View Full Version : WWII era American 500-pound bomb unearthed at Grafenwoehr training facility
mojaveman
03-20-2015, 18:15
Any readers here ever train at Grafenwoehr? All of the ordnance that was dropped on Germany during WWII has basically left it one of the worlds largest minefields.
http://www.upi.com/Top-News/World-News/2015/03/19/Evacuation-at-German-US-Army-base-after-WWII-bomb-found/9711426814975/
Pericles
03-24-2015, 15:23
I remember at Vilseck when barracks were being built to move 1st BDE / 1AD there, construction dug up a PzKpfw IV hull, a Hetzer tank destroyer, and a Wespe SPA. No telling what else lays buried.
Golf1echo
03-24-2015, 16:54
A couple of months ago I saw a new big yellow warning sign posted at Hale's main entrance regarding miscellaneous ordnance and the project to report and dispose of such, making it all the more interesting. Although not Europe, it was all about going there...
http://www.camphale.org/
All of the ordnance that was dropped on Germany during WWII has basically left it one of the worlds largest minefields.
It's not just Germany. The combined effects of WW1 and WW2 artillery and aerial bombardment have made much of Western Europe (including the UK, BE, and FR) a virtual mine-field of UnExOrd that remains a hazard to residents and visitors alike.
France, for example, has an EOD unit specializing in and solely dedicated to neutralizing the tons of armaments remaining from those two wars which are discovered and kill a number of citizens (farmers, in particualr) and visitors annually.
IMO, it's a bit like a slef-inflicted GSW - but so it goes...
Richard
Airbornelawyer
03-26-2015, 17:28
UXO from my last trip in France last summer. I stumbled across the German 77 in a farmer's field north of Reims near the Chemin des Dames. The other piles were collected by farmers near Verdun. I also came across a chemical grenade in a freshly-plowed field about 100 meters from that stack, but I just marked the spot and left it.
The other pic is a view from a hill along the French lines across no-mans' land toward German lines along the aptly name Dead Man's Hill (Le Mort Homme). Back in 2008, we met with the local farmers who were dredging the pond in the middle. They had amassed a giant pile of exploded and unexploded ordnance for disposal there.
mark46th
03-31-2015, 08:25
Laos and Cambodia have a few UXO's still around...
That 4th picture looks so tranquil, hard to imagine what a hell it was a hundred yrs ago...
Javadrinker
03-31-2015, 09:39
I can remember more than one larger than expected detonations during tank gunnery in the mid 70s at Graf due to short rounds....but then I also know of a few exceptional overline shots at Graf ...
It was really exceptional to have just been a witness and not involved in any of said episodes :D