Old WW2 bombs and other unexploded ordnance

Okay, I might, just MIGHT get the logic of initially laying down on it until the area is secured. But three hours? Whut? It wasn't possible to employ people to keep everyone away until the authorities arrived? and, btw, why took this three hours?

Maybe nobody else knew what was going on because he didn't sound the alarm first and nobody happened by?

That's even weirder.

"Withdraw and phone the emergency services — follow what you get told to do" isn't exactly a high arcana, occult act of mystery.

Who knows what was going through his mind. I applaud the obvious good intention but I am shocked by the overt ignorance and the fact there was honestly a far easier answer.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/07/25/asia-pacific/north-koreans-still-digging-deadly-mainly-u-s-ordnance-64-years-guns-fell-silent/

An interesting article in 2017 that has North Koreans still finding ordnance dropped in the country by American-led UN bombers.

And that is surprising how? This is pretty much standard for any country which has been a battlefield in the last 100 years. A lot of countries in Europe are still digging up bombs and land-mines, too.

That part's also being used as part of their anti-US propaganda, but that's not a surprise anymore...

Is there anything the North Koreans won’t use as anti-US propaganda? That’s pretty much a given with them.

They dig up old bombs in Japan too. When I was stationed at Yokota we'd find something maybe once a year, although usually old Imperial Japanese stuff that evidently got buried rather than dealt with properly after the war.

I do believe that in Japan it's one of those "exceptions that prove the rule" things, but... you are allowed to critique the actions of your ancestors quite rudely, say, if you're the foreman of a building site and your crew has just found one of those buried (and unrecorded) gift baskets of death.

In that instance, no kami will take it badly if you go all out.

So guess who's sitting in at a window at the 8th floor, facing a bomb defusal going down less than a kilometer away with no other high rise in between.

...*munches popcorn*

Always a hell of a sight watching bomb techs work. Those guys are some of the most fearless, hardened dudes you’ll ever meet.

I would have thought it more appropriate to go for coffee and something chocolatey/nutty, given the time of day?

And you can dog or remote spot into the bargain, depending on what's happening. <nods>

Edited by Euodiachloris on Jan 29th 2019 at 3:38:35 PM

Given that battlefields literally a century and a half in the past are still yielding dangerous shells and explosives from the mid to end of the 1800s, we should not be all that shocked that finding wartime UXO less than a century down the road. Especially the more modern wars from WWI and forward given the vast numbers of munitions expended in all of them. Aerial bomb loads from the WWII forward were measured in hundreds of tons of expended munitions. Given the high number of variables that could dud bombs of that era, I am not surprised the "Iron Harvest" will go on for some time. Even modern fuses are not foolproof and some designs are more prone to failure than others.

3 of 4: Yikes. Where you located?

Edited by TuefelHundenIV on Jan 29th 2019 at 5:52:09 AM

Nah, no reason to yikes. This happens quite often in Germany, and if the high rise were in the impact zone, they would have evacuated. For all the bombs we find on a regular basis, civilian victims are pretty rare, and usually it hits construction workers.

Yeah it got safely defused.it just found it funny cause the outer zone ended straight across the street and I had clear view on it.

And as Swan said...happens occasionally, especially in a big industry center like Düsseldorf.

The Ruhr Area and Hamburg gets it especially bad in this regard.

Gotcha, still I would personally be wary because it is a common occurrence for a bomb to fling some metal bit way outside the predicted blast radius. That and almost being to close to an artillery round hitting the infantry training range one time has left me with a healthy respect and hair raising around large explosives or explosions.

Only an idiot doesn't respect what explosive engineering can do. <nods>

It's Germany. Believe me, they evacuate an area big enough. You are more likely to hit by an explosive during our new years celebration.

I know, I sound quite calm about it but, well, shows that you can get used to pretty much everything. I am pretty sure that there are still bombs lying under our inner cities. Because for one, whenever something is rebuilt, they nearly always find something and two, back in the day nobody was too concerned with doing a thorough bomb search deep in the ground before building on top of it.

Edited by Swanpride on Jan 31st 2019 at 5:09:15 AM

I am almost impressed at how blase you are about it. I can sort of understand getting used to it after so much exposure.

Well, have you SEEN our New Years celebration?

In Omaha, NE it sounds like a constant roll of shell fire for several days for 4th of July. The local arenas like to use mortar shells so powerful that you can feel shockwaves up 5 miles away and see them for 20.

One of them this year during new years someone used one that some reported hearing the report and feeling the shockwave around ten to twelve miles away. It was huge and quite bright.

And you call us chill about live ordnance😝?

Edited by 3of4 on Feb 2nd 2019 at 1:11:26 PM

I am pretty uneasy about the average joe about it. At least with the massive mortars, they have people trained and licensed working with them. It is what my fellow citizens on average are doing that worries me. I know how stupid the average person with explosives is. Most of them have an utter lack of respect to how much damage even a small quantity of black powder can do.