Prior to July 1915, gunpowder and guncotton was the tunnellers' explosives of choice. Gunpowder was simple and could be ignited with a lit fuse. Guncotton was more stable and packed two and a half times the explosive punch. But the most advanced explosive compound was Ammonal.
Ammonal comprised ammonium nitrate, TNT, aluminium shavings and charcoal. It was stable, waterproof and could be stacked safely in 20kg boxes. And it was 4 times as explosive as gunpowder.
It was first used by Lieutenant Geoffrey Cassels of the British 175th Tunnelling Company. He had planned an attack to destroy two large concrete shelters using conventional explosive but due to miscalculations in tunnel placement under the targets, he decided to boost the blast by using the relatively unknown explosive called ammonal. It was as much a trial of the compound as a precision demolition.
In fact, ammonal was so unknown that Cassels didn't know exactly how much to use or at what depth. So his request for 3500 pounds (1500kg) of ammonal, made to the Quartermaster General at GHQ in St Omer, was novel. The Quartermaster General was totally unfamiliar with the substance and he requested more information from the Quartermaster of V Corps, who further requested more information from the Medical Officer at Corps Headquarters...
After a short delay, a message arrived back informing GHQ that ammonal was:
... a compound drug extensively used in America as a sensual sedative in cases of abnormal sexual excitement... the MO states that no cases have occurred among V Corps personnel indicating the necessity for administering the drug.
Further hasty enquires resolved that ammonal the explosive had been confused with ammonol the pharmaceutical drug
Ammonal comprised ammonium nitrate, TNT, aluminium shavings and charcoal. It was stable, waterproof and could be stacked safely in 20kg boxes. And it was 4 times as explosive as gunpowder.
It was first used by Lieutenant Geoffrey Cassels of the British 175th Tunnelling Company. He had planned an attack to destroy two large concrete shelters using conventional explosive but due to miscalculations in tunnel placement under the targets, he decided to boost the blast by using the relatively unknown explosive called ammonal. It was as much a trial of the compound as a precision demolition.
In fact, ammonal was so unknown that Cassels didn't know exactly how much to use or at what depth. So his request for 3500 pounds (1500kg) of ammonal, made to the Quartermaster General at GHQ in St Omer, was novel. The Quartermaster General was totally unfamiliar with the substance and he requested more information from the Quartermaster of V Corps, who further requested more information from the Medical Officer at Corps Headquarters...
After a short delay, a message arrived back informing GHQ that ammonal was:
... a compound drug extensively used in America as a sensual sedative in cases of abnormal sexual excitement... the MO states that no cases have occurred among V Corps personnel indicating the necessity for administering the drug.
Further hasty enquires resolved that ammonal the explosive had been confused with ammonol the pharmaceutical drug