WWI Battlefield On Fire

[Subdeacon Joe]

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/this-world-war-i-battlefield-slovenia-fire-unexploded-ordnance/

 

A massive wildfire is currently raging in the Kras region in Slovenia’s southwest. The fires are having the unexpected effect of setting off multiple unexploded ordnances (or UXOs) left in the ground from World War I. The fire has burned more than eight square miles, and forced at least three villages on or near the Italian-Slovenian border to evacuate, including the border town of Opatje Selo. More than 1,000 firefighters and elements of the Slovenian military have been fighting the blaze. 

The fires alone are presenting risks to firefighters, but the risk of sudden, unexpected explosions add another level of danger. Local media reported that one explosion sent shrapnel right by a group of firefighters, but no one was injured in the blast. Slovenia has sent in bomb disposal teams to help clear the space for containing and battling the fires. Slovakia, Austria and Croatia have also dispatched helicopter crews to assist in the efforts.

[Pat Riot]

I am baffled that there is still ordnance in the ground from WW1 or WW2. If they know it’s there can they not detect it and destroy or dispose of it?

[Subdeacon Joe]

8 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

I am baffled that there is still ordnance in the ground from WW1 or WW2. If they know it’s there can they not detect it and destroy or dispose of it?

 

A country is a big place. With tens of millions of shells and bombs fired or dropped even a 5 percent rate of duds leaves a lot of unexploded ordnance.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ww1-century-bombs/a-century-on-from-ww1-100-years-of-work-remains-to-clear-munitions-idUSKCN1N40TS

 

[Utah Bob #35998]

1 hour ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

I am baffled that there is still ordnance in the ground from WW1 or WW2. If they know it’s there can they not detect it and destroy or dispose of it?

There are areas in France and Belgium that are still restricted due to the massive amounts of WW1 ordnance.

A fire could also set of chemical shells and some og the those agents are still dangerous after all this time. I recall an incident where a young couple were poisoned by mustard agent in a freshly tilled ag field.

[Pat Riot]

Thanks @Subdeacon Joe& @Utah Bob #35998

I guess “Call before you dig” takes on a whole new meaning over there. 

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

I recall a TV documentary on some massive WWI "Mines" dug under the trenches, to be exploded just before an attack, but that were never used or set off and are still in place.

Many tons of Amphenol (sp??) 

[St. Louis Suomi SASS #31905]

They take tons of unexploded arsensal out of Okinawa every year.

 

STL Suomi

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

44 minutes ago, St. Louis Suomi SASS #31905 said:

They take tons of unexploded arsensal out of Okinawa every year.

 

STL Suomi

When I was there they use to take it out to a small island and detonate it.  They's run it on television with a warning not to pick it up, because stupid American G,I.s and dependents would find it and take it for a "souvenir". 

 

A Navy dependent was killed and his buddy injured while I was there and a  cache of ammo was accidentally set off a couple of hundred yards from our shop in Machinato-Naha by workers clearing land for a warehouse.  Somehow no one was seriously hurt.

[Cypress Sun]

During WWII, the Army Air Force based at MacDill AFB used the Fort Desoto keys and islands as a bombing range. They still find ordinance there on occasion. If I recall correctly, a tourist found a 500lb bomb there about 10 - 15 years ago while digging in the sand/mud. They detonated it in place, made a helleva crater and blew out some sliding glass door's glass on some condos that were a ways away.

[Sedalia Dave]

2 hours ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

I recall a TV documentary on some massive WWI "Mines" dug under the trenches, to be exploded just before an attack, but that were never used or set off and are still in place.

Many tons of Amphenol (sp??) 

 

Is was on PBS. The mines were near Messines, France.

 

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/secret-tunnel-warfare/?force_isolation=true

 

There is at least one and possible more mines full of unexploded Gun Cotton and Ammonal. In total, almost 500 tons of high explosives were placed in the Messines mines. The combined explosion on June 7th 1917 ranks as one of the largest man made non-nuclear explosions ever.

 

 

[Sedalia Dave]

8 minutes ago, Sedalia Dave said:

 

Is was on PBS. The mines were near Messines, France.

 

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/secret-tunnel-warfare/?force_isolation=true

 

There is at least one and possible more mines full of unexploded Gun Cotton and Ammonal. In total, almost 500 tons of high explosives were placed in the Messines mines. The combined explosion on June 7th 1917 ranks as one of the largest man made non-nuclear explosions ever.

 

 

 

More info on the unexploded charges near Messines.  

 

https://simonjoneshistorian.com/2017/05/01/lost-mines-of-messines/?force_isolation=true

 

In 1955 Lightning set off one of he lost mines.

[Michigan Slim]

Kingbury Fish and Wildlife Area in NW Indiana has areas closed due to live ordnance. Some of the bunkers are still there from back in the day. Good rabbit and dove hunting.

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=4d53dc2fb6dbbf61JmltdHM9MTY1OTAzNTc0MCZpZ3VpZD1lMWI3MTg5OS1hNDFiLTQ1YTAtOWU0OS01YTVhODRiMWI5MDYmaW5zaWQ9NTIwMA&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=ab364f3a-0ea9-11ed-b419-b39a430c3a41&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly9pbmRpYW5hcHVibGljbWVkaWEub3JnL21vbWVudG9maW5kaWFuYWhpc3Rvcnkva2luZ3NidXJ5LW9yZG5hbmNlLXBsYW50Lw&ntb=1

Ammo plant.

In 1940, as the United States mobilized for war, federal authorities at the War Department identified Kingsbury, a small town in northern Indiana, as a prime location for munitions manufacture.

The region was far enough inland to escape an enemy attack but well-placed to distribute goods to both the East and West coasts. If a tragic factory mistake should end in a devastating explosion, the area was sparsely populated and insignificant to the nation’s infrastructure.

[Cholla]

1 hour ago, Michigan Slim said:

Kingbury Fish and Wildlife Area in NW Indiana has areas closed due to live ordnance. Some of the bunkers are still there from back in the day. Good rabbit and dove hunting.

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=4d53dc2fb6dbbf61JmltdHM9MTY1OTAzNTc0MCZpZ3VpZD1lMWI3MTg5OS1hNDFiLTQ1YTAtOWU0OS01YTVhODRiMWI5MDYmaW5zaWQ9NTIwMA&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=ab364f3a-0ea9-11ed-b419-b39a430c3a41&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly9pbmRpYW5hcHVibGljbWVkaWEub3JnL21vbWVudG9maW5kaWFuYWhpc3Rvcnkva2luZ3NidXJ5LW9yZG5hbmNlLXBsYW50Lw&ntb=1

Ammo plant.

In 1940, as the United States mobilized for war, federal authorities at the War Department identified Kingsbury, a small town in northern Indiana, as a prime location for munitions manufacture.

The region was far enough inland to escape an enemy attack but well-placed to distribute goods to both the East and West coasts. If a tragic factory mistake should end in a devastating explosion, the area was sparsely populated and insignificant to the nation’s infrastructure.

Camp Atterbury is much the same.  Except, they still have live fire. Some foolish hunters sneak in every year because of the huge deer and other critters. The DNR used to tell me all sorts of stories back when I had a column in Indiana Outdoor News called Behind The Badge.