Posted on 08/26/2007 1:21:27 PM PDT by blam
First World War tunnels to yield their secrets
By Jasper Copping, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 1:42am BST 26/08/2007
As battle raged across the fields of Flanders, British soldiers found brief respite from the horrors of the First World War in "underground towns" far below the mud and gore. Now, more than 90 years after the armies left and the extraordinary networks of tunnels were flooded, the task of finally revealing their secrets has begun.
The Tunnels
The prize, archaeologists and historians believe, is an unprecedented insight into the lives of British troops on the Western Front.
They believe that, because of the absence of light and oxygen in the flooded tunnels, possessions, such as beds, weapons, helmets, clothing and even newspapers, will have been preserved and will be found exactly as they were left in 1918.
After finding the entrances to dozens of miles of tunnels in the countryside near the Belgian town of Ypres, archaeologists and historians last week began extensive surveying work. Robots will then be sent into the tunnels before, eventually, experts from Britain and Belgium hope to pump out the water so that they can venture into the subterranean military towns.
Situated in the middle of the front line between the Germans and the Allied troops, the market town of Ypres was the scene of some of the worst carnage of the First World War. During four years of fighting, the town was almost entirely destroyed and 500,000 soldiers and civilians died in an area of just over nine square miles.
According to the original trench maps, drawn up by British engineers, hospitals, mess rooms, chapels, kitchens, workshops, blacksmiths, as well as rooms where exhausted soldiers could rest, were hewn from the soil, far beneath the water table. Dozens of "fighting tunnels", offshoots which were burrowed under German trenches before being exploded, were also built.
The rooms, connected by corridors measuring 6ft 6in high by 4ft wide, were fitted with water pumps but, when the troops left within weeks of the war ending, they were slowly submerged. Remarkably, during 1917 and 1918, more people lived underground in the Ypres area than reside above ground in the town today.
Peter Barton, a British historian who has been advising the research team, said: "These were basically underground villages and in some of the cases, small towns.
"They haven't been seen since September 1918 when the British attacked and swept the Germans back over this land. Things will be exactly as they were left. This is a unique opportunity. They will be perfectly preserved time capsules.
"The tunnels were left far, far in the rear [as the British soldiers advanced] and within weeks they would have been full of water. So when the Belgians returned, all they would have seen was a little door in a trench full of water."
In recent years, the extensive wartime tunnelling has been the cause of mounting problems for the authorities in Flanders as the timber planks, used to support the labyrinths, began to rot and cave in, causing subsidence.
Dr Tony Pollard, head of Glasgow University's Archaeological Research Division, said: "These are important archaeological sites but they are beginning to subside and collapse. They are becoming a danger to buildings and people so we need to find out more about where they are and how extensive they are."
Initially, experts are concentrating on three locations, and will use scanning equipment to find the main chambers. One network, near the village of Hooge, once housed 1,000 soldiers, while a second, Vampire Dugout, near Zonnebeke, was briefly captured and occupied by the Germans in their last-ditch Spring Offensive in 1918, before being retaken.
The third, Hill 60, which housed up to 3,000 troops, is near Zwarteleen, close to a railway line between Ypres and Menin.
Although some artefacts may eventually be removed from tunnels and handed to the local authorities and on to museums, those in charge of the project - the largest of its kind - intend to leave most in place.
Interesting. Did the Americans have such facilities?
“Remarkably, during 1917 and 1918, more people lived underground in
the Ypres area than reside above ground in the town today.”
Hmmm...I wonder if epidemiologists have taken note of this.
In the PBS “Secrets of The Dead” episode about the
“Spanish” Influenza”,
some of the interviewed experts noted the terribly cramped conditions
of the British military camps on The Continent.
And uncovered group photos showing the Commonwealth troops living in
close contact with possible hosts/vectors like fowl and pigs.
Additionally, it was suggested that Spanish Influenza made its’
way into Germany because of a fight between (Americans?) in a tunnel
(a canal tunnel?) on the border with Germany.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/case_killerflu/
When I look at the hardship and sacrifices in the past, the loss of life that was paid to defend the west and our nation itself, I get rather heated as I note the casual manner some officials seem to have these days concerning matters of sovereignty.
This is another great article that focuses us on what our men and allies went through. WE, MUST, NEVER, FORGET!
Freedom is fleeting. Once lost it can be lost for generations.
Others with better learning and understanding may answer differently, but from my limited knowledge, no.
The US forces went into action just as the German forces were nearing Paris and the allied armies were nearing collapse. US forces were used primarily to halt the German advance and then in the counter attacks that followed.
Our forces weren’t in static positions long enough to have developed such extensive systems of fortification.
"...A thousand years of Darkness..."
—Roy Masters
Going to take a hell of a war to get back what we have given up since the end of WW II! Way too much, go along, to get along, PC clowns, and ignorant Americans today, who take way too much for granted! Just like the market has “a correction” now and then, so too does the attitude of this nation, need a serious correction!
I agree. In their defense I would say there are a multitude of distractions these days. If those were kept in perspective, I think the perspective of the public regarding our nation’s leadership would be much more acceptable to you and I.
My great uncle fought in Flanders in the 91st Division, October - November 1918. I have his diary. They unloaded, formed up, and went right into action - no trench warfare. He doesn’t mention tunnels.
Yep!
Thanks AuntB.
Not quite . Ludendorff planned his spring 1918 offensive against the English and French before any great numbers of American troops could arrive . The attack succeeded but it ran out of steam when it's supply became over extended and Australian troops where sent in against it . There where Americans there but not in great numbers.
The English offensive stated on August the 8th , the day Ludendorff called the black day of the German army . American troops came in in much greater numbers toward the end of August and early September . In November the Kaiser fled , the German Republic was declared on Nov. 9th and the Armistice on the 11th.
I knew I was insufficient in the details, but, for my own educational purposes, how far off am I in the understanding that US forces weren’t in long term static defenses?
My grandfather told me some about his experience. He didn’t mention trenches or underground fortifications but he did mention shell craters and the German lines, which he somehow got behind for a while and returned intact.
Interesting, but newspapers? Don’t think so. There are a lot of sites that show dug-up relics, and some of them are in suprising condition, even belts of MG ammo that look new (inside a rusty ammo can), but 90 years in the ground is a long time.
I don’t think long term static defenses would be necessary . Americans were there months , the English and French years . As mentioned in another post the American army tried to stay independent of the European army command .
Canada had a wacko Minister of Defense , Sam Hughes , who refused to allow Canadians to be sucked into the English armies in 1914 . He demanded and got an independent Canadian Corps . He was arrogant but that was one thing he got right . Before he was canned.
Many tunnels were dug under enemy trenches , packed with explosives then detonated . Both sides did it and there were occasions when they actually broke through into each others’ tunnels. One Canadian digger was stationed with a stethoscope , listening for the sounds of German tunneling , when a companion relieved himself beside him. The rush of water he heard in the dark terrified him , he said after he thought he was going to drown.
From what I understand a lot of this tunneling was done in white chalk.
The battle of Belleau Woods is near and dear to my heart, due to me being a former USMC infantryman. This is part of our Corps legend.
Here is one source for the type of fighting that took place:
http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/belleau_daniels.htm
Extreme heroism in adherence to duty was, by no means, limited to the USMC, US Army, US forces in general, the allies or their enemy. Examples of heroism and sacrifice abound in all the forces on both sides of that fight. Many rising to the level of legendary.
And those men were no better as men or as soldiers than our men of today, either. The task is different, the willingness to hold to honor and duty is not.
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