Any ex Army/bomb disposal types here?
Discussion
Possibly the dumbest thing that I have ever done but I didn't think, I just acted. With hindsight I was possibly very lucky?
I was cycling round the woods on the old German front line in Belgium when I came across this
I thought it was too close to where the public had access and a children's field trip had passed by earlier so I thought it's not gone off for 100years, the detonator must have corroded? so I decided to move it to where it could be located quickly when it was reported in.
Was i lucky? I.e are these unstable? It was quite heavy, about 5lb+ and looked like it had a cap exposed on the end.
Hopefully not a gas shell?
Yes I won't do it again.
I was cycling round the woods on the old German front line in Belgium when I came across this
I thought it was too close to where the public had access and a children's field trip had passed by earlier so I thought it's not gone off for 100years, the detonator must have corroded? so I decided to move it to where it could be located quickly when it was reported in.
Was i lucky? I.e are these unstable? It was quite heavy, about 5lb+ and looked like it had a cap exposed on the end.
Hopefully not a gas shell?
Yes I won't do it again.
Ayahuasca said:
Looks like a bit of old fence post filled with concrete to me. A shell would be hollow. The way to test it is to get a hammer and give it a whack to see if it sounds hollow.
The base (below the white band) was metal and the top where it reaches the point/cap? Was the same/similar marterial to the sides. Think I've got another pic which may help but it makes me look a burk as I took a pic holding it incase anyone wanted to identify it as gas etc. Naive fool here as of course they harvest huge amounts yearly from there.
BruceV8 said:
The good news is that it doesn't appear to be a chemical (ie gas) shell.
The bad news is that it does appear to be a High Explosive shell.
The other good news is that it doesn't appear to have been fired, which means that the fuze isn't armed.
More bad news is that the fuze appears to have corroded away to such an extent that any safety restraints in it may no longer be effective. It could be worse than armed.
More good news is that French and Belgian EOD handle hundreds, if not thousands, of these every year without incident.
Less good is that every few years or so one of these functions while being handled and everyone is horribly killed to death.
If I came across that in a professional capacity I would destroy it in situ. Its the quickest, easiest and safest thing to do.
Plus, blowing things up is a bit of a laugh.
I picked it up more than once moving it. I actually think I'm intelligent at times. This time not. I don't think I'd have survived in the army, stupidity would have killed me.The bad news is that it does appear to be a High Explosive shell.
The other good news is that it doesn't appear to have been fired, which means that the fuze isn't armed.
More bad news is that the fuze appears to have corroded away to such an extent that any safety restraints in it may no longer be effective. It could be worse than armed.
More good news is that French and Belgian EOD handle hundreds, if not thousands, of these every year without incident.
Less good is that every few years or so one of these functions while being handled and everyone is horribly killed to death.
If I came across that in a professional capacity I would destroy it in situ. Its the quickest, easiest and safest thing to do.
Plus, blowing things up is a bit of a laugh.
sunbeam alpine said:
I'm pretty sure I'd hear if someone got blown up, and I work over the whole WW1 region.
A few years back I was fortunate enough to be on a farm when they unearthed a whole intact section of WWI trench which had probably been buried by a huge explosion. Luckly, there weren't any bodies, but whe we explored, we found lots of (very rusty) equipment, including Lee Enfield rifles. One day later, the whole site was closed off.
That must be sobering to experience. When I found the ordinance I'd come across a school field trip earlier nearby and they all had long wheel dipping sticks for pushing deep/exploring the ground? I explained where the shell was and if they were keen to look from a distance ...Although mainly to be aware...A few years back I was fortunate enough to be on a farm when they unearthed a whole intact section of WWI trench which had probably been buried by a huge explosion. Luckly, there weren't any bodies, but whe we explored, we found lots of (very rusty) equipment, including Lee Enfield rifles. One day later, the whole site was closed off.
I also came across abit of earth erosion on the old German front line that was on the high ground in the woods overlooking the British front line - it looked like it had exposed an old German trench (or bunker?)
No one's called me a blithering idiot yet
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