The Chunnel:1939

[Mike Collins]

What if the Chunnel is operating on the eve of World WarII?

[edvader]

ne thing I see Mike is PLENTY of Security needed by the Army . Also, it'd be a good palce to evacuate some troops from Dunkirk and elsewhere. What's to preven German infiltration and sabotage?Just some thoughts.

[carlton_bach]

It would make deploying across-channel British force easier, and might help evacuation. It might also well getclogged with refugees once the French front breaks. However, I'm fairly sure once the Germans approach the railheads the British forces will blow it up, refugees or no refugees.

[mishery]

Originally Posted by Mike Collins

What if the Chunnel is operating on the eve of World WarII?

When the Germans got near, the British would blow it up.

[NapoleonXIV]

Germany pulls a 'Norway', a sneak invasion. They secrete hundreds of elite troops who infiltrate behind the retreating British among the fleeing refugees. At the same time, spies in Britain bring up boxcars full of equipment and weapons that have been smuggled over on the Chunnel among regular freight in the preceding months. The objective is not complete takeover but the securing of the Chunnel itself and the immediate area as a toehold in Britain. The British foil the plan by sending in a train filled with explosives manned by the first suicide soldiers of the war who blow themselves and the British side of the Chunnel up, sealing it. This happens a week before Dunkirk.

The Chunnel is not rebuilt until 1970, due to British fear of another invasion by a resurgent Germany sometime in the future.

[JimmyJimJam]

I know nothing of building technology, but was the tech there to do the chunnel at that time?

[DuQuense]

Not the Same as OTL But a Tunnel none the less.
I read some where that explosives are build in the tunnel ends. Making it possible to collaspe the Enterances if invasion starts.

[Grey Wolf]

There was technology to build it from the mid-nineteenth century onwards - in fact it was started at one point, but then finances collapsed

We would probably be talking about the heroic trains of Calais instead of the heroic boats of Dunkerque

But, yes, afterwards they'd blow the entrances up

Grey Wolf

[stodge]

In May 1944, Rommel ordered the demolition of the French entrance to the tunnel. He was wary that the British and Americans could have used the tunnel as part of the invasion route to the Pas de Calais.

The new Labour Government of Clement Attlee had too many other pressing problems to contemplate spending time and money on restoring the Channel Tunnel but it was that old European visionary, Winston Churchill, who, on becoming Prime Minister again in October 1951, ordered work to begin on restoring the structures at Cheriton and Ashford.

The new International Rail terminus at Cheriton was opened on March 26th 1954 by the new Queen and seemed in tune with the spirit of the new "Elizabethan Age". However, the tunnels were still far from ready but with American expertise and money, the restoration of the existing tunnels and the construction of a new service tunnel proceeded.

In France, De Gaulle was initially cautious but a combination of Churchillian flattery and American money changed his mind and the re-built French terminus at Sangatte was opened in August 1956 by De Gaulle. Many remarked that the experience of Anglo-French collaboration on the Chunnel Project was instrumental in the French allowing Britain to join the new European Economic Community in 1961.

For the Americans, the tunnel was a cornerstone of NATO defence. Unbeknownst to many, nuclear weapons were often transported at night through the tunnels and, in the early 1960s, construction began on new tunnels for road transport. Primarily, this would allow more goods and materiel to be sent from Britain to a possible front-line in a future European war.

Harold Wilson's Labour Government revelled in the modernity of the tunnel and in 1967, the new road tunnels were opened by the Queen with the Beatles in attendance. The prosperity of the 1960s led to a massive increase in cross-Channel traffic - British people were eager property buyers in Normandy and in the Calais region while the farms of Kent and Sussex increasingly fell into French and Belgian ownership. By 1972, the newly-opened fast rail line meant central London was just two hours ten minutes from central Paris.

The oil price rise of 1973-74 led to an economic downturn but more significant was the IRA attack on September 27th 1974 when three pipe bombs, concealed in lorries, exploded inside the road tunnel. Nine people died and the road tunnel was closed for six weeks. Thereafter, security was tightened but traffic soon recovered once it was re-opened and by the early 80s, a third road tunnel was under construction.

On May 6th 1989, the third and fourth channel road tunnels were opened - these were, in the fashion of the time, toll tunnels with a cost of £10 per car to drive through. It wasn't all plain sailing as those who remember "Black Friday" in March 1990 will attest. One Friday evening, a succession of accidents and breakdowns led to a twenty-eight mile queue of stationary traffic. Cars were trapped for up to nine hours before French and British military personnel could effect a rescue.

However, the tunnel's blackest day came five years later, on July 15th 1995. A lorry carrying chemicals in the older road tunnel collided with a caravan and other vehicles. Fire broke out and swiftly spread through the older road tunnels. While many escaped to the newer tunnels via service hatches, many others were not so fortunate.

By the time the fires were extinguished four days later, 457 people were confirmed dead. Both Britain and France, along with many other countries, were united in grief and anger. The names of the dead are on the memorial statues at both Cheriton and Sangatte.

The French transport minister resigned immediately but his British counterpart tried to ride out the storm but was effectively forced from office. The operators of the tunnel, the recently-privatised Eurotunnel Plc, were found guilty of 457 counts of corporate manslaughter and were forced out of business. The Managing Director committed suicide and five other Directors went to prison. The combined Anglo-French Enquiry, chaired by the former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing, found the fire suppression systems and evacuation procedures in the older tunnels to be woefully inadequate. Had a similar incident occurred in the newer tunnels, the report concluded, hundreds of lives would have been saved.

As an immediate result, the rail tunnel was closed too and the whole 1960s structure comprehensively re-built and modernised.

On July 15th 1999, the Queen and French President Jacques Chirac simultaenously re-opened the new road and rail tunnels. The Trans-Manche Corporation, a joint public-private funded body, took over the running of the tunnel which faced stiff competition from the revitalised ferries. During the years of closure, a new generation of ferries, built for speed and comfort, had enjoyed a monopoly offering low-cost cross-channel travel for goods and people.

After the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington in September 2001, there was widespread concern the Tunnel could be a target and security was increased further as it had been to stem the flow of illegal immigrants.

On August 1st 2004, a small ceremony was held at Cheriton to mark the 70th anniversary of the opening of the Channel Tunnel. Only small sections of the buildings and tunnels remind the onlooker of the art-deco modernity of the original structure. The French buildings were levelled by the Germans in 1940 - the British buildings were hit by German artillery fire the same year and damaged further by fire in 1943. There are better and bigger tunnels than the Channel Tunnel but it remains a symbol of Euro-British unity in the face of change and upheaval.....

(Excerpt from "A Guide to the Chunnel" published in London, 2005)

[mishery]

Originally Posted by stodge

in the early 1960s, construction began on new tunnels for road transport.

Margaret Thatcher wanted a road tunnel, as she saw rail travel as a form of socialism, indeed she once talked of the "great car owning democracy". However, when it was shown to her that it would be prohibitively expensive, possibly technically unfeasible to build a road tunnel due to problem of car exhaust fumes, she relented. However, she made sure the Channel Tunnel rail link to London was not built at the same time so as to get people to use the car shuttle.

I don't see how in the 1960's they could have solved the exhaust fumes problem if they couldn't over 30 years later. Also, car ownership in the UK (and France?) in the 60's was pretty low and people were much less willing to drive on the "wrong" side of the road.

[David S Poepoe]

Yes, I have to admit that a road chunnel sounds very impractical. The only thing to mitigate the problem of fumes would be if there was an early development of reliable electric car motors or even hybrid systems. Another possibility would be that entrance to the road chunnels will be regulated, that cars wait at a light and then be greenlighted in at set intervals. The transportation of explosive materials of course would be prohibited.

[stodge]

Thanks for the responses. Two thoughts: - first, the 1960s was seen as a time of technological progress. I think it would have been conceived as possible - we did put a man on the Moon in the same decade !!

Second thought re: exhaust fumes - what happens in transalpine tunnels ? In the 1960s the Dartford Tunnel under the Thames was built and I don't remember anyone agonising about exhaust fumes.

My point is that if a successful Channel Tunnel rail link HAD been operating for 20 years and with the explosuive growth of private vehicular traffic, a road tunnel would surely have been considered.

[Tyr]

I think the chunnel in 1939 would have meant a considerably different political climate. Different enough to stop a certain nut job becoming leader of Germany at least.

The chunnel has been possible since the mid 19th century at least, it just would have been harder to make and cost a hell of a lot more the further back you go.

[David S Poepoe]

Originally Posted by stodge

Thanks for the responses. Two thoughts: - first, the 1960s was seen as a time of technological progress. I think it would have been conceived as possible - we did put a man on the Moon in the same decade !!

Second thought re: exhaust fumes - what happens in transalpine tunnels ? In the 1960s the Dartford Tunnel under the Thames was built and I don't remember anyone agonising about exhaust fumes.

My point is that if a successful Channel Tunnel rail link HAD been operating for 20 years and with the explosuive growth of private vehicular traffic, a road tunnel would surely have been considered.

Taking a quick look online: the Chunnel is at least twice as long (31 miles) as either the Laerdal (15.2 miles) or St. Gotthard (10.2 miles) Road Tunnels in the Alps. In the St. Gotthard case it is relatively similar to the Chunnel is that there are two vehicular tunnels and one service tunnel. Undoubtedly huge powerful fans are used to take care of exhaust fumes, some near the entrances and some drilled vertically from above - an option not available in the Chunnel (or at least easily available).

[DuQuense]

IIRC one of the proposals had large hollow segments [tubes] stacked up every couple of miles across the Channel. In affect forming a line of artifical Islands. the Hollow tubes would be ventilation, & Escape.