Late victims of WWII

**Ser Clegane** · 06-02-2010, 16:02

Not the "big" news but something that touched me on a more personal level as it happened in the city where I grew up and lived for 27 years:

Three Killed in Explosion of World War II Bomb in Germany

These bombs are still found very frequently (but usually with less terrible consequences)

more than 2,000 tons of American and British aerial bombs and all kinds of munitions ranging from German hand grenades and anti-tank mines to Russian artillery shells are recovered each year in Germany

and I remember a number of times that bombs have been found in Göttingen (while the city was by and large spared the area around the train station was subject to bombardment). I assume the situation might be similar in e.g. the UK.
A frequent reminder that war is not such a distant history as we (fortunately) often feel it is.

**rory_20_uk** · 06-02-2010, 16:13

Luckily WW1 and WW2 pre-date the invention of the landmine. In countries such as Laos they're still raddled with them.

**Pannonian** · 06-02-2010, 17:10

Originally Posted by rory_20_uk

Luckily WW1 and WW2 pre-date the invention of the landmine. In countries such as Laos they're still raddled with them.

I think Egypt may disagree with you on that. There are still thousands of undiscovered mines at Alamein alone.

**lars573** · 06-02-2010, 17:18

Originally Posted by rory_20_uk

Luckily WW1 and WW2 pre-date the invention of the landmine. In countries such as Laos they're still raddled with them.

I actually watched a Canadian documentary TV show about the lingering affects of war. One segment was about mines. Land mines existed in WW2, but they were clearly mapped in most cases and could easily be dug up and removed. Most were. However during the wars in south east Asia mines began to planted with no clear maps made. Or in the case of US dropped from the back of a C-130. The practice of just dumping mine in the ground with no though to their long term removal then spread, and now that's how most are planted. Just chuck them in the ground willy-nilly and not bother to ever remove them.

**al Roumi** · 06-02-2010, 17:56

Depleted Uranium munitions anyone?

What is it that so fascinates us (on this forum) about something so horrendous as war?

**Pannonian** · 06-02-2010, 19:26

Originally Posted by alh_p

Depleted Uranium munitions anyone?

What is it that so fascinates us (on this forum) about something so horrendous as war?

https://forums.totalwar.org

**Hosakawa Tito** · 06-02-2010, 23:11

Scary stuff indeed. A couple years back a Civil War collector in Virginia was killed by an old Civil War artillery shell he was handling. Pieces of that shell hit a house a quarter mile away, but thankfully no one else was hurt. They'll probably still be finding stuff from WW2 for many years to come.

**Seamus Fermanagh** · 06-02-2010, 23:16

Sad for those families.

We still lose the occasional collector to civil war ordinance (1861-1865), though it's really rare, bu that means it is sadly unsurprising that stuff from 1944 is still about and still lethal.

**Hosakawa Tito** · 06-02-2010, 23:29

Sad indeed for those loved ones, who could ever imagine such a thing happening. If you really want to scare yourself google "america's lost h bomb". I remembered the one lost near Savannah Georgia, but the other two....

**Rhyfelwyr** · 06-02-2010, 23:51

I still occasionally hear about old bombs being found. A lot of the areas round near where I live were some of the most heavily bombed due to the fact that the area is so industrialised (Clydebank in particular was really devastated).

**lars573** · 06-03-2010, 05:12

Originally Posted by Hosakawa Tito

Scary stuff indeed. A couple years back a Civil War collector in Virginia was killed by an old Civil War artillery shell he was handling. Pieces of that shell hit a house a quarter mile away, but thankfully no one else was hurt. They'll probably still be finding stuff from WW2 for many years to come.

Here's some neat facts on WW1 munitions.
-1 in 8 (estimated) shells and other assorted explosive devices launched in the great war never went off.
-Several hundred million such devices were launched in the 4 years of the great war, do the math
-The French government, based on current rate of de-mining matched against estimates of explosives to be found in the ground in north east France, estimate that all of France will clear and safe of unexploded munitions in about 700 years*
-Many French farmers in the area where the trenches churn up grenades arty shells and such like with their tillers, and leave for the de-miners with their garbage.

*Although this might include all of France and both world wars

**Ibn-Khaldun** · 06-03-2010, 11:04

I think they find every year some old Russian and German bombs and other stuff in eastern part of Estonia. I remember that some 15 years ago some kids found a bomb a threw it in the fire .. for fun. 2-3 kids died while several got serious wounds.

**Tristuskhan** · 06-03-2010, 20:06

Well, I grew up in Brest and Lorient and I can remember maybe twelve times in my first twenty years of life parts of the city beeing evacuated in order to neutralize US and British bombs of WWII. And it's still going on today once or twice a year.

At least, as far as we know, every Tallboy bomb droped on Lorient exploded on arrival.

**A Nerd** · 06-03-2010, 20:59

Relics of wars long past posses aspects of facination and awe to many, collectors and non alike. Perhaps part of this appeal is the connection to the past and the fact that the now entombed once touched and used them. However, thier real use and potential can be quite obvious now, as it was when such relics were new.