will undoubtedly bring on the "but what about the war crimes that the Allies committed" crowd.
