# France reveals British WWI cave camp - BBC



## Yrys (10 May 2008)

France reveals British WWI cave camp



> _France has reopened a labyrinth of medieval quarries under the northern town of Arras which the British army converted into an underground hideout for 24,000 soldiers during
> World War I. The BBC's Emma Jane Kirby went to investigate._
> 
> Eighteen metres (60ft) underground and immediately I'm cold, slightly unnerved by the dimness of the light and very uncomfortable as the chalky ceilings constantly drip
> ...



2 pictures on link article


----------



## Haletown (10 May 2008)

Think Vimy Ridge.

Their "Battle of Arras" was our Vimy.  Easter 1917. It was snowing on the British troops as well as ours.

Some of the tunnels under Vimy have been open for awhile, until they found a very large underground mine charge that was still there from the War.


----------



## Richie (16 May 2008)

Two of the twenty one mine charges used at the Battle of Messines in June, 1917 were left unexploded and one was hit by lightening in 1955, finally exploding (no one was killed). I seem to recall a TV documentary a few years ago about efforts to safely deactivate the final mine; those activities may still be going on.


----------



## geo (18 May 2008)

Heh.... 90 year old explosives.... wonderful challenge


----------



## AJFitzpatrick (18 May 2008)

A friend of mine recently completed her Masters thesis in geological engineering on the stability of the excavations at Vimy Ridge. No one wants a bus to fall into a hole. 
She had the opportunity of crawling around some of the otherwise inaccessible tunnels and such. Apparently there are quite a few no-go areas in the Canadian tunnels on the basis of unexpended ordinance and explosives. Although she didn't get into the German tunnels, apparently those are even more littered with it.


----------



## the 48th regulator (18 May 2008)

http://www.history.ca/ontv/titledetails.aspx?titleid=113089

Fantastic documentary,

And those 48th....Always leaving their mark.







dileas

tess


----------



## ModlrMike (20 May 2008)

Slighlty OT but... I just finished reading Burton's Vimy. Cover to cover in two days. A fantastic read, and having been to Vimy, I was able to picture in my mind's eye much of what he wrote about.


----------

