Vampire dugout
Encyclopedia
The Vampire dugout was a First World War
underground brigade
headquarters, located near the Belgian
village of Zonnebeke
. It was created 14 metres (45.9 ft) below Flanders
by the 171 Tunnelling Company
of the Corps of Royal Engineers, after the Third Battle of Ypres/Battle of Passchendaele. Rediscovered in 2007, it was the subject of a 2008 British television programme in the Channel 4
Time Team
series, also shown on the Science Channel in the United States. The dugout
, inaccessible to the public as it is located on private property, is presently inspected every year by the local battlefield historical society.
, the need to protect troops within deeper and deeper shelters close to the frontlines developed.
At the end of the Battle of Passchendaele, having retaken Passchendaele ridge, the British were left with little natural shelter from the former woods and farms. The artillery of both sides had literally flattened the landscape. Needing shelter for their troops, the Allied High Command in January 1918 moved 25,000 specialist tunnellers and 50,000 attached infantry who had been preparing and taking part in the Battle of Messines
from June 7, 1917, north to the Ypres Salient. There they dug almost 200 independent and connected structures at depths of 30 metres (98.4 ft) into the blue-clay, which could accommodate from 50 men, to the largest at Wieltje and Hill 63 which could house 2,000.
What started out as simple deep dugouts turned over time, according to the original trench maps of the area, into hospital
s, mess room
s, chapel
s, kitchen
s, workshop
s, blacksmiths, as well as bedroom
s where exhausted soldiers could rest. The level of the activity can be gauged by the fact that by March 1918, more people lived underground in the Ypres area than reside above ground in the town today. Connected by corridors measuring 6ft 6in high by 4ft wide, they were fitted with water pumps, but when the troops left within weeks of the war ending, they were slowly submerged.
Dug over a period of four months by 171 Tunnelling Company, they used I beams and reclaimed railway line in a D-type sett structure. This was then further reinforced, using stepped wooden horizontal beams.
Vampire became operational from early April 1918, first housing the 100th Brigade of the British 33rd Division, then the 16th King's Royal Rifle Corps
and then the 9th Battalion Highland Light Infantry
Regiment.
But after only a few weeks, the dugout was lost when the Germans
undertook the Battle of the Lys in April 1918. It was recaptured in September 1918, when its last occupants became the 2nd Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment
.
factory
, meaning that the structures are now regularly found as the brickworks expands its commercial extraction activities.
In 1983, the Australia
n-built Bremen Redoubt was discovered at the rear of the brickworks. Opened to the public until 1998, it is believed that its eventual collapse was due to drying support timbers. During archaeological excavations of the Augustinian abbey, a second dugout was discovered under Zonnebeke church. The outline of this dugout is marked in an archaeological garden within the church grounds. On February 21, 1998, a farmer’s wife disappeared into the ground while washing the windows. Beecham dugout was subsequently discovered less than 400 metres (1,312.3 ft) from Tyne Cot Cemetery
.
It was made public in spring 2006 that the brickworks had received a licence for the extension of its blue-clay extraction zone. The Association for Battlefield Archaeology and Conservation, using maps compiled of 350 underground structures under the management of Belgian archaeologist Johan Vandewalle and British TV producer Peter Barton, showed that at least one structure was near to the proposed development zone, believed to be Vampire. Following discussion with local preservation, historic, council and state officials, the ABAC was allowed to start a scientific research project. They engaged the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology at Glasgow University to provide archaeological support, (in light of the residence of the Highland Light Infantry).
, they identified the entrance shaft of Vampire on the seventh and last day of their investigation, at 17:00. Further research was then undertaken by means of Ground penetrating radar, metal detection, sonar
and drillings in spring and summer, 2007.
Excavations started in January 2008, they returned in spring 2008 with a more extensive team, including members of Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service
who used the task as a training exercise. With the aim of clearing the entrance shaft and reaching the bottom, and then investigating the dugout itself, they had a set period before the land would again need to be reclaimed by the farmer and used for sowing winter
barley
.
As the clay proved too hard for certain extractions methods, and too soft for others, they eventually used a high-pressure firemans hose to liquify it, and then extract it by pump into a slurry
pit. After three weeks of works and on reaching shaft bottom, the team used a remotely operated vehicle
to assess the structures rigidity. Additional props were then inserted by mining experts to ensure the safety of the research team. Successful in their endeavours, the whole investigation was filmed by Channel 4, resulting in presenter Tony Robinson
being filmed within the still-damp but highly preserved dugout.
The research team found many signs of occupation by the British, but few from the Germans and no metal bed structures, suggesting that the British had had little time to enable fitting out of the dugout before it was overrun. The first estimate was that the dugout would measure 200 metres (656.2 ft) by 150 metres (492.1 ft), but tunnels have been found over an area 800 metres (2,624.7 ft) by 600 metres (1,968.5 ft). Designed by the British to house 50 troops, it is now estimated to have been home to at least 300 soldiers in an underground village. Whether extended by the British or the Germans will take further investigation, although signs of construction in progress have been found throughout the workings.
Because of their age and related safety concerns, historical significance and the collapse of the Bremen Redoubt, dugouts are generally not accessible to the public. A life-like reconstruction has been built in the museum in Passchendaele. Vampire, inaccessible to the public as it is located on private property, is presently inspected every year by the local battlefield historical society.
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
underground brigade
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
headquarters, located near the Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
village of Zonnebeke
Zonnebeke
Zonnebeke is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the villages of Beselare, Geluveld, Passendale, Zandvoorde and Zonnebeke proper. On January 1, 2006 Zonnebeke had a total population of 11,758...
. It was created 14 metres (45.9 ft) below Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
by the 171 Tunnelling Company
Royal Engineer tunnelling companies
Royal Engineer tunnelling companies were specialist units of the Corps of Royal Engineers within the British Army, formed to dig attacking tunnels under enemy lines during the First World War....
of the Corps of Royal Engineers, after the Third Battle of Ypres/Battle of Passchendaele. Rediscovered in 2007, it was the subject of a 2008 British television programme in the Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
Time Team
Time Team
Time Team is a British television series which has been aired on Channel 4 since 1994. Created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented by actor Tony Robinson, each episode features a team of specialists carrying out an archaeological dig over a period of three days, with Robinson explaining...
series, also shown on the Science Channel in the United States. The dugout
Dugout (shelter)
A dugout or dug-out, also known as a pithouse, pit-house, earth lodge, mud hut, is a shelter for humans or domesticated animals and livestock based on a hole or depression dug into the ground. These structures are one of the most ancient types of human housing known to archeologists...
, inaccessible to the public as it is located on private property, is presently inspected every year by the local battlefield historical society.
Background
As the fixed siege early period of World War I gave way to a more mobile war, and the opposing sides developed better technology and tactics particularly in artilleryArtillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
, the need to protect troops within deeper and deeper shelters close to the frontlines developed.
At the end of the Battle of Passchendaele, having retaken Passchendaele ridge, the British were left with little natural shelter from the former woods and farms. The artillery of both sides had literally flattened the landscape. Needing shelter for their troops, the Allied High Command in January 1918 moved 25,000 specialist tunnellers and 50,000 attached infantry who had been preparing and taking part in the Battle of Messines
Battle of Messines
The Battle of Messines was a battle of the Western front of the First World War. It began on 7 June 1917 when the British Second Army under the command of General Herbert Plumer launched an offensive near the village of Mesen in West Flanders, Belgium...
from June 7, 1917, north to the Ypres Salient. There they dug almost 200 independent and connected structures at depths of 30 metres (98.4 ft) into the blue-clay, which could accommodate from 50 men, to the largest at Wieltje and Hill 63 which could house 2,000.
What started out as simple deep dugouts turned over time, according to the original trench maps of the area, into hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
s, mess room
Mess
A mess is the place where military personnel socialise, eat, and live. In some societies this military usage has extended to other disciplined services eateries such as civilian fire fighting and police forces. The root of mess is the Old French mes, "portion of food" A mess (also called a...
s, chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
s, kitchen
Kitchen
A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation.In the West, a modern residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a refrigerator and kitchen cabinets arranged according to a modular design. Many households have a...
s, workshop
Workshop
A workshop is a room or building which provides both the area and tools that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods...
s, blacksmiths, as well as bedroom
Bedroom
A bedroom is a private room where people usually sleep for the night or relax during the day.About one third of our lives are spent sleeping and most of the time we are asleep, we are sleeping in a bedroom. To be considered a bedroom the room needs to have bed. Bedrooms can range from really simple...
s where exhausted soldiers could rest. The level of the activity can be gauged by the fact that by March 1918, more people lived underground in the Ypres area than reside above ground in the town today. Connected by corridors measuring 6ft 6in high by 4ft wide, they were fitted with water pumps, but when the troops left within weeks of the war ending, they were slowly submerged.
Construction
Vampire was built to house a brigade headquarters, of up to 50 men and one senior commanding officer. Located close to Polygon wood, it was named after the supply soldiers whose mission was to come out at night to re-supply troops in the front line.Dug over a period of four months by 171 Tunnelling Company, they used I beams and reclaimed railway line in a D-type sett structure. This was then further reinforced, using stepped wooden horizontal beams.
Vampire became operational from early April 1918, first housing the 100th Brigade of the British 33rd Division, then the 16th King's Royal Rifle Corps
King's Royal Rifle Corps
The King's Royal Rifle Corps was a British Army infantry regiment, originally raised in colonial North America as the Royal Americans, and recruited from American colonists. Later ranked as the 60th Regiment of Foot, the regiment served for more than 200 years throughout the British Empire...
and then the 9th Battalion Highland Light Infantry
Highland Light Infantry
The Highland Light Infantry was a regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1959. In 1923 the regimental title was expanded to the Highland Light Infantry ...
Regiment.
But after only a few weeks, the dugout was lost when the Germans
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
undertook the Battle of the Lys in April 1918. It was recaptured in September 1918, when its last occupants became the 2nd Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment
Worcestershire Regiment
The Worcestershire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 29th Regiment of Foot and the 36th Regiment of Foot....
.
After the war: 1920 onwards
After the cessation of hostilities in November 1918, all the deep dugouts including Vampire were abandoned. After the removal of known munitions at the surface by military clean-up teams, the locals returned from 1920 to recover the upper sections of the wooden entrance steps for heat and building, and then filled the main shafts with rubble to enable the land to be returned to farming. Today, most dugouts are flooded, but this has preserved them, and they are now the most authentic relics of the Great War in Flanders.Brickworks development
The village and district of Zonnebeke and its five villages have the largest concentration of underground constructions, being located at the centre of the Passchendaele conflict. Secondly, the blue-clay is now being extracted for commercial purposes by the Terca Zonnebeke N.V. brickworksBrickworks
A brickworks also known as a brick factory, is a factory for the manufacturing of bricks, from clay or shale. Usually a brickworks is located on a clay bedrock often with a quarry for clay on site....
factory
Factory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
, meaning that the structures are now regularly found as the brickworks expands its commercial extraction activities.
In 1983, the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n-built Bremen Redoubt was discovered at the rear of the brickworks. Opened to the public until 1998, it is believed that its eventual collapse was due to drying support timbers. During archaeological excavations of the Augustinian abbey, a second dugout was discovered under Zonnebeke church. The outline of this dugout is marked in an archaeological garden within the church grounds. On February 21, 1998, a farmer’s wife disappeared into the ground while washing the windows. Beecham dugout was subsequently discovered less than 400 metres (1,312.3 ft) from Tyne Cot Cemetery
Tyne Cot Cemetery
Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial ground for the dead of the First World War in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front...
.
It was made public in spring 2006 that the brickworks had received a licence for the extension of its blue-clay extraction zone. The Association for Battlefield Archaeology and Conservation, using maps compiled of 350 underground structures under the management of Belgian archaeologist Johan Vandewalle and British TV producer Peter Barton, showed that at least one structure was near to the proposed development zone, believed to be Vampire. Following discussion with local preservation, historic, council and state officials, the ABAC was allowed to start a scientific research project. They engaged the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology at Glasgow University to provide archaeological support, (in light of the residence of the Highland Light Infantry).
Rediscovery
Following further map analysis in 2006, in the summer of 2007, a joint Belgian/British team led by Vandewalle and Barton, together with battlefield archaeologist Tony Pollard and Geophysicist Malcolm Weale went to Flanders to hunt for Vampire. Working from original trench maps, using geophysical surveyGeophysical survey
Geophysical survey is the systematic collection of geophysical data for spatial studies. Geophysical surveys may use a great variety of sensing instruments, and data may be collected from above or below the Earth's surface or from aerial or marine platforms. Geophysical surveys have many...
, they identified the entrance shaft of Vampire on the seventh and last day of their investigation, at 17:00. Further research was then undertaken by means of Ground penetrating radar, metal detection, sonar
Sonar
Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...
and drillings in spring and summer, 2007.
Excavations started in January 2008, they returned in spring 2008 with a more extensive team, including members of Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service
Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service
Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, is the Local Authority Fire Service serving the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire. It comprises the four districts of Buckinghamshire – Aylesbury Vale, Chiltern, South Bucks and Wycombe – and the unitary authority of Milton Keynes.Some 550 firefighters...
who used the task as a training exercise. With the aim of clearing the entrance shaft and reaching the bottom, and then investigating the dugout itself, they had a set period before the land would again need to be reclaimed by the farmer and used for sowing winter
Winter cereals
Winter cereals, also called winter grains, fall cereals/grains, autumn-sown grains, etc.) are the cereals which are sown in the autumn. They germinate before the winter comes, may partially grow during mild winters or simply persevere under a sufficiently thick snow cover to continue their life...
barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
.
As the clay proved too hard for certain extractions methods, and too soft for others, they eventually used a high-pressure firemans hose to liquify it, and then extract it by pump into a slurry
Slurry
A slurry is, in general, a thick suspension of solids in a liquid.-Examples of slurries:Examples of slurries include:* Lahars* A mixture of water and cement to form concrete* A mixture of water, gelling agent, and oxidizers used as an explosive...
pit. After three weeks of works and on reaching shaft bottom, the team used a remotely operated vehicle
Remotely operated vehicle
A remotely operated vehicle is a tethered underwater vehicle. They are common in deepwater industries such as offshore hydrocarbon extraction. An ROV may sometimes be called a remotely operated underwater vehicle to distinguish it from remote control vehicles operating on land or in the air. ROVs...
to assess the structures rigidity. Additional props were then inserted by mining experts to ensure the safety of the research team. Successful in their endeavours, the whole investigation was filmed by Channel 4, resulting in presenter Tony Robinson
Tony Robinson
Tony Robinson is an English actor, comedian, author, broadcaster and political campaigner. He is best known for playing Baldrick in the BBC television series Blackadder, and for hosting Channel 4 programmes such as Time Team and The Worst Jobs in History. Robinson is a member of the Labour Party...
being filmed within the still-damp but highly preserved dugout.
The research team found many signs of occupation by the British, but few from the Germans and no metal bed structures, suggesting that the British had had little time to enable fitting out of the dugout before it was overrun. The first estimate was that the dugout would measure 200 metres (656.2 ft) by 150 metres (492.1 ft), but tunnels have been found over an area 800 metres (2,624.7 ft) by 600 metres (1,968.5 ft). Designed by the British to house 50 troops, it is now estimated to have been home to at least 300 soldiers in an underground village. Whether extended by the British or the Germans will take further investigation, although signs of construction in progress have been found throughout the workings.
Status
With preservation in mind, the Vampire dugout entrance shaft was covered, and the dugout allowed to refill with water. Preserved in this manner for 90 years, it was felt that this was the best course of action. This was in light of previous experience with similar structures, such as the Bremen Redoubt, lost due to timber degradation in the dry atmosphere.Because of their age and related safety concerns, historical significance and the collapse of the Bremen Redoubt, dugouts are generally not accessible to the public. A life-like reconstruction has been built in the museum in Passchendaele. Vampire, inaccessible to the public as it is located on private property, is presently inspected every year by the local battlefield historical society.
Future
As the brickworks in Zonnebeke expands, and as the land in which Vampire sits is designated as a potential future quarrying area, the dugouts' future is uncertain. Even if it is preserved, the quarrying works could threaten its future, due to the egress of water from the nearby works creating cracks in the blue-clay.Units that operated from the dugout
- 100 Brigade, 33rd Division
- 16th King's Royal Rifle CorpsKing's Royal Rifle CorpsThe King's Royal Rifle Corps was a British Army infantry regiment, originally raised in colonial North America as the Royal Americans, and recruited from American colonists. Later ranked as the 60th Regiment of Foot, the regiment served for more than 200 years throughout the British Empire...
- 9th Battalion Highland Light InfantryHighland Light InfantryThe Highland Light Infantry was a regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1959. In 1923 the regimental title was expanded to the Highland Light Infantry ...
- 2nd Battalion Worcestershire RegimentWorcestershire RegimentThe Worcestershire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 29th Regiment of Foot and the 36th Regiment of Foot....