The First World War

[Ennath]

Originally Posted by palo5

Why didn't they mine it?

The British weren't much good at mine warfare in WWI. They didn't even have a decent mine until 1917, and that was copied from a German design. Probably wasn't the expertise at mining by early 1918.

[rupertramjet]

But we were good at another kind of mine, Royal Engineers Tunneling Companies, dud tunnels under enemy positions and filled them with explosives. Offensive mine warfare was a characteristic of the fighting on the Western Front. There are many examples of small or large mine craters created by exploded underground mines.

The largest mine crater on the Western Front can be seen on the 1916 Somme battlefield in France. This is an example of a site of battlefield remains and historical importance, which was formally unpreserved and was “rescued” as a site of historical importance. For 50 years it had been left in the landscape, but had begun to be used by motorbikers and for dumped rubbish. It was privately purchased in 1979 and is now a recognized 1914-1918 historic battlefield site.

[Historian]

Originally Posted by richardoe

IIRC the VC awarded to Sergeant Finch was allocated by ballot. It may have been the last to be awarded by ballot.

As you suggest, the four Zeebrugge VCs awarded by ballot (Finch, McKenzie, Carpenter and Bamford) seem to be the last time the provision was used, although it's apparently still in the regulations according to Wikipedia.

The idea was that in cases where an entire unit, ship's crew etc had performed a collective act of outstanding courage which merits the award of the VC, but it's not felt possible to pick out any particular individuals, then the officers, NCOs and men are each asked to vote by ballot to nominate the recipients of the awards.
The process was carried out by rank- the officers ballot for the officer to receive the VC, the NCOs for the NCO and so on. Up to four medals can be awarded this way, the usual ratio of awards being one officer, one NCO and two privates/seamen.

Wikipedia states that 46 VCs were awarded in this manner, a large proportion of them (29) during the Indian Mutiny, and that it was last used during WW1- Some of the Lancashire Fusiliers' famous 'Six VCs before breakfast' in 1915 at Gallipoli (IIRC I've talked about those before) were awarded in this manner, but the Zeebrugge VCs are apparently the last.

[haroldeye]

ANZAC day today.

[knobby109]

Originally Posted by Ennath

The British weren't much good at mine warfare in WWI. They didn't even have a decent mine until 1917, and that was copied from a German design. Probably wasn't the expertise at mining by early 1918.

Britain was a major naval power as well as owning half the world's merchant ships. The mine was seen as a weapon for a minor power.

[palo5]

Originally Posted by knobby109

Britain was a major naval power as well as owning half the world's merchant ships. The mine was seen as a weapon for a minor power.

If that's true, they must have been exceptionally slow thinkers. What was it that stopped their Navy getting to Constantinople in February 1915?

And they still hadn't worked it out three years later?

[Ennath]

During the First World War, an estimated 500,000 to 700,000 German civilians died of complications from malnutrition.

[palo5]

Originally Posted by Ennath

During the First World War, an estimated 500,000 to 700,000 German civilians died of complications from malnutrition.

I can believe that. Large parts of Germany were not very productive agriculturally, so they needed a lot of fertilizer. But when the war came, the supply of nitrates to make the fertilizer was reduced dramatically by the blockade, and the nitrates they did have were needed for explosives

That meant they didn't have enough crops for animal feed (because they were using the crops to feed people) so a lot of the livestock was slaughtered. That meant a lot of animal products - meat & milk products, for example - couldn't be produced. Leather was also in short supply

Almost the entire population suffered as a result. Even the best hotels in Berlin could not offer adequate food. It is known that some had "cooked crow" on their menus. I'm not making that up, it's absolutely true

If anyone needed evidence of how effective the blockade really was, here is one example

[richardoe]

Malnutrition was a problem in Britain as well. Most recruits to the British forces in wwi were underweight, usually by a stone and a half.

[haroldeye]

Palo the British were not good at mine warfare because they wanted to keep the seas as free from such things as possible in order to preserve their fleets freedom of movement (or manoeuvre room if you wish). We were and still are very good at getting rid of the things.