I'm reading 'A Storm in Flanders', a history book about the Ypres Salient back in the Great War. A funny story is told in it that I hadn't heard before about miners trying to get under one of the ridges. These were professional coal miners pressed into service and were told that they had a very tight schedule to tunnel under the German positions and move enough explosives under them to destroy their trench system. Well, the original location chosen to start the dig was totally unsuitable and digging was delayed while they searched for better ground. Once started the officer in charge realized they were off course and that a much bigger charge was going to be needed to do the job, but the tunnel was too small to accept that much TNT. He decided to request 3500 lbs of ammonal, an explosive used in mining operations that was three times more powerful than TNT. The Quartermaster had never heard of ammonal and asked around to find out what it was he was trying to procure. Somebody in the Medical Corp had heard the name before (or something like it) and stated that ammonol was a powerful sedative used to suppress the sexual urges in overexcited patients. The Quartermaster didn't action the request quickly as he couldn't figure out why a bunch of Welsh coalminers needed this stuff, and in such quantity. At just about the last possible instant another staff officer determined that ammonal was a powerful explosive and the shipment reached the front in the nick of time.
Anybody else have a humourous story about misunderstandings?
Anybody else have a humourous story about misunderstandings?
