More Historical Mining

[smshogun]

This was uncovered while searching in the records for by previous post and is of sufficient interest on its own.

With thanks to Baz Entine for his tolerance of me during the research.

It was the year 1939 and the Government looked at many ways of holding back a potential invading enemy and it was decided to train a large number of guerrilla fighters in total secrecy and they chose country people such as gamekeepers and country people who knew their local and surrounding countryside and could operate totally alone and independently and move around discretely in the countryside and in woods without leaving tracks or trails to follow, and who could track and hunt their own food from the country and be totally self sufficient. They trained many of them and equipped them with a variety of weapons and explosives and they were each given just two contacts so they couldn't give each other away and often a contact was someone such as a local Vicar or Doctor as they could move freely in war time conditions; they constructed underground bunkers and would store food, weapons, explosives, radio receivers, and often two way radios to put out a general alert, and they lived in these underground bunkers for months at a time and blended into the shadows.

With such a network being formed the Government wanted and needed covert supply dumps and one such top secret dump was in Derbyshire (not sure of the location buy think it could have been around the Bonsall area) and they used the natural features to construct these regional dumps inside and used many old or retired miners to construct them. They formed transient gangs who operated only at one specific location outside of the areas in which they lived, and went on to another area in another part of the country so they weren't in the areas in which they constructed these dumps so they couldn't give them away under interrogation.

Reports from the Derbyshire site show "the site has an 6' diameter brick lined shaft leading to a seven seam former lead working mine which was abandoned in around the 1870's and the shaft is located next to a series of four adjoining dry stone walls; with only an access path in the vicinity for the local farmer to drive his sheep along and back to his farm for the winter months" which served their purpose. It went on to state that "this location has another means of egress which has no vehicular, rail, or other access route visible and has suffered a number of rockfalls externally to the entrance which now cover it and a drainage sough which exits the old workings some 4 miles away to the East".

Work began on top of the shaft which was 6' below ground level and visible, they formed wooden supports and shuttering around the top of the exposed shaft and filled this with concrete to cap it and form a dome, this was connected to another series of concrete insert sections set into a ditch and ran under the dry stone wall, next it got technical as they ran under the wall at the junction and turned the ducting sections upwards and demolished the junction of the wall and constructed it with arcs on the corners and this ducting came up inside the dry stone wall and was totally hidden, they set stones around the ducting and placed a concrete slab on top of the stones to cover the end of the duct without impeding airflow. This concrete slab was then covered with loose stones and the top layers were replaced with original dry stone walling to keep the wall looking authentic.

What was remarkable about this is the fact that no vehicles are plant were used, they could only access the site by a footpath and they had to carry folding shovels to dig, along with all the ballast and cement in their rucksacks, and leave no evidence they had even been there.

Inside the tunnel was a different matter as they discovered that only the two bottom seams became flooded and decided to cap the bottom three former working levels, once again they had to carry everything by hand and used the workings as a store for their tools and equipment and often they slept  in the workings; they worked on the tunnels by hand and within several weeks hewn out 100 yards on two levels to a size of 12' X 8' which gave masses of storage space and room to put in shelving for lighter equipment and leave heavier equipment on the floor. All waste went down the shaft to leave no traces outside and they assumed the water washed it away, but it was noted that the water level never rose so they assumed the lower levels were not obstructed by the debris damming up a roadway.

They noted that numerous rockslides around the narrow entrance constantly blocked it and they often had to dig their way out so decided to line the entrance with a piece of 12" steel pipe and cover it over with loose debris and roll a large rock in front of it to ensure it was covered and looked natural, and that 12" pipe was the only way in and out, and they installed a ladder in the shaft to get to the lower levels which came in very small bolt together sections.

Everything which went in or out had to be small and light enough to be carried by hand in a rucksack, and through a 12" pipe; and over the months they stocked it with enough of everything to keep Britain's secret army of guerrilla fighters stocked for one year with everything from food to fuel oil, from ammunition to explosives, and anything they may need in the event of a Nazi invasion of the UK; and all done so covertly that access was only by a sheep track and not even the farmer knew it was there.

 

[dazbt]

Thanks for that informative piece Smshogun, a very informative and credible insight into 'the secret war'
A Jolly Good Yarn well worth reading, it just goes to show what incredulous ingenuity and extreme effort was applied in defence of our country, I can barely imagine the difficulty in everything being provided and carried through a 12"dia. pipe especially the 'lashings of ginger beer' I suspect.

[tygwyn]

Matchstick men,lol.

[dazbt]

Feb 26, 2017 18:45:22 GMT -5 tygwyn said:

Matchstick men,lol.

Nah, I would've thought they were much more likely to have been Strawmen.

[smshogun]

Now to the end users, these operated solely as individuals and had no knowledge of any other operatives other than their one commander, and they were all operating as a singular division of a department known as SOE or special operations executive and they were by nature a very secretive bunch of individuals often known as the "Department of Ungentlemanly Warfare" by the few at the top who were actually aware they existed, and their main problem was getting men to work for them as most men had gone away to war, this only left men in reserved occupations or those who failed their medicals, hence many miners as mining was a reserved occupation and miners wouldn't look out of place in the vicinity of their community. 

Miners also possessed a number of basic skills they required, they needed men of ingenuity, men from a community, men with multiple problem solving skills, and men who could apply these existing skills as well as learn new ones.

Being a part of SOE meant they needed training in evasion, explosives, combat skills, demolition, espionage, radio, and many more skills and as miners who could move freely in their community they gathered information without attracting attention to themselves, but to learn these skills they had to go a SOE training facility which were manned with all types of military experts, criminals expert in a specific field such as lock pickers to brother keepers as they understood peoples mentalities and how they thought and operated, and often they would be whisked away very publicly under a fictitious guise and taken to an SOE facility, usually in a commandeered country house or estate where they were taught these skills. These men were solitary individuals and worked totally in secret and if someone had a specific skill it was encouraged, especially if they could find a miner who was a bit dodgy, it may have been someone who was a heavier than normal drinker as they could frequent many local pubs and gather intelligence, beer = loose lips.

Men had to build their own underground bunkers in secluded areas, these would normally be a standard 12' X 8' brick structure hidden underground in places such as a woods, they had to excavate a hole and lay a foundation, build brick walls, and top it off with a concrete roof, and all underground; remember it was wartime and very few men were about, and dog walking wasn't what it is today. They had to do all this while covering a hole between working sessions and only opening a partial section of covering for them to see and remove material and covering it up so it couldn't be seen during construction.

Normally a bunker would house 1 man and contain a folding bed which doubled as a seat, it housed a quantity of ration foods which were sealed foods such as ration biscuits solely for emergencies, they would have a single burner stove and fuel, spare or specialised clothing was a must, plus a handgun and ammunition, oil and gun cleaning equipment, explosives and detonators, and basically anything they needed to survive for several months in the event of a German invasion without being found.

Their brief was simple, they used whatever skills and materials they had at their disposal to disrupt, frustrate, demolish, and impede an invading German army, their lives didn't matter as everything they did was for the greater good, and all without reward or recognition.

Remember SOE had some classic ingenuity from all quarters or sections of society, they invented plastic explosives, they unvented the acid/glass detonators, they invented the exploding bolts, they even invented railway fish plates which had grooves machined into them to hold plastic explosives so they could derail and damage multiple trains simultaneously if the area was using train s to transport armaments useful to the enemy; they were taught thermodynamics and to destroy a whole airfield of its planes, fuel, and spares, they were taught how to destroy whole coal mines, steel works, and factories that could be useful to the enemy in the event of an invasion. At the very least they could prevent a site from operating at full capacity if it benefitted an invading force.

They tried anyway to enhance their tactics and some ways were ingenious, if they rigged a railway line in the middle of a rail using plastic explosives and an acid/glass detonator, the weight of the train would bow the rail and trigger the detonator while the man responsible would be miles away, if they swapped the splice plates and bolts for the exploding type they could blow a section of rail out and damage both ends of the existing rails, if they timed them properly the steam locomotives could be blown up and create a second steam explosion, and if they did this under a bridge or aquaduct they could also blow this and destroy a bridge with a road on it or empty a river or canal and render this useless. They were ingenious.

Now then Daz, you want to mock? are you aware of the bunker under Bestwood woods, or how about the bunker under Bestwood allotments as were.

How about the 6 bunkers around the old Hucknall Aerodrome, one of which I have been into next to the old hangers so they could destroy the aircraft and there spares.

How about the two under Watnall fields to destroy the rail links between Moorgreen and Pye Hill collieries and other surrounding collieries and their rail links to the main lines, or maybe the one on Ruffs estate to destroy Watnall colliery and Watnall Brickworks. 

[John]

There's a thread on Nottstalgia.com on Nottingham's bunkers, and there are a few of them around the city and shire, some can be visited, some are sealed.

[dazbt]

Jun 24, 2017 21:31:03 GMT -5 smshogun said:

Now to the end users, these operated solely as individuals and had no knowledge of any other operatives other than their one commander, and they were all operating as a singular division of a department known as SOE or special operations executive and they were by nature a very secretive bunch of individuals often known as the "Department of Ungentlemanly Warfare" by the few at the top who were actually aware they existed, and their main problem was getting men to work for them as most men had gone away to war, this only left men in reserved occupations or those who failed their medicals, hence many miners as mining was a reserved occupation and miners wouldn't look out of place in the vicinity of their community. 

Miners also possessed a number of basic skills they required, they needed men of ingenuity, men from a community, men with multiple problem solving skills, and men who could apply these existing skills as well as learn new ones.

Being a part of SOE meant they needed training in evasion, explosives, combat skills, demolition, espionage, radio, and many more skills and as miners who could move freely in their community they gathered information without attracting attention to themselves, but to learn these skills they had to go a SOE training facility which were manned with all types of military experts, criminals expert in a specific field such as lock pickers to brother keepers as they understood peoples mentalities and how they thought and operated, and often they would be whisked away very publicly under a fictitious guise and taken to an SOE facility, usually in a commandeered country house or estate where they were taught these skills. These men were solitary individuals and worked totally in secret and if someone had a specific skill it was encouraged, especially if they could find a miner who was a bit dodgy, it may have been someone who was a heavier than normal drinker as they could frequent many local pubs and gather intelligence, beer = loose lips.

Men had to build their own underground bunkers in secluded areas, these would normally be a standard 12' X 8' brick structure hidden underground in places such as a woods, they had to excavate a hole and lay a foundation, build brick walls, and top it off with a concrete roof, and all underground; remember it was wartime and very few men were about, and dog walking wasn't what it is today. They had to do all this while covering a hole between working sessions and only opening a partial section of covering for them to see and remove material and covering it up so it couldn't be seen during construction.

Normally a bunker would house 1 man and contain a folding bed which doubled as a seat, it housed a quantity of ration foods which were sealed foods such as ration biscuits solely for emergencies, they would have a single burner stove and fuel, spare or specialised clothing was a must, plus a handgun and ammunition, oil and gun cleaning equipment, explosives and detonators, and basically anything they needed to survive for several months in the event of a German invasion without being found.

Their brief was simple, they used whatever skills and materials they had at their disposal to disrupt, frustrate, demolish, and impede an invading German army, their lives didn't matter as everything they did was for the greater good, and all without reward or recognition.

Remember SOE had some classic ingenuity from all quarters or sections of society, they invented plastic explosives, they unvented the acid/glass detonators, they invented the exploding bolts, they even invented railway fish plates which had grooves machined into them to hold plastic explosives so they could derail and damage multiple trains simultaneously if the area was using train s to transport armaments useful to the enemy; they were taught thermodynamics and to destroy a whole airfield of its planes, fuel, and spares, they were taught how to destroy whole coal mines, steel works, and factories that could be useful to the enemy in the event of an invasion. At the very least they could prevent a site from operating at full capacity if it benefitted an invading force.

They tried anyway to enhance their tactics and some ways were ingenious, if they rigged a railway line in the middle of a rail using plastic explosives and an acid/glass detonator, the weight of the train would bow the rail and trigger the detonator while the man responsible would be miles away, if they swapped the splice plates and bolts for the exploding type they could blow a section of rail out and damage both ends of the existing rails, if they timed them properly the steam locomotives could be blown up and create a second steam explosion, and if they did this under a bridge or aquaduct they could also blow this and destroy a bridge with a road on it or empty a river or canal and render this useless. They were ingenious.

Now then Daz, you want to mock? are you aware of the bunker under Bestwood woods, or how about the bunker under Bestwood allotments as were.

How about the 6 bunkers around the old Hucknall Aerodrome, one of which I have been into next to the old hangers so they could destroy the aircraft and there spares.

How about the two under Watnall fields to destroy the rail links between Moorgreen and Pye Hill collieries and other surrounding collieries and their rail links to the main lines, or maybe the one on Ruffs estate to destroy Watnall colliery and Watnall Brickworks. 

Point taken 'shogs', I shouldn't mock but do you mind if I just disbelieve ?

[John]

There's a book about this Daz, "Churchill's Secret War", I don't recall it mentioning booby traps etc , but it does go into Churchill's plan to set up units of trained men, better known as the resistance, should Hitler have invaded Britain. Small teams of men were trained around the country, they had to set up a hiding bunker, of stores, guns and ammunition etc. They were taught how to do this without being seen, then to carry on their normal lives. They were also provided with a radio. No team knew where another team was located, instead they were taught to use "drop boxes" to send messages from one team to another. If caught, they would not be able to identify anyone but their own team. Much like resistance cells were operating in France etc.

Much of this was still under the Official Secret Act right up into the 1980's, I'm sure I still have a copy of the book somewhere.

[tygwyn]

I would think most of us know about the SOE and their intended purpose in the works they done,
If the mention in February had been through an 18in pipe it would have been more plausible.

[smshogun]

Jun 25, 2017 8:27:31 GMT -5 John said:

There's a thread on Nottstalgia.com on Nottingham's bunkers, and there are a few of them around the city and shire, some can be visited, some are sealed.

Indeed there is John, the problem seems to be they are all or mainly military bunkers and known about through the war, the real issue seems to be identification of SOE trained operatives self dug bunkers.

[smshogun]

Daz, I don't mind the disbelieving me, but it appeared you were mocking the post and the people in it for what they were doing, how many youngsters today would willingly give their lives to defend others? I doubt you would find many as the majority would be more concerned with making a profit from it.

These were real men giving their lives for no reward, and in my opinion it deserves respect.

[smshogun]

Jim, I doubt we will ever know more than 25% of what these people did as they were so secretive and kept very few documents which were often destroyed, so very little documentation ever existed at the time, let alone today.

If they used a 12" pipe to pass materials through I cannot change historical fact to appease you or anyone else.

[tygwyn]

No need to appease me at all,but being realistic,what size man could get through a 12in pipe?pulling materials through on a rope is another thing to ease operations,but there must have been a larger entrance for men.

I`ve seen a few documentaries about the men in the SOE,and they deserve everyones respect in what they done.

[smshogun]

No one ever stated that a man went through a 12" pipe Jim, and no I have no reason to appease you or anyone else.

[tygwyn]

They noted that numerous rockslides around the narrow entrance constantly blocked it and they often had to dig their way out so decided to line the entrance with a piece of 12" steel pipe and cover it over with loose debris and roll a large rock in front of it to ensure it was covered and looked natural, and that 12" pipe was the only way in and out, and they installed a ladder in the shaft to get to the lower levels which came in very small bolt together sections.

Everything which went in or out had to be small and light enough to be carried by hand in a rucksack, and through a 12" pipe; and over the months they stocked it with enough of everything to keep Britain's secret army of guerrilla fighters stocked for one year with everything from food to fuel oil, from ammunition to explosives, and anything they may need in the event of a Nazi invasion of the UK; and all done so covertly that access was only by a sheep track and not even the farmer knew it was there.


Read more: coalmine.proboards.com/thread/1608/more-historical-mining?page=1#ixzz4lKQzuAnx


I think what you wrote explains how everyone got in and out,unless someone else would like to explain to me otherwise.

[smshogun]

Note PIPE and SHAFT.

Remember they had no road access and had to carry everything, any materials coming out came through the pipe which was covered, in small packages which could be carried.

[smshogun]

Daz, what you believe or disbelieve is irrelevant as the bunkers around Hucknall airfield are well documented.

[tygwyn]

Jul 17, 2017 20:52:28 GMT -5 smshogun said:

Note PIPE and SHAFT.

Remember they had no road access and had to carry everything, any materials coming out came through the pipe which was covered, in small packages which could be carried.

Note,Shaft was capped and used as ventilation through 4 ducts under the stone walls,no mention of access except air.


The narrow entrance that sustained collapses is where the 12in pipe was inserted,where it said everything went through,and this narrow entrance was the original access they had before inserting the 12in pipe,

The story implies everything went through the pipe?

[smshogun]

Trying to split hairs again I see, personally it shows a lack of intelligence if you think any old workings had only one entrance, particularly one with eight levels.

[dazbt]

[tygwyn]

LOL.