RE: American bomss are still buried under German towns

[brad kaste]

RE: American bomss are still buried under German towns


...And they're still deactivated them 70+ years later. Sometimes with fatal results.

American bombs are still buried under German towns. And they're blowing up.

 

[grunau_baby]

Yep, true story.

Whenever a new building site is planned here there´s a special department, who checks old post-bombing-reconnaicsance-pics for possible bomb-craters with dead fuses. If they find anything it´s time for a special bomb-squad and the surroundings get evacuated in the process of deactivation.

Sadly - but fortunately very seldom - there are victims. It happend that catapilar drivers on building sites hit not found bombs or members of the bomb squad fell victim. A few years ago in my birthtown they tried a controled explosion - the fuse was too difficult to handle for a regular deactivation - and it went out off hand. Many houses were damaged with the detonation, but furtunately no one got injured.

It still gives me the chills: there was a little wasteland in my neighborhood where they build a new school a few years ago. In the process at least 3 bombs were found and daectivated. The funny thing is I used to walk the dog there almost daily before, so litterally trampling over those artefacts...

Regards
Alex

 

[Motormouse]

And in London too..http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ploded-WW2-bomb-discovered-building-site.html
ones the other side left behind.

Ttfn

Pete

 

[srgalahad]

It's a lot more widespread than most people think. A quick look at Wiki yielded this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unexploded_ordnance

France and Belgium-
"In the forests of Verdun French government "démineurs" working for the Département du Déminage still hunt for poisonous, volatile, and/or explosive munitions and recover about 900 tons every year. The most feared are corroded artillery shells containing chemical warfare agents such as mustard gas." (That's mostly WWI ordinance)

Laos-
"Some 288 million cluster munitions and about 75 million unexploded bombs were left across Laos after the war ended. From 1996–2009, more than 1 million items of UXO were destroyed, freeing up 23,000 hectares of land. Between 1999 and 2008, there were 2,184 casualties (including 834 deaths) from UXO incidents."

and the list goes on...

ones the other side left behind.

...but no matter where it is, it's not always the 'other side'...

"According to the Department of Defence, "millions of acres" may contain UXO, Discarded Military Munitions (DMM) and Munitions Constituents (e.g., TNT or RDX).

According to US Environmental Protection Agency documents released in late 2002, UXO at 16,000 domestic inactive military ranges within the United States pose an "imminent and substantial" public health risk and could require the largest environmental cleanup ever, at a cost of at least US$14 billion."

Close to home (discussing a Canadian Army artillery range on the edge of Calgary)
"Areas long considered cleared can still yield unexpected dangers, and even areas that had never seen live fire can be affected. In the Canadian Government’s own words “UXO can also move or be exposed over time. For example, freeze-thaw cycles, flooding and storms can uncover buried ordnance or move it from place to place. Just because no one has seen UXO in an area for many decades does not mean that it isn’t there now.”

https://calgaryringroad.wordpress.com/2013/09/05/unexploded-ordnance-in-southwest-calgary/

It's not just a modern phenomenon either...
"Although comparatively rare, unexploded ordnance from the American Civil War is still occasionally found and is still deadly 150 years later. In 2008, for example, Civil War enthusiast Sam White was killed when a naval shell he was attempting to disarm exploded."

Tread lightly...

 

[Okami]

Last year, here in Belgium, they built a new high-pressure gas line for industrial purposes in the western part of the country. The line is some 74 km long, and the ground works resulted in the discovery of no less than 10.000 (!) unexploded grenades of the First World War.

On an annual base, the Belgian army has to remove some 300 tonnes of unexploded ordonnance, including phosphorous and chemical shells.

And then there is the slight issue of the infamous Messines Mine - on June 7th 1917, the British Army detonated 19 mine charges as part of the mine war during the Battle of Messines. The only problem is, that 22 were built - one was prematurely discovered by the Germans and 'counter-detonated', but the remaining two failed and their location was lost to time. The first detonated on June 17th 1955 due to a lightning strike - luckily in an open field, unluckily underneath a cow - but the second is still lying there, al 50.000 (!!) lbs of it.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor.../1451468/Farmer-who-is-sitting-on-a-bomb.html

And that covers only the First World War. During the Second World War we were caught in the cross-fire - Belgian Military Aviation, French Air Force, Luftwaffe, US Army Air Force, Royal Air Force and Navy, they all dropped quite a quantity of bombs between May 10th 1940 and March 31st 1945, not to mention all of the shells fired by the armies of all involved, whether they were anti-aircraft or ground shells. Sometimes, these bombs and shells were undiscovered and built over during the reconstruction effort of both World Wars, only to be discovered when these buildings are being torn down; sometimes they are discovered when previously untouched ground is broken for new building projects.

To give just one example: the Belgian Railways are currently building a new depot near Ghent on the grounds of a former freight yard, and since building began, they have had to evacuate the area close to a dozen times already because of all of the bombs that have been uncovered - mostly British bombs from the Railway Campaign of 1942 to 1944, but they even uncovered a German aircraft bomb from the First World War!

And just to illustrate how unexpected some of these finds can be - some 20 years ago, people renovating their home in Brussels found a German aircraft bomb from the First World War (a light 20 kg/40 lbs one) lodged in their chimney - still armed and all...

 

[joe bob]

I follow the youtube channel of a metal detector guy who does a lot of searching in the woods near Berlin. He routinely finds the small British incendiary bombs lying on the ground.
It is so common that he barely mentions it. He is certainly more excited about a coin from the 1800s than the UXB

 

[SSI01]

The WWI mines and UXOs constitute one of the most fascinating aspects of that conflict. I've been told it's possible to walk in some low-lying areas of the Verdun battlefield and, if the wind and humidity are right, be overcome by mustard and/or phosgene gas leaching out of the ground, or from old gas shells. It's also been said on some parts of that same battlefield - in particular at a place called Mort Homme, which changed hands 17 times during the battle - a magnetic compass will not point to magnetic north but will spin aimlessly, there is so much metal in the ground to interfere with its readings. Some parts of the area are so dangerous they were just placed off limits and are not entered by anyone, even the UXO recovery teams. A little while ago I saw an article on a WWI site - that I think was hosted out of Britain - showing how even the regrowth of vegetation near Ypres and other parts of the Western Front where fighting was both heavy and stationary, has been stymied to this day in many respects. And all placed there, or caused by, a group of men none of whom now survive.

I have heard about that lightning strike detonating that one mine - I wonder what the farmer and his family thought - "Gee, that lightning must have been close."

 

[srgalahad]

I've been doing a lot more reading as an incidental diversion from other research. We're planning a trip, mostly around the area of the Battle of the Somme this spring (in part as it's the 100th anniversary).

Much of the land surrounding the Canadian Memorial at Vimy is 'off limits' due to UXO. One B&B we are thinking of using has excavated and restored trenches and have a (closed) access on their property to a bunker/supply tunnel where UXO have been found. It's all been very enlightening. Guess there will be no random trekking across the fields

Hopefully it will include a pleasant detour to see the gathering to recognize the 100th ann. of the Caudron Brothers Flying School at Le Crotoy (near Abbevillle) and a trip across Belgium to Amsterdam.

 

[SSI01]

Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele and the accomplishments of the Canadian Corps of the BEF are areas of special interest to me. Based on information provided by my dad's sister, I have reason to believe my paternal grandfather is one of Canada's missing from the Western Front. The Canadian Memorial at Vimy Ridge is on land that will forever be Canada. When I hear of that I think of the Newfoundland Regiment that suffered, I think, 92% casualties on July 1, 1916 - undoubtedly the highest loss rate of any British or Commonwealth unit engaged in that attack. Many of the men were seafarers and fishermen, they climbed out of their trenches that morning and set off on the long, terrible walk toward the German front line as if they were walking into a nor'easter - heads down, faces covered by their arms. The Canadian Corps always said they "got the job done," and were very proud of it, and rightly so.

 

[Daveroo]

In Antelope Ca,now a part of Roseville Ca...maybe 18 miles from here ( my home in the southern part of Auburn Ca) in 1973 was a accident where a US Military munnitions train had a hotbox and a fire began ,bombs began to detonate,wiped out Antelope..leveled it..one building had a wall standing.my point,in the early 2000s i believe,they rebuilt the Roseville railyard into the wests largest railyard,so they say,and during the reconstruction they came across so many unexploded bombs it scared the crap out of everyone involved..a freind..Jim Dobbas owns Rushway Co and an un-named construction company...all they do is railroad accidents...Jim said he pulled all his men off the job and insisted the military bomb disposal guys came in and fixed it.

https://www.facebook.com/carnegieroseville/videos/10200369265667425/

 

[lazarus]

Nickle and dime...unless you're standing on it when the chem pencil finally says 'time, gentlemen!' Now, the folks in Savanna have a small UXB issue. Since 1958, the waters around Tybee island are home to a free range Mk-15 3.5 megaton H-bomb. One of a number of little toys lost in the world. Heck, I've had a Mk-90 the Navy lost in '59 out back of the wood shed in XXXXXXXXX for years Just in case, in extremis; 'cause if you ever really needed one, and didn't have it, a guy would feel pretty dumb...and who doesn't want to be a nuclear power? Lost military hardware is just the bomb, don't you think? I know a guy who slung out an entire B-36 turret from up back of Smithers- two M-39's and a shwack of twenty mike-mike. Made a nice bolt action rifle out of the damaged one...Interestingly, he also located the 'bird cage' the core was in, but left it- just junk, and who needs the NNSA chasing you around?

 

[SSI01]

There has been a lot of work being done around Brunswick, GA to keep the channel to the port open, and to make other refinements to the port, because work at Savannah was downgraded on account of some salvage occurring in the channel to Savannah's port - salvage of CSN artifacts from the War Between the States. The folks down here took advantage of that slowdown up north to make some improvements and attract a little more business. Now, one way the Savannah Port Authority could pitch that little nuke nestled comfortably out there in the marshes is to say it would considerably deepen and widen the channel should it somehow detonate. It might even create an outer anchorage like New Orleans has, a place to park ships in a sheltered area until space is cleared for them at the wharves in town. Who says these things have only one use?