Not sure if these appendices will be of any use for your book Jerry? I quite like letter from the Corps Commander, thought that may be nice to mention?
This is a photograph of the main road bridge in Halle a few days after it was blown on the 17 may by the 252 Field Company RE. The demolition charge did not only destroy the bridge but also the resounding houses. The rubble o f the houses was pushed aside en remained like this for a couple of years until one of the houses collapsed onto a German soldier.
Thanks for sharing the photo. I shouldn't laugh but I'm imaging the sappers arguing over how much explosive to use and being worried how much trouble they'd be in if the bridge wasn't blown up properly. I can only imagine looking at the surrounding damage that they threw caution to the wind and used an extra truck load of explosive just to make sure !
Thanks - It would be nice to get a non google maps 'Then and Now' comparison. I've not ventured that far south on my travels yet.
I wasn't hinting However I would love a Then and Now to post on my 1940 Facebook page along with some info from the diary.
Was this the steel girder bridge that they used 200lb of guncotton on ? All I can see is reinforced concrete.
This is not the bridge on the my photograph. The steel girder bridge was in the centre of Tubize some 4 miles to the south-west.
It's a shame that there seems to be no demolition report for this one then. It would be nice to know how much (presumably amonal ?) was used.
Al the demolition reports are for bridges over the Brussel-Chaleroi canal, the river Senne or railroads in or near Tubize. They used a couple of charges to blow up the bridge. One charge of 600lb, the main charge of 1000lb of amonal in the centre of the bridge and an other one of 200lb covered with sandbags.
Hi my grandfather was in 252 field company at Dunkirk. This war diary is fantastic. Is there any more information available about the unit?