Dangerous WWII remains in Germany

[Helmut0815]

Here are three articles found on SPIEGEL online dealing with the dangerous remains of WWII in Germany.

1.) Growing Peril for Beachgoers - Two Hurt by WWII Phosphorus on German Shoreline

Two women suffered serious burns on a German beach over the weekend when they misidentified pieces of World War II phosphorus that had washed ashore as amber. Similar accidents occur each year and experts say the threat posed by rusting war munitions dumped into the Baltic and North Sea is increasing.

--> http://www.spiegel.de/international/ger ... 16,00.html

2.) Decaying and Deadly - WWII Mines Pose Growing Risk in Germany

Two anti-tank mines from World War II have exploded spontaneously in the ground next to a road in the eastern German state of Brandenburg. Fortunately, nobody has been hurt so far. Experts are warning that the risk of such sudden blasts is growing because the trigger mechanisms are decaying with age.

--> http://www.spiegel.de/international/ger ... 27,00.html

3.) Hunting For WWII Duds - German Firm Uses Aerial Photos to Find Bombs

A small German firm offers a unique service to the country's construction industry: It uses historical British and American aerial photography from World War II air strikes to determine the location of unexploded bombs. Thousands of tons of bombs still lie in the soil and the duds are becoming more dangerous.

--> http://www.spiegel.de/international/bus ... 36,00.html

regards

Helmut

[grassi]

Munich, May 24th 2012: A bomb was found today in a famous football stadium (Station an der Grünwalderstraße).
http://www.focus.de/panorama/welt/muenc ... 58089.html

Best regards

grassi

[Carl Schwamberger]

My earliest experience with this sort of thing was in 1975 when two young boys were killed on a California public beach by a old AT rocket warhead (bazooka) they found. The beach, part of the Federal military reservation & Marine Corps Base Camp Pendelton had been used into the 1950s as a training site & the rocket was missed during clean up. The boy holding the warhead was ripped apart by the detonation and scattered in pieces, his companion was intact & killed by the concussion and metal fragments.

When I served on Okinawa in the middle 1980s there was a joint Japanese/US ordnance disposal group who were busy full time taking care of the weapons and explosives routinely uncovered by building construction. I dont recall any injured or killed those two years, but newly discovered ordnance was a monthly news item.

[MAJ T]

When I was stationed at Geilenkirchen, GE in the early 90's there was still a prohibition on searching the woods for artifacts as live ordinance was still being found. And while it is not WWII related, I can also remember walking over were the fence between East & West and making sure to walk over an area where we could tell a dozer had cleared a path. They were still finding mines. Didn't want to be lucky enough to be one to find one that was missed.

Tom

[Trackhead M2]

[quote="Helmut0815"]Here are three articles found on SPIEGEL online dealing with the dangerous remains of WWII in Germany.

1.) Growing Peril for Beachgoers - Two Hurt by WWII Phosphorus on German Shoreline

[quote]Two women suffered serious burns on a German beach over the weekend when they misidentified pieces of World War II phosphorus that had washed ashore as amber. Similar accidents occur each year and experts say the threat posed by rusting war munitions dumped into the Baltic and North Sea is increasing.

Dear H,
My Father remembers growing up in Sicily in the late 1940's/1950's being warned at school to watch out for unexploded ordinance left over from WW 2, I would be watching a WW 2 movie and he would tell me what the ordinance was supposed to do when it went off. Also have you read Yellow Rain by Sterling Seagrave? It includes an incident about a Belgian farmer who cut a tree down, sat on the stump and got horrible burns on his backside. There was WW 1 mustard gas seeping into the tree from the groundwater.

2.) Decaying and Deadly - WWII Mines Pose Growing Risk in Germany

[quote]Two anti-tank mines from World War II have exploded spontaneously in the ground next to a road in the eastern German state of Brandenburg. Fortunately, nobody has been hurt so far. Experts are warning that the risk of such sudden blasts is growing because the trigger mechanisms are decaying with age.

This problem isn't limited to Europe, the Libyans have thousands of mines left to clear.

Strike Swiftly,
TH-M2

[Helmut0815]

Today an excavator operator got killed in Euskirchen/North Rhine-Westphalia when his excavator hit a WW II dud hidden under a pile of rubbles. Eight other people were injured, the blast destroyed windows in wide vicinity.

http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/euskirch ... 41702.html

regards


Helmut

[grassi]

American WWII bomb removed close to Leipzig Central Station (June 12th, 2014):

"Hier explodiert eine Weltkriegsbombe!"
http://www.bild.de/regional/leipzig/bli ... .bild.html

"Detonation auf Bahngelände: Kampfmittelräumdienst sprengt Fliegerbombe in Leipzig"
http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/bombe-au ... 74741.html

Video on MDR
http://www.mdr.de/sachsen/video202874_z ... fcd56.html

Best regards


grassi

[wenty]

It really is terrible but you hear of things like World War II bombs exploding quite regularly actually. It's a wonder the known areas weren't cleared post-World War II to prevent such occurences?

Cheers,
Adam.

[Helmut0815]

Today a british 1,000 lb bomb which could not be defused because of its chemical delay detonator was blasted on the Autobahn A3 near Frankfurt.

Video: http://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/beitrag/ ... -gesprengt

regards

Helmut

[Geoff Walden]

Yesterday a bomb was also found in Salzburg, Austria. The bomb was found not to have a detonator, so it didn't have to be defuzed, just removed.

http://www.berchtesgadener-anzeiger.de/ ... 56314.html

[USS ALASKA]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067943 ... UTF8&psc=1

According to this text, there are still areas of France that are off limits due to WWI UXOs. A very good book that can be had cheap for those interested.

USS ALASKA

[wenty]

I seem to remember hearing that there was some concern about sunken WWII wrecks which might start leaking oil - if they have not started doing so already - into the oceans of the world. We all know how much damage that can do.

Cheers,
Adam.

[Heimatschuss]

Hello Adam,

compared to modern supertankers WW II vessels held rather moderate quantities of fuel oil. If I recall correctly the main concern for oil is in some Pacific coral islands where sunken ships are lying in the atoll lagoons (like in Truk). Coral reefs are very vulnerable even for smaller amounts of oil.

Best regards
Torsten

[wenty]

Hi Heimat,

Thanks for that. Yes, I can imagine that particularly sensitive places such as coral reefs would be quite vulnerable. No matter how tough this material in World War II was, it's bound to corrode eventually, and if it contains dangerous materials then stories like the ones already in this thread will continue. One more unfortunate thing about war zones!

Cheers,
Adam.

[Geoff Walden]

Two 500 pound high explosive bombs were found today in Nürnberg, along with an incendiary bomb. The incendiary has already been removed, but the explosive bombs won't be deactivated until Sunday.

http://www.nordbayern.de/region/nuernbe ... -1.3869923

Over 600 pounds of buried munitions were found near Coburg. The buried cache included hand grenades, Panzerfaust rounds, mortar rounds, and small arms ammunition.

http://www.tvo.de/mediathek/video/unter ... -geborgen/