Read this and never complain about the condition of your fields again. 2014 marks 100 years since the start of WW1. Last year, in Belgium and France, 176 TONS of unexploded munitions from WW1 were recovered from fields and towns that now occupy sites of WW1 battles. This amount is not unusual! It's been going on every year since the war ended. Most are recovered safely but every year, French and Belgian farmers get killed plowing in to them. Over one billion shells were fired and fully 1/3 of them never went off and they are still there. Most were duds because the soil they landed in was too soft to fire the fuse; the soil having been churned up by artillery barrages that lasted for days. Google Iron Harvest.
- Thread starter CGID
- Start date
Chris Jones
Member
Finding munitions pieces, iron, steel, led, brass, etc. as long as it is not live could be profitable.
I had the privlige of talking to a captain in the Belgium army about 20 years ago. He was in charge of a bomb disposal unit. I was surprised at how much stuff they had to dispose of every year. I remember him saying is was 122 tons for his unit the previous year. He told me that one farmer found a 50k shell, while plowing with horses. He hooked it up to his team, dragged over to the side of the road. He intended to call, but forgot. 3 days later, a highway worker on a tractor hit it with a large mower. They found parts of tractor 1/2 mile away.
Chris Jones
Member
I was just reading more about all this and I hadn't thought of the large percentage of them that contain chemicals like mustard gas and phosgene. I wondered about metal detectors too--aren't those detectors able to tell how large something is? Oh well, as it seems they have teams dedicated to collecting this stuff wouldn't it make sense to scan like a field a week with ground penetrating radar or something as as step in finding them? Who knows, I'm not an expert.
Interesting article
Interesting article
Chris Jones
Member
Imagine what the middle east will look like in the future--well, if they ever stop fighting there.
I have heard that in parts of the world--I think Vietnam and Korea landmines left behind are a problem. At one point I heard talk about making landmines that were designed to only be viable for X years--corrode in soil after X years or in some other way ensure that in say 10 years they were fail to be effective. This would prevent those left behind after conflicts would become safe/safer after the passage of a known time. This talk was also punctuated with talk of new mines being harder to find because of increasing use of plastic and ceramics. In use you want them hard to find. After the conflict is over you want them easy to find.
I have heard that in parts of the world--I think Vietnam and Korea landmines left behind are a problem. At one point I heard talk about making landmines that were designed to only be viable for X years--corrode in soil after X years or in some other way ensure that in say 10 years they were fail to be effective. This would prevent those left behind after conflicts would become safe/safer after the passage of a known time. This talk was also punctuated with talk of new mines being harder to find because of increasing use of plastic and ceramics. In use you want them hard to find. After the conflict is over you want them easy to find.
37chief
Well-known Member
- Location
- California
Amazing so many unexploded shells still remain. Here in San Diego in the early 80'stwo kids were killed when they found a still live shell from WW2. The housing tract was built near a military firing range.The shells were just laying on the ground. Stan
TDFChris Jones
Member
I took my family to Martha's Vineyard last year for vacation.
I was very surprised to get to one of the beaches and see a bunch of signs warning against unexploded ordinance.
Apparently the beach was used for target practice back in WWII.
Since there are beaches all around the island, I chose another one. I hate sitting on the beach anyways, last thing I need is to be worried that I might blow up if I stick my chair down on the wrong spot.
I was very surprised to get to one of the beaches and see a bunch of signs warning against unexploded ordinance.
Apparently the beach was used for target practice back in WWII.
Since there are beaches all around the island, I chose another one. I hate sitting on the beach anyways, last thing I need is to be worried that I might blow up if I stick my chair down on the wrong spot.
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