Vampire dugout

The Vampire dugout (known locally in Belgium as the Vampyr dugout), was a First World War underground brigade headquarters, located near the Belgian village of Zonnebeke.

It was created 14 metres (46 ft) below Flanders by the 171 Tunnelling Company of the Corps of Royal Engineers, in preparation for the Third Battle of Ypres/Battle of Passchendaele. Rediscovered in 2007, it was the subject of a 2008 television programme within the Channel4 Time Team series.

Construction

Vampire was built to house a brigade headquarters, of up to 50 men and one senior commanding officer. Located close to Polygon wood, it was named after the supply soldiers who’s mission was to come out at night to re-supply the front lines.

Dug over a period of four months by the 171 Tunnelling Company, it came into operations from April 1917 in time for the Battle of Passchendaele. First housing the 100th Brigade of the British 33rd Division, and then the 16th King's Royal Rifle Corps, its longer term occupants were the 9th Battalion Highland Light Infantry Regiment.

The dugout was lost when the Germans undertook the Battle of the Lys in April 1918, but was regained in September 1918, when its last occupants became the 2nd Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment.

After the cessation of activities in November 1918, Vampire was abandoned. After removal of the known munitions and mines at the surface by military clean-up teams, the locals recovered the upper sections of the wooden entrance steps for heat and building, and then filled the main shafts with rubble to enable the site to be returned to farming.

Brickworks development

In Spring 2006 it was made public that Terca Zonnebeke N.V. brickworks factory, had received a licence for the extension of its blue-clay extraction zone. The Association for Battlefield Archaeology and Conservation, using maps compiled of 350 underground structures under the management of Johan Vandewalle and Peter Barton, showed that at least one structure was near to the proposed development zone, believed to be Vampire.

Following discussion with local preservation, historic and council and state officials, the ABAC was allowed to start a scientific research project. They engaged the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology of Glasgow University to provide archaeological support, in light of the residence of the Highland Light Infantry.

Rediscovery

Following further map analysis in 2006, in the summer of 2007, a joint Belgian/British team led by Vandewalle and Barton, together with battlefield archaeologist Tony Pollard and Geophysicist Malcolm Weale went to Flanders to hunt for Vampire. Working from original trench maps, using geophysical survey they identified the entrance shaft of Vampire on the seventh and last day of their investigation, at 17:00. Further research was then undertaken by means of Ground penetrating radar, metal detection, sonar and drillings in spring and during the summer of 2007.

In 2008 they returned with a more extensive team, including members of Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service who used the task as a training exercise. With the aim of clearing the entrance shaft and reaching the bottom, and then investigating the dugout itself, they had a set period before the land would again need to be reclaimed by the farmer and used for sowing winter barley.

As the clay proved too hard for certain extractions methods, and too soft for others, they eventually used a high-pressure firemans hose to liquify it, and then extract it by pump into a slurry pit. Successful in their endeavours, the whole investigation was filmed by Channel4, resulting in presenter Tony Robbins being filmed within the still-damp but highly preserved dugout.

With preservation in mind, the Vampire dugout entrance shaft was covered, and the dugout allowed to refill with water to its full depth. Preserved in this manner for 90years, it was felt that this was the best course of action. This was in light of previous experiences with similar structures, such as the locally located Australian built Bremen Redoubt, uncovered in 1984 and lost due to timber degradation in the dry. The dugout, inaccessible to the public as it is located on private property, is presently inspected every year by the local battlefield historical society.

Future

As the brickworks in Zonnebeke expands, and with the land in which Vampire sits designated as a potential future quarrying area, the dugouts future is uncertain. Even if the dugout is preserved, the quarrying works could threaten its future, due to the egress of water from the nearby works creating cracks in the blue-clay.

Units that operated from the dugout

• 100 Brigade, 33rd Division
• 16th King's Royal Rifle Corps
• 9th Battalion Highland Light Infantry Regiment
• 2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment

External links

• Time Team website on uncovering the Vampire dugout