The Somme : secret Tunnel Wars.

[Jenks]

Did anyone see this Last night..A very interesting programme about the tunnellers laying the mines around La Boiselle especially Y Sap and Lochnagar. The programme is still available on IPlayer..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... nnel_Wars/

Y Sap is no longer to be seen but thanks to Richard Dunning's purchase of the crater, Lochnagar is still very much in evidence.A definite must see if in the region.


This is an excellent website well worth exploring


http://www.lochnagarcrater.org/



Of the crater Richard Dunning writes:

People who stand on the lip for the first time, including the thousands of young people, instinctively understand the fearsome power and destruction of modern warfare and, in reading the many evocative memoirs of the soldiers themselves, the terror and vulnerability of those who experienced it.

I have visited the site several times and each time I feel as he describes.

Jenks

[PaulR]

Hi Jenks

Didn't see the program as I'm away but I have been to Lochnagar and like the owner and may others, found it deeply moving, sad and incredibly impressive all at the same time.

It is that big that it's impossible to take photo's from the top that captures it from rim to rim. Possibly you could try with the new Panorama technology in some cameras though.

There are other craters still in existence, mostly water filled ponds now, but nothing like the scale of the Lochnagar.

There was one museum we visited that had a 3d model of an actual tunnel system under a section of the front. Incredibly sophisticated with Arterial tunnels interconnected by smaller one.

Very brave men the tunnellers.

PaulR

[Jenks]

PaulR..

I don't know if you have visited the Canadian Memorial on Vimy Ridge. There have some tunnels there that the public can go down (accompanied of course) very interesting seeing the little accommodation/ office spaces dug into the tunnel walls. They even have a water pumping gallery still littered with some of the original pumping equipment. Of all of the great memorials I think The Canadian Memorial is probably the most inspiring, if thats the correct word.


Canadian Memorial..



Tunnel..




Water pumping station..





Jenks

[shotgun sam]

As a family we were at Vimmy Ridge a few years ago out of all the places we went to (Normandy beaches, Albert, Peron and the Somme) the one that brought it home to us how horrific the war would have been was the roads through the memorial/battle area are fenced off with the wooded areas pock marked with craters and signs saying danger unexploded ordnance.

Sam

[Jenks]

S/Sam.

Have you seen the excellent series parts, 1 to 10 on the story of the battle for Vimy Ridge. Highly recommended viewing..



Watching the part about the winter of 1917 and being very honest I can't help thinking that I might have been unable to have coped with it. Thank goodness that I have never been tested to such a degree.

Jenks

[shotgun sam]

Jenks,

Thanks for posting about the videos like you say I am glad we would not have to do that.
It makes me think even more about my day at Vimmy Ridge.

Sam

[amyjane]

Thanks for the link Jenks - I missed the first airing and am looking forward to watching this!