Simon Jones Posted 17 March , 2010 Share Posted 17 March , 2010 Thanks Peter! Of course Beneath Flanders Fields will never be bettered as the Flanders book! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Lees Posted 17 March , 2010 Share Posted 17 March , 2010 I have just ordered my copy from WHSmith.co.uk at £16.25 incl. p&p. And it arrived at 9am this morning, less than 18 hours after I placed the order. That's why I don't order from Amazon. They use couriers and not the Post Office. If I'm not in I have to drive about 20 miles to get it from the courier's depot. If I miss the postman it's 1/2 a mile away. Now I'm looking forward to a good read. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 21 March , 2010 Admin Share Posted 21 March , 2010 My Dad gave me this book for my birthday- very much looking forward to reading it. (I also blew bithday money on Digging Up Plugstreet and the OH 1915 vol 1 plus maps) Michelle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Riley Posted 21 March , 2010 Share Posted 21 March , 2010 No offence taken of course, no feathers ruffled. It was ST! 76. I can make it available as an attachment to an e-mail if anyone wants it. My conclusion was that the formulae were not robust enough to consider using them for a modest garden pond excavation, even given a supply of relevant explosive. An excellent article - one of the best to appear in 'Stand To!'. It kept me busy for days with my TI 85 (graphic calculator) and graph plotting program tweaking variables and considering using it in an A Level 'Maths of War Tour'. PM to follow Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Doyle Posted 22 March , 2010 Share Posted 22 March , 2010 Thanks Peter! Of course Beneath Flanders Fields will never be bettered as the Flanders book! Too kind! Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Noble Posted 3 April , 2010 Share Posted 3 April , 2010 I received my copy yesterday. A fascinating insight into the war underground, however, i hoped that the mining operations on the Redan Ridge, Somme, would have been given some inclusion and an analysis as regards operations before the 1st July 1916. I do understand though, the constraints of publishing. Great reading though. Kindest regards, Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob lembke Posted 3 April , 2010 Share Posted 3 April , 2010 Simon; Anything on Turkish mining at Gallipoli? My father was one of the Pioniere advising them in that work. And any advice on obtaining the book in the US? Bob Lembke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Jones Posted 6 April , 2010 Share Posted 6 April , 2010 I received my copy yesterday. A fascinating insight into the war underground, however, i hoped that the mining operations on the Redan Ridge, Somme, would have been given some inclusion and an analysis as regards operations before the 1st July 1916. I do understand though, the constraints of publishing. Great reading though. Kindest regards, Chris. Chris Many thanks. PM me your address and I'll send you a CD of the 252 Tunnelling Coy War Diary if you don't have it. Simon Anything on Turkish mining at Gallipoli? My father was one of the Pioniere advising them in that work. And any advice on obtaining the book in the US? Bob There are seventeen pages for Gallipoli on mining and also tunnels used for infantry attacks with various maps and diagrams. All my sources are British and Australian for Gallipoli and like everyone else I can't get at Turkish war diaries! Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob lembke Posted 6 April , 2010 Share Posted 6 April , 2010 Bob There are seventeen pages for Gallipoli on mining and also tunnels used for infantry attacks with various maps and diagrams. All my sources are British and Australian for Gallipoli and like everyone else I can't get at Turkish war diaries! Simon Thanks for the info. Do Turkish war diaries exist? I understand that a Turkish infantry company commander at Gallipoli had to file 146 reports on a regular basis, and since there might only have been about three literate people in his company, including himself (hardly surprising, considering the astonishing complexity of the Ottoman Turkish language), he would have had little or no help. (In the German Army in a company the Feldwebel and perhaps other NCOs efficiently ground out the routine paperwork, which was then just presented to the CO for his signature.) So I would imagine that there were war diaries, or a lot of other comparable material. (One of the stirling accomplishments of the recent adventure in Iraq seems to have been the burning by the "Coalition of the Willing" of an archive containing 500 years of Turkish records on the administration of what now is Iraq. Sorry, Mesop students.) Access to Turkish archives is not impossible, it has been (or at least application to the Turkish General Staff for the purpose of access) offered to me, and a non-Turkish research partner of mine has worked in them (but he has Turkish and considerable leverage), but the larger problem is what one can do when you get into the archives. Maybe in 15-20 years one will be able to scan documents and a computer could translate Ottoman Turkish into English oe whatever. Not in my lifetime. Simon, I might be able to engineer a major US research library obtaining a copy of your book for its collection; then it would be available thru inter-library loan to many US libraries. But the last time I did this it took about a year to be cataloged, but that book was not in English. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Noble Posted 6 April , 2010 Share Posted 6 April , 2010 Hi Simon. How very kind of you indeed and very much appreciated. This will expand my knowledge of mining operations in this area of the Somme battlefield no end! My kindest regards, Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Tiger Posted 6 April , 2010 Share Posted 6 April , 2010 ......ST! 76. I can make it available as an attachment to an e-mail if anyone wants it. Grumpy Your inbox is full Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Jones Posted 10 April , 2010 Share Posted 10 April , 2010 Chris I'll send a CD next week. Bob A short answer - yes there are Turkish war diaries. cheers Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towisuk Posted 10 April , 2010 Share Posted 10 April , 2010 For the Anorack's amongs the Pals who won't be able to sleep unless they have something to get their teeth into..... regards Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Jones Posted 12 April , 2010 Share Posted 12 April , 2010 I like this! Incidentally from memory I think both the 1911 and 1923 British mining manuals point out that the formulae become unreliable the larger the charge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muerrisch Posted 12 April , 2010 Share Posted 12 April , 2010 and don't practice this at home, even to excavate a garden pond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry_Reeves Posted 12 April , 2010 Share Posted 12 April , 2010 As did the 1934 Demolitions and Mining Manual. "The formulae are most frequently unreliable for mines of exceptionally large charges (20,000 lb and over). The vast upheaval and shaking effect produced by the explosion is often sufficient to cause small land-slides and subsidences, with the result that the radii of rupture in which these take place are far in excess of the normal." I bought this particular manual some 30 years ago and I found it interesting at the time that we still considered this type of warfare a feasible future proposition. TR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staffsyeoman Posted 12 April , 2010 Share Posted 12 April , 2010 "one gets the impression that charges were guessed at by crazed Methodists who enjoyed a thunderous bang." ...that's redolent of the kind of comment Gordon Corrigan makes (to much, justified, mirth)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry_Reeves Posted 12 April , 2010 Share Posted 12 April , 2010 The Methodists coming from Kipling's eagled eye view of the RE, with some (tongue in-cheek) justification. TR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 12 April , 2010 Share Posted 12 April , 2010 Am I imagining it or is there a book called "All our officers are Methodists" ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry_Reeves Posted 12 April , 2010 Share Posted 12 April , 2010 It comes from Kipling's poem Sappers: "We build 'em nice barracks -- they swear they are bad, That our Colonels are Methodist, married or mad, Insultin', etc." There is an explanation for this, but it would detract from the main thrust of the post. TR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Jones Posted 13 April , 2010 Share Posted 13 April , 2010 Am I imagining it or is there a book called "All our officers are Methodists" ? There is a Sapper memoir of the Burma campaign called 'Our Colonels are Methodist'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towisuk Posted 13 April , 2010 Share Posted 13 April , 2010 And in case you want to hear if your neighbour is tunnelling under your property for nefarious reasons.....now you can work out far you can hear sounds depending on your local geological situation. regards Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 22 April , 2010 Admin Share Posted 22 April , 2010 Finally finished this, It has taken a lot longer to read than I anticipated- nothing at all to do with the book but the pace of my life of late. Fascinating book, well written and lucid. Well done Simon. Michelle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinWills Posted 24 May , 2010 Share Posted 24 May , 2010 My Dad gave me this book for my birthday- very much looking forward to reading it. (I also blew bithday money on Digging Up Plugstreet and the OH 1915 vol 1 plus maps) Michelle Michelle, Hmmm - Official Histories, they can become addictive! I'm guessing that you already have vol. 2 for 1915 (?) - and probably some others. I guess this is an original which explains blowing the cash. I have fond memories of making the same acquisition myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 25 May , 2010 Admin Share Posted 25 May , 2010 Yes it was an original Martin, now sits alongside the vol 2 plus maps.....................(originals) Michelle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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