Editing Corinth Canal (section)

=== After completion ===
The canal experienced financial and operational difficulties after completion. The narrowness of the canal makes navigation difficult. Its high walls funnel wind along its length, and the different times of the tides in the two gulfs cause strong tidal currents in the channel. For these reasons, many ship operators were unwilling to use the canal, and traffic was far below predictions. Annual traffic of just under 4&nbsp;million net tons had been anticipated, but by 1906 traffic had reached only half a million net tons annually. By 1913, the total had risen to 1.5&nbsp;million net tons, but the disruption caused by [[World War I]] resulted in a major decline in traffic.<ref name="Johnson" />

[[File:Canal of korinth greece.jpg|thumb|upright=1.7|right|The Corinth Canal seen from the air, showing the steep limestone walls which proved vulnerable to landslides]]
Another persistent problem was the heavily [[Fault (geology)|fault]]ed nature of the [[sedimentary rock]], in an active [[seismic zone]], through which the canal is cut.<ref>"[http://www.aapg.org/athens/fieldtrip2.cfm Geology and Ancient Culture Along the Corinth Canal] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080117115438/http://www.aapg.org/athens/fieldtrip2.cfm |date=17 January 2008 }}"</ref> The canal's high [[limestone]] walls have been persistently unstable from the start. Although it was formally opened in July 1893 it was not opened to navigation until the following November, due to landslides. It was soon found that the wake from ships passing through the canal undermined the walls, causing further landslides. This required further expense in building retaining walls along the water's edge for more than half of the length of the canal, using 165,000 cubic metres of masonry.<ref>"Corinth Canal". ''Johnson's Universal Cyclopedia: A New Edition'', Vol. 7, p. 484. A.J. Johnson & Co., 1895</ref> Between 1893 and 1940, it was closed for a total of four years for maintenance to stabilise the walls. In 1923 alone, 41,000 cubic metres of material fell into the canal, which took two years to clear out.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.corinthcanal.com/history3.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117071010/http://www.corinthcanal.com/history3.html|url-status=dead|title=''Corinth Canal History: 1923 A.C. — Nowadays''|archivedate=17 November 2007}}</ref>

Serious damage was caused to the canal during [[World War II]]. On 26 April 1941, during the [[Battle of Greece]] between defending Allied troops and the invading forces of [[Nazi Germany]], German parachutists and [[Military glider|glider]] troops attempted to capture the main bridge over the canal. The bridge was defended by British and [[Australian and New Zealand Army Corps#World War II|Anzac]] forces<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=CHAPTER 19 — The Corinth Canal {{!}} NZETC |url=https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2Gree-c19.html |access-date=2023-06-03 |website=nzetc.victoria.ac.nz}}</ref> and had been wired for demolition. The Germans surprised the defenders with a glider-borne assault in the early morning of 26 April and captured the bridge, but the British set off the charges and destroyed the structure.<ref>{{cite book|title=Airborne Combat: Axis and Allied Glider Operations in World War II|last=Mrazek|first=James|pages=49–55|publisher=Stackpole Books|year=2011|isbn=978-0-8117-0808-1}}</ref> Other authors maintain that German pioneers cut the detonation wires, and a lucky hit by British artillery triggered the explosion,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/balkan/20_260_3.htm|title=108 Blau, George E. (1986) &#91;1953&#93;. ''The German Campaigns in the Balkans (Spring 1941) (Reissue ed.). Washington, D.C.: United States Army Center of Military History. CMH Pub 104-4.''|access-date=15 September 2012|archive-date=27 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100127042403/http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/balkan/20_260_3.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Absprung über dem Isthmus, Hans Rechenberg, in: Wir kämpften auf dem Balkan: VIII Fliegerkorps|publisher=Dr. Güntz-Druck, Dresden|year=1941}}</ref> or that they were set off by a rifle shot from one of the British sappers.<ref name=":0" /> The bridge was replaced by a combined rail/road bridge built in 25 days by the IV Ferrovieri Battalion of the [[Royal Italian Army]]'s [[Ferrovieri Engineer Regiment]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Franzosi |first1=Pier Giorgio |title=L'Arma del Genio |date=1991 |publisher=Esercito Italiano – Rivista Militare |location=Rome |page=224 |url=https://issuu.com/rivista.militare1/docs/1991-l-arma-del-genio-testo-low/224 |access-date=5 December 2019}}</ref> Following the [[Axis occupation of Greece]] the Allies made several attempts to block the canal but without success.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alexiades |first=Platon |title=Target Corinth Canal 1940 - 1944: Mike Cumberlege and the attempts to block the Corinth Canal |date=2015 |publisher=Pen & Sword Military |isbn=978-1-4738-2756-1 |edition=1. publ. in Great Britain |location=Barsnley}}</ref> 

In October 1944, as German forces [[Army Group E#Service history|retreated from Greece]], the canal was put out of action by German "[[scorched earth]]" operations. German forces used explosives to trigger landslides to block the canal, destroyed the bridges and dumped locomotives, bridge wreckage and other infrastructure into the canal to hinder repairs. The [[United States Army Corps of Engineers]] began to clear the canal in November 1947 and reopened it for shallow-draft traffic by 7 July 1948, and for all traffic by that September.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bricks, Sand, and Marble: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Construction in the Mediterranean and Middle East, 1947–1991 | url=https://history.army.mil/html/books/bricks_sand_and_marble/CMH_45-2-1.pdf#page=13 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100608064234/http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/bricks_sand_and_marble/CMH_45-2-1.pdf#page=13 | url-status=dead | archive-date=8 June 2010 | author1=Robert P. Grathwol|author2=Donita M. Moorhus|page=13|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|Government Printing Office]] | year=2010|isbn=978-0-16-081738-0}}</ref>