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Legacy Member
The late Tony Edwards was a significant part of the cartridge collecting community and compiled a huge listing of British SAA information which is available here British Military Small Arms Ammo .
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05-08-2020 07:46 AM
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True. Tony was a fount of knowledge on small arms ammunition & his passing was a great loss to the collecting community. His knowledge wasn't just restricted to ammunition; he had great knowledge of weapons themselves, & was also an experienced WW1 battlefield explorer. We met up on several occasions UNDER the Western Front, on battlefield archaeology projects. He was a member of the Durand Group who explore the tunnel systems under the old front lines. It was they who made the residual mine charge safe that was still lying under the public coach park at the Vimy Ridge memorial site!
Sorry, I've digressed......!
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Contributing Member
I did read about 2 mines that did not go up one did years after the war due to a lightning strike so they found the missing mine then, maybe they can find the mechanical tunneler the brits used but it became jammed when they had a tea break and the good ol Ypres clay squeezed in trapping it forever.
That part of the war would have been truely terrifying not knowing when the enemy would camoflette you or you'd be fighting them hand to hand in pitch blackness no that took courage to a much higher level I think.
Last edited by CINDERS; 05-09-2020 at 11:41 AM.
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There were four mines known as 'The Birdcage mines' near Plugstreet Wood at the Southern end of the Salient Cinders. None of them were detonated when the Messines mines were blown. I gather they were considered to be out of the immediate area to be captured. The intention was to dismantle them at a later date, but it never happened. One you referred to was detonated in a thunderstorm in 1955 (no human fatalities, only a cow), & the other three are still there.....! And no doubt there will be many other smaller charges left in various places along the old front line........ones that just got forgotten about.
It was Tony that told me (& it's one of those pub quiz type facts) that at the peak of production reached during 1917 Britain & the Dominions were producing 300,000,000 rounds of .303 SAA PER MONTH!
Last edited by Roger Payne; 05-09-2020 at 06:06 AM.
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