this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2026
546 points (99.1% liked)

Mildly Interesting

25581 readers
216 users here now

This is for strictly mildly interesting material. If it's too interesting, it doesn't belong. If it's not interesting, it doesn't belong.

This is obviously an objective criteria, so the mods are always right. Or maybe mildly right? Ahh.. what do we know?

Just post some stuff and don't spam.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Most bridges here do, and often when one needs to be demolished and rebuilt, the military blows it up just for practice.

Edit: Source for the sceptics

The deep demolition, which became a central element in Finnish post-war demolition tactics, and especially the development of readiness to counter surprise attacks that emerged as a threat scenario in the 1960s, received significant support immediately after the wars. The decision concerning structural demolition preparations for bridges was made on January 15, 1946. These preparations meant building charge wells, charge chambers, charge pipes, and charge hooks. Authorities responsible for constructing bridges were required to include the aforementioned structures in their plans, which significantly improved the readiness to destroy the bridges.

If it was not possible to place the charge space inside the abutment or pier, charge hooks could be embedded in the supports during the casting phase, to which the charges could then be attached.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] ForestGreenGhost@literature.cafe 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Nobody on earth is "just bending" rebar instead of cutting it off. It's difficult as fuck to bend rebar and only takes about eight seconds to cut a piece off.

[โ€“] Dasus@lemmy.world -1 points 1 week ago

Sure. But also, no-one is blowing bridges by hanging explosives inside instead of drilling them into the structure.

For 28 years, the bridge carried traffic and goods, including timber from the Soviet Union, until replaced by the present concrete structure. Pits for demolition charges are visible in the piles. These cavities could be filled with explosives in order to blow the bridge to smithereens should this ever have become necessary.

https://sotatie.fi/en/battlegrouds-trail/site-descriptions/mohko-village