In a recent article in Canada's National Post, Tristan Hopper looked at how, after the Second World War, Britain tried very hard to blow up the (surviving) German island of Heligoland.
Thoughts?
In 1947, Britain had a problem. It had thousands of tonnes of explosives left over from the Second World War. And it also had a German island in the North Sea that it hated.
So, 70 years ago this week, the Royal Navy enacted an elegant solution: Use the explosives to blow the island to hell.
“Blow the bloody place up,” was reportedly the instructions given to F.T. Woosnam, the British naval engineer tasked with making the island of Heligoland disappear.
The preparation wasn’t overly technical.
For nearly a year, crews had simply stacked up more than 7,000 tonnes of old munitions and wired them together: Depth charges, old torpedoes, boxes of grenades and stacks of aerial bombs.
Photos from the era show crews nonchalantly kicking dismantled torpedoes into large heaps.
There are plenty of ObWIs. What if Britain did blow up Heligoland? What if it never decided to try doing this? What if Britain never decided to trade Heligoland for Zanzibar at all? What if Denmark kept the island after the Napoleonic Wars were done?So, 70 years ago this week, the Royal Navy enacted an elegant solution: Use the explosives to blow the island to hell.
“Blow the bloody place up,” was reportedly the instructions given to F.T. Woosnam, the British naval engineer tasked with making the island of Heligoland disappear.
The preparation wasn’t overly technical.
For nearly a year, crews had simply stacked up more than 7,000 tonnes of old munitions and wired them together: Depth charges, old torpedoes, boxes of grenades and stacks of aerial bombs.
Photos from the era show crews nonchalantly kicking dismantled torpedoes into large heaps.
Thoughts?