Ammonal Explosives, Mining & WWI Kiwis:

The AMMONAL explosive used at The Battle of Messines (in Flanders Fields, Belgium) was perhaps better named 'T-Ammonal' .. because it was strengthened with the addition of TNT - trinitrotoluene. - Either way - That 454 tonnes of explosives made one of the worlds biggest non-nuclear explosions on the 7th June 1917 .. when the Brits set-off 19 underground mines that killed some 10,000 German men with one blow - and is said to have been heard as far away as London.

One Of The Flooded WWI Mine Craters.

Ammonal is a cheap explosive made from ammonium nitrate (the oxidizer) and aluminium powder ..the fuel. It's prone to degrading if it gets damp - and becomes unstable if contaminated with say copper.. But it did the job.

Note Wikipedia says: "The composition of ammonal used at Messines was 65% ammonium nitrate, 17% aluminium, 15% trinitrotoluene (TNT), and 3% charcoal.- and that Ammonal remains in use as an industrial explosive. Typically, it is used for quarrying or mining purposes."

Alongside of the British, Australian and Canadian Allied sappers who undermined the German trench lines at Messines (Belgium) - and tunneled at Arras in Northern France, were the New Zealand Engineers Tunneling Company and members of the NZ Maori Pioneer Battalion. The area developed by the New Zealand tunnelers is mapped using NZ city and town names.

Kia ora!

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The underground caverns, mines, quarries and tunnels at Arras are quiet ancient - dating back to the 10th century. - The extraction of chalk and clay for building materials had formed an underground network that was extended by the WWI sappers for military use.

The maze of original publicly accessible caverns & tunnels at Arras are known Locally as The Boves.

This underworld was capable of hiding some 25,000 First World War troops and was fitted with services  and electricity.

- The area around Arras was once more the scene of heavy fighting between tank divisions in World War II in May 1940 and again in 1944.

Marty K.

ARRAS

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