Vampire dugout

The Vampire dugout (known locally in Belgium as the Vampyr dugout), was a First World War underground brigade headquarters, located near the Belgian village of Zonnebeke. It was created 14 metres (46 ft) below Flanders by the 171 Tunnelling Company of the Corps of Royal Engineers,^[1] 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.^[2] The dugout, inaccessible to the public as it is located on private property, is 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 artillery, 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 ft) into the blue-clay, which could accommodate from 50 men, to the largest at Wieltje and Hill 63 which could house 2,000.^[3]

What started out as simple deep dugouts turned over time, according to the original trench maps of the area, into hospitals, mess rooms, chapels, kitchens, workshops, blacksmiths, as well as bedrooms 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 6 ft 6in high by 4 ft wide, they were fitted with water pumps, but when the troops left within weeks of the war ending, they were slowly submerged.^[4]

Construction

Vampire was built to house a brigade headquarters, of up to 50 men and one senior commanding officer.^[5] 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.^[6]

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.^[7]

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.^[8]

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.

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.^[3]

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. brickworks factory, meaning that the structures are now regularly found as the brickworks expands its commercial extraction activities.^[3]

In 1983, the Australian-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.^[9] 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 (1,300 ft) from Tyne Cot Cemetery.^[3]

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.^[7] 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).^[7]

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 archaeologists Tony Pollard and Iain Banks with geophysicist Malcolm Weale went to Flanders to hunt for Vampire.^[2] Working from original trench maps, using geophysical survey and extensive trenching with a mechanical excavator, Pollard and Banks identified the entrance shaft of Vampire on the seventh and last day of their investigation.^[5]

Excavations started in January 2008,^[7] 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.^[10] 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 settlement tank; this allowed the water to be re-cycled constantly. After three weeks of works and on reaching shaft bottom, the team used a remotely operated vehicle to assess the structure's rigidity.^[7] 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.^[2]

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.^[7] The first estimate was that the dugout would measure 200 metres (660 ft) by 150 metres (490 ft), but tunnels have been found over an area 800 metres (2,600 ft) by 600 metres (2,000 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.^[11] 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.^[9]

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 lifelike reconstruction has been built in the museum in Passchendaele.^[3] Vampire, inaccessible to the public as it is located on private property, is 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 Headquarters, 33rd Division
• 16th Battalion (Church Lads Brigade) King's Royal Rifle Corps
• 1st/9th Battalion Highland Light Infantry
• 2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment

These three battalions were the three constituent battalions of 100 Brigade

References

Articles

• Dertien meter diep de Vlaamse klei in Bezoek aan Vampire Dugout,90 jaar terug in de tijd (Dutch)

Notes

External links

• Time Team website on uncovering the Vampire dugout