JF Ptak Science Books Post 2150 History of Holes
Organized Shell Holes 
In this blog’s longish series on the History of Holes, holes caused by explosions meant to kill people have shown up only once (on a post about Dien Bien Phu). There is an associated post on the use of people-killing nuclear eapons being used to excavate vast amounts of Earth (and for dust abatement), and another on stump blasting, but thus far there has been little on killing holes. (There are a number of posts about coffins and digging graves, but that is another story.)
The holes for today are symbols for various types of holes that were used on WWI trench maps found in the MacMaster University collection. The site has an introductory page relating to the symbols used on the trench and battle-field maps, signifying the palcement of crates made by high explosives and whether those holes were being re-purposed–mainly, were they still just holes, or were they being used now for troop placement, and whether those holes were fortified, and whether they were organized. Given the millions of rounds of ammunition/HE thrown from one side to the other it stands to reason that the craters left by bombardment would be put to some good purpose, and that the commanders would necessarily need maps of their placement and where these holes fit in with the existing defensive arrangement (the trenches, for example, being themselves a sort of hole)–still, seeing the symbols for the re-engineering of the death-holes seemed wrenching to me, even in spite of the need to make them useful.
Craters:
Organized Shell Holes
