Items For Sale
ZERO HOUR
The Underground War
DVD
Select Johan to view segments of the DVD
Johan holding the DVD..
Sealed and flooded for over ninety years, hundreds of miles of tunnels and dugouts still lie beneath the battlefields of the Great War today.
This is the story of the engineers who built them: men who waged their own secret conflict in dark, airless and cramped labyrinths - a private war fought deep beneath Flanders fields in which the enemy was heard but seldom seen.
For the first time historians Peter Barton and Johan Vandewalle (also the authors of the famous book "Beneath Flanders Fields" discover and explore the tunnel complexes and speak to the few remaining survivors of The Underground War.
johanvandewalle531@hotmail.com
Website Price 28€ includes postage worldwide
The cover of the DVD and
Beneath Flanders Fields
These publications are available from most leading online book stores..availabe in both English and Belgium versions..
Authors: Peter Barton, Peter Doyle, Johan Vandewalle
The tunnellers' war still remains one of the most misunderstood, misrepresented and mystifying conflicts of the Great War.
The product of over twenty-five years of research 'Beneath Flanders Fields' illustrates the evolution of military mining, leading to its deployment in the greatest siege in military history - in the trenches of the Western Front.
In the Ypres Salient, the secret struggle beneath no man's land became one of engineering, technology and science - and of carefully calculated assassination. In the words of the tunnellers themselves, and through previously unpublished photographs - many in colour - as well as contemporary plans and drawings, this book reveals how this most intense of battles was fought and won. Few on the surface knew the horrific details of the tunnellers work, yet this silent, claustrophobic conflict was a barbaric struggle that raged night and day for almost two and a half years, and one which generated mental and physical stresses often far beyond those suffered by the infantry in the trenches. On 7 June 1917 at Messines Ridge, the tension was broken with the opening of the most dramatic mine offensive in history.
After Messines, the tunnellers turned their attention to the construction of deep dugouts, structures which house tens of thousands of troops, men for whom life on the surface had become almost untenable. Often electrically lit and ventilated, the incorporated headquarters, cookhouses, soup kitchen, hospitals, drying rooms and workshops. Hundreds were built, and thanks to the Flanders geology many still survive today, and seen here for the first time in photographs.
But such glimpses of these poignant time capsules are fleeting: the old dugouts are decaying and collapsing, creating serious problems on the surface for the people of Flanders today. In this way, the extraordinary work of the tunnellers has formed the final physical legacy of the Great War.
3 DVD set over 6 hours viewing
For more info select one of the covers..
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by Kristof Jacobs (Author)
Click on the photo for a larger view - in PDF format
“Nieuwpoort” for many this name is associated with holiday, coast tourism, sociability, sun, sea and beach. For some it has been their fixed place of residence since generations or the home port of their ship. For others Nieuwpoort stands similar for , misery, fear, dead stand,… war. Unfortunately the last witnesses of this severe time have become extremely rare and we become dependent to writings and documents as only source of information.
One of these last witnesses was Bert Fearns (1898-1997). His story forms the red line trough this publication. Both current events at Nieuwpoort, and matter from the past confirm the tale of this man who, on an age of 18 years, was thrown in the violence of world war one.
In 1999 Nieuwpoort obtained the national and international press bulletins of subsided houses again. British academicians referred to the underground war history of the city. Local politicians and a professor to the Belgian royal military school took off the tale as nonsense
With this work the author provide insight in the situation at Nieuwpoort in 1917 by means of historical documents, regiment reports and depositions. Because of this the relation between the current problems in and around the city and the historical facts, becomes unarguable.
Chapters:
History of Nieuwpoort, Sector Nieuwpoort, The Tunnellers, The East Lancashire Royal Engineers, 135th the Siege battery, Tunnelling in the dunes of the Belgian coast, Operation Hush, Diary of Major W.E. Buckingham, The Dorset regiment at Nieuwpoort 1917, 2nd the Australian Tunnelling Company at Nieuwpoort, The replacement, The story of Bert Fearns, The current impact of tunnelling in 1917, List British units, Dugout and tunnel database.
The book contains over 350 historical pictures maps and plans, hardcover.
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher:
De Krijger (July 2, 2008)
Dorpsstraat 144
9420 ERPE ( Erpe-Mere )
Belgium
Tel.: +32 53 80 84 49
Fax: +32 53 80 84 53
E-mail:
de.krijger@proximedia.be
Language: Dutch
ISBN-10: 9058681823
ISBN-13: 978-9058681829
Target
http://www.target.com/Nieuwpoort-Sector-1917-Jacobs-Kristof/dp/9058681823
Amazon
The book is also for sale in the café of Johan Vandewalle at Polygon Wood Zonnebeke or signed directly from the author Kristof Jacobs
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