Very interesting article in Smithsonian magazine
 

While waiting to be called into a doctors office recently, I picked up the January-February issue of the Smithsonian magazine. The lead article "THE SEARCH FOR JESUS" initially caught my attention, but after opening the magazine I noticed an article about unexploded ordnance in parts of Europe. It is a very interesting article. I think anyone with interest in World War II will enjoy this. Just a very short hint: When in the US, a person digs a foundation for a home, business, or pipe line without any thought of caution other that hitting underground utilities. Not in Europe. It is a very exhaustive undertaking to locate and clear any unexploded ordnance.


Mike

BTW: the receptionist GAVE me the magazine.

Thanks for the heads-up, Mike.

Eric

I think the Brits face a similar problem with German ordnance. Perhaps the Smithsonian might find pursuit of that topic interesting as well.

I read a really interesting article on the same topic, while I was visiting Berlin this summer.

Many of the biggest bombs we dropped near the end of the war didn't go off, because they hit in swampy, wet areas near rivers (as in Berlin), where the bomb traveled under the mud and slid down, horizontal and then started back up when they finally stopped moving (a U-shaped trajectory in the soft earth). Air crews reported many of the locations, but obviously not all of them. After the war, people built homes right on top of the bombs, while others were found deep under existing buildings.

The detonators were time delayed, using a corrosive chemical in a small glass jar, which apparently didn't break open, particularly when the bomb was found in an upright position. Usually, they can't be safely removed, so the German engineers excavate around them, then cover them with heavy blasting mats, and detonate them in place.

Every few months there's another story about finding unexploded stuff in France and Germany, but they still have large areas that are mined and off-limits, even today.

I didn't read the Smithsonian article, but I'll look it up.

Here's a link to the Smithsonian article so all can read -

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/histor...957680/?no-ist

Similar issue in Laos -

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/05/asia/u...war/index.html

Wikipedia article on the "Iron Harvest" in France and Belgium -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_harvest

I remember when I was in Latvia in 2010 for a Joint training mission With the Baltic states.
I was sitting in a stryker scanning an area for movement. And I saw some guys off in the distance ( About 200 yds away) It appeared that they were simulating placing an IED in the road. So I called it up to higher.

Come to find out it wasnt simulated it was Latvian EOD detonating actual German 88 rounds that were discovered during the training mission. Its Amazing what is still laying around in Eastern Europe.

During the excavations for building I-81 for the Interstate system in the early 60s, I heard about a mishap with blasting mats used while they were creating cuts for the roadway through the granite that is near Alexandria Bay, N.Y. The mats weigh tons, and one of them was launched by a blast, like a sheet of paper. IIRC, it landed in the St. Lawrence River and no one was hurt... I hope they are more precise with their setups and charges while doing this in European residential areas!

Oh well, tonnes of WW1 mustard gas shells that were dumped off the Belgian coast are also starting to rot through. Dealing with stray ammunition is nothing new here. Has been an issue since 1918.

Once an IT from France worked with me developing a customized legal suit control software.
Well, one day during our lucnh time, conversation turned into history and World Wars. He then told me that while he was a boy back in the 70s his father owned a farm in the french countryside. When the time to plow the land arrived they always found unexploded ordnance buried in their fields. They put everything in a pile and then call a special division of the Police (or Army) to collect and dispose of them. It was like a routine...

You may google:

Red zone France, it's from WW-I.