Destroying Bombs From World War I | The New York Times 

I just realized that these men are the original WW1 soldier's great grandchildren STILL cleaning up after this horrible war. God bless and keep these men safe.

"The last person to die from a a ww1 landmine probably hasn't been born yet"

I recall seeing a Canadian-made show about the number of WWI shells still found in Belgium. The remarkable thing was that the number is very consistent every year; it never seems to decline.

Someone made a comment that, "I would hate to be a farmer in Verdun.", It's not just Verdun, From Zeebruge on the Northern coast of Belgium all the way down to Pfetterhouse in the south of France near the Swiss border, and as far west as Amiens & Chantilly in the east, all of them have areas that are cordoned off that you can't go into due to massive amounts of unexploded German, French, British, and American ordinance from WWI alone. There's also unexploded munitions from WWII in some of those areas from WWII as well. There are at least several deaths a year of farmers, who might accidentally detonate them while trying to innocently work their fields, military souvenir hunter's & the brave folks who travel all over those regions who are charged with the insanely dangerous job of gathering up all of the land mines, grenades, mortars, and both regular & Chlorine or Mustard Gas artillery shells that either didn't detonate, or were stockpiled & then forgotten about as trenches & ammunition dumps were overrun by either the Germans or the Allies in both World Wars. I visited a number of the areas when I was stationed in Germany, and we were warned in no uncertain terms NOT to attempt to even pick up any kind of ordinance that we might see, but to report the area immediately ! The fuses on a lot of the shells were sketchy even back then, especially towards the end of the war, artillery shells had been known to detonate while being handled even then, and now, 105 years later, a shell that might not have exploded because of an extreme lack of quality control could blow up in your face just because you nudged it with your toe. While I was there, one of the bomb disposal personnel had a shell go off in while he was bringing it into the building they had as a collection point, all that was left of him was his shoes & his feet, the rest of him was vaporized. There are also tunnels that were mined by both sides in some areas, ( the British dug one that was a total of 19 mine shafts under the Messines ridge that were packed full of Amitol, the explosion was so large that it was felt & heard in London, a few hundred miles away), and they can't be sure even now that all of the explosives detonated, the same went for the Germans. During WWII, the possibility of the Germans using gas shells was a distinct possibility, but as the Allies pushed east after D-Day they were covering ground that was still full of live gas shells & other ordinance for 30 years previously. And there were at least several cases we were told of where both Allies & Axis troops were accidentally gassed or blown apart by WWI shells & anti-personnel mines that had lain dormant all of those years, which led to accusations from both sides that the other side were using gas shells, plus huge explosions from shells that the Germans used that were 17-21" in diameter & weighed a little more than a ton, those caused the massive craters that are still visible all around Belgium & France. So, should you ever go to visit any of the WWI battlefields, for your own sake, stay in the areas that are declared to be safe, but use caution none the less, because it's still not known just where an unexploded piece of two different wars might show up. Stay away especially in the winter time, as the cold causes the ground to contract & can cause the ordinance to detonate on it's own.

I grew up in Western Belgium and I can attest that this is still very common. Often, the army engineers were seen doing the rounds and periodically they were exploding shells dug up by farmers. That was always a good show, at a safe distance. If the shell was big enough, they had a crew coming over immediately. All the farmers knew who to call when a big bomb surfaced. They had a 24/7 standby for that. But if the shells were smaller, the farmers left them at locations, waiting to be picked up. Often you saw a small pile of those just at a crossroads... To the untrained eye, they looked like a bunch of rusty pipes. Just another day in West-Flanders... To this day, they still dig up bombs. It's becoming less than say, 50 years ago. But a considerable amount of ordinances are still coming up, especially during ploughing season. Personally, I cannot begin to imagine the horror it must have been at the front. And I am grateful to be spared such an ordeal.

In 1963 we lived in Chateroux and I was 8 years old. I found a bomb that had been dropped from a plane and brought it home on the handlebars of my bike, it didn't go over well and the AF police weren't long on getting there

My grandfather’s first cousin died near Verdun on October 18, 1918. I always felt it was sad that he died so close to the end of the Great War. His remains were finally return in 1922 and in rests in Oakridge Cemetery not too far from Lincoln’s tomb. It was a sad affair and made worse because after they notified my Great Aunt and Uncle of his death, they received several letters from Lafore. His parents held out hope that the War Department was wrong and argued with them for several months before Aunt Greta and Uncle Nelson accepted the truth.

2% were chemical but "It wasn't very many" as he said. That is still 1.2 million shells. Absolutely insane amount of ordnance.

It is even worse in Cambodia and Laos from the U.S.'s Vietnam War. People lose limbs there everyday.

In 1955 a 'forgotten' British underground mine exploded in Belgium due to a lightning strike leaving a crater 40 meters wide and 20 deep. You can Google some pictures. It's unreal.

In 1976 I was hunting at Fort Mead in Maryland. Hunters were required to attend a safety course that described what to do if you found a shell. Part of the hunting area was on the old WWII artillery practice field. We were told that most of the shells we might find were solid practice rounds with no explosives inside. But, some of the earliest shells were live rounds with explosives. I found one of those live rounds. I marked it with a fluorescent vest that we were required to wear and reported it to EOD. I rode with them to pick it up and when the Sargent got back in the van cradling the shell like a baby I asked "Shouldn't we be wearing flak vests or something?" He said "If this thing goes off nothing you're wearing will do you any good!" I watched them lower it into an underground concrete silo with C-4 attached and they detonated it. Even from a distance and inside a bunker I could still feel the violent shaking of the ground as it went off. Even if it never hit you the concussion from a 4 inch shell like that would wreck your insides.

you have to have major balls to this job... I don’t think people understand how frequently these bombs can be found...

I'm from Belgium and live around Ypres. As a kid we would go on the old uncleaned fields and collect bomb tops, bomb shells and regulararly we would find complete bombs and we would put them on the side of the road for the Belgian bombing squad to come pick them up

I don't know about you, but I'd be very nervous stuck behind that truck in a traffic jam.

In 2008 a man was killed while working with a grinder on civil war era cannon ball. The explosive was just black powder. Never bring a grinder into a cannonball fight .

We grew up in the Hyon area of Belgium. My mother, being an avid gardener, would enlist we her children as her soil turners. The number of times we heard the tell-tale "clink" of a metal trowel hitting a piece of metal was too frequent to count. We unearthed numerous shells, clips of rifle ammunition and the metal parts of long-rotted away mauser rifles. We had no idea at the time the Canadian and German lines both crossed where the house was at different points in the war.

I would hate to be a farmer in Verdun...

Unbelievable. All this time I've been wearing state of the art bomb disposal gloves and never knew.

I was riding a bike around the Ypres, Belgium World War One battlefield in the summer of 1997 when I had a surprising encounter. I stopped by the side of the road to drink some water. I looked down and there right beside me were three artillery shells, all rusted and broken like you see here. The three shells were lying in a little concrete niche built by the side of the road. I guessed it was there for farmers to place any shells they found. I believe I had just come along before the explosive experts came to get rid of them. I tell you my heart rate went up and I was paralyzed for a few moment with fear when I saw those shells. Then I got on my bike and rode away as fast as I could. They say most are inert after all this time but some...some aren't. Take no chances if you ever find one. Leave it be and call the experts.

It may also be because of his job, a bit noble, a bit heroic, but there was something very gentle about this French gentle man.

wow that was some explosion, the horror of being caught up in that....

It is amazing that he just puts them in the back of his pick up like that. He even stacks them up to carry them back to the truck in 1 trip...sheesh

When my parents were living in Germany around 1955, some children in France were killed when they were playing in a ditch and set off a mustard gas shell.

I'd like to know...when they detonated the shells at the end, did they use modern explosives as an accelerate, or was this explosion wholly from 100 year-old shells?

i quit my metal detecting hobby after finding the striker button of a landmine on a beach in Suffolk

Wars have such longstanding affects, horrible and tragic. Please, let us never do this again.

From Buffalo, New York USA. I gave it a thumbs up NOT because of anything morbid, but because of how interesting this video is. Be CAREFULL guys.

i love how he throws them in the back of the truck with zero hoots given

What these Men do is amazing for the good of others 👍

Absolutely amazing it just looks like a peaceful empty field but so much carnage took place there really makes me feel something, Those bombs looks so out of place

Humanity really needs to figure out how to eradicate war and put our energy towards enlightenment and positive growth. Imagine the things we could accomplish.

Expert said we have in France soil for 800 years of unexploded shell juste for ww1

You would think that the chemical compounds would breakdown in a hundred years. But there you go.

In WW1 the British dug several tunnels under the German positions, filled them with explosives and blew up the opposing positions. Some of these mines have not exploded and the explosives buried are still in the ground. Farms were partly built over it.

Just a curious question: Are the people killed by these explosives considered victims of the First World War?

Remember travelling through France a teenager, seeing areas fenced off because of unexploded ordinance. N' still in the UK we get the odd bomb now found. But back in 70-80's it was one every month almost re bombs.

Here in Virginia, USA, we still find Civil War artillery shells that can explode. Happens to relic hunters a lot.

What an interesting but very dangerous task, thankfully there are these people to do this job, stay safe out there Folks and take great care.

10 million people dead and we are still wondering why.

I lived on the island of Iwo Jima for three months back in the 70's and we would find unexploded ordinance all the time. We were required to log its location so the US army could clear it. That happened twice a year. They would collect it and put it in a pile, wrap detonation cord around it then blow it up.

Based off the thumbnail I thought he was going to say "I'm one with the force and the force is with me"

It's reckoned around 30% of shells didn't explode. Mainly because the skilled factory workers were called up to go and fight.

Those guys have some big Cajones (ka-hone-ees) and I spent 20 years on a swat team.... They have my respect....

It’s amazing how he can tell apart the shell of which countries used when there so broke and rusted

The same goes on here in Flanders, Belgium, year after year.

there is something interesting what deterioration has done to these weapons of death and state of time they exists today. they seem as harmless has a old man in a rocking chair although at the same state they where killers in there youth. hopefully we will no longer kill each other when economics turn sower but rid ourselves from the burred of despair that drive humans wild. and rebuild ourselves with good judgment learning and law lets reinvent us not kill us.

Nice secondary blast... wasn't expecting that.

Merci, très instructif !

Living in a country that hasn't had a war since the 19th century (and no bombs dropped om the country) this is sooo crazy? People finding bombs in their backyard basically. Scary and fascinating at once

Prayers for the good people of France, having to still endure the horrors of a stupid war that ended over a century ago.

That's so insane!! So sad to!!

From the end of WW1 till 1971 all chemical bombs found in Belgium (estimated 35.000 tons from which 30% chemical) were dumped at the seashore, at a place called "paardenmarkt". From 1980 on they were dumped in the Gulf of Biscay. As from 1998 an automatic munition dismantling installation in Poelkapelle does this work.

It's fascinating years on these bo... "explosion audio loud bang" lol

At our elementary school at SHAPE in 1968, we had a day off from school when they swept the playground for UXO. Belgium, where everyone goes to fight a war.

hope we never have a nuke war.loas and vietnam will be doing this for centurys also

Another thing you need to understand is that only a little more than half of the shells that were FIRED, actually detonated, there were still huge stockpiles of ordnance that had never even been used, it was just buried in vacated trenches, in underground bunkers, in dungeons & catacombs of churches & castles, etc. And then there are the unexploded mines that months were spent digging on both sides to plant under both sides of the lines, if they didn't go off for whatever reason then the entrances to these massive mines were collapsed & covered over, and in some cases, the maps showing the locations of these mines were destroyed to keep each opposing army from making use of them. It's always spoken of the 19 mines that were detonated in the Messines Ridge operation, but while I was in Belgium & France I was told by men who had helped tunnel out these mines that there were actually 21 mines, but the other two wound up not being detonated because by that time the British & French forces had already taken those areas. So the wires were just coiled up & shoved down into the mone portals & buried over, and over 106 years later, these two massive mines are still there, filled with tons of Amitol, just waiting for circumstances & conditions to be right for them to detonate. There have been times when lightning has struck these old battlefields & detonated ordnance that may have been lying there since 1914. As for those who dispose of discovered ordnance, that some think are acting a bit too cavalier in handling these unstable shells, grenades, cannisters, etc. They've gotten to know through long use, just which ones can be literally tossed around & handled roughly, and which ones have to be handled with more care than a carton of eggs. But they also know that if it's going to happen, that there's absolutely nothing that they could do to escape their fate. I met a few people there who were actually diagnosed with terminal illnesses, and rather than just sit out their remaining time, waiting to die, they chose to make what time they had left mean something positive by retreiving unexploded ordnance. What a way to make your ending mean that someone healthy won't be subjected to losing their lives trying to clean up a mess that the involved governments just shrugged their shoulders & walked away from ?

These men are courageous for risking there lives and doing this very dangerous job, no amount of money would be enough compensation for this job.

Still as effective as the day there were fired 100 years ago

I wish army didn’t exist and we all lived in peace

These guys did a BANG up job!

I never thought id say this but I’ve taken trail making in the us for granted. I’ve never had to worry about bombshells.

I feel bad for countrys like vietnam and france, who need to live in feer of thus happening

*me at **03:04**:* "Dude!! carefull with that... yeah he realised it.. gave it a little pat to say thank you for not exploding".

If that car gets into a traffic collision there will just be a hole in the ground...

Dude it just terrifying. Image you come across a gas shell. Just horrible.

hes got some big balls....

Bully good job. Very unfortunate the world is as it is.

Some construction workers once found 4 WW2 bombs in my local area (Bangkok) where Imperial Japanese HQ used to be. The bombs were huge, maybe a few hundred kilograms. They were dropped by British and American planes from Burma at the time during their bombing raids. The construction workers didn't contact the authority to dispose of the bombs and brought them to a local pawn shop instead; trying to score some quick cash. The pawn shop owner, for some reasons, told the construction workers to "open the bombs" with a blow torch. They took the bombs to an open area and started cutting one up. Loudest noise I've heard in my life... The bomb exploded killing the workers and the owner instantly. Every windows in the vicinity were shattered, ground turned into a big crater, blood and guts everywhere. 3 bombs were still in the pawnshop so that huge explosion was from only 1 of them. I still wonder why on earth did the pawn shop owner wanted to cut up the bombs.

4:46 some sounds of World War 1 going off. Without the gun fire and sounds of pain and agony.

🙋🏻‍♂️ hello from Sweden 🇸🇪

Hope he's well paid!

I remember they were still blowing up leftover sea mines from WWI in Dardanelles in mid 2000s.

WHAT A WASTE OF HUMANITY

geezus. Those are some very large explosions all things considered.

I found this fascinating.

Just try to put yourself in the civilians shoes when they first came back their homes and farms destroyed the ground is so pot marked by bombs blowing holes in the ground and trenches everywhere you might nit even be able to tell where your property wad anymore then the realization that you are a farmer and must somehow make the ground right so you can farm again

I read before that 10 Billion shells were fired in ww1

Sometimes even under the hands of professionals, accidents happen. After such a long time the world wars can still take casualties.

We’ve seen them left in a pile by the roadside ready for collection

I work near Stafford Virginia and they are still unearthing US Civil War explosive shells that require either an EOD or transportation and render safe process at the Quantico explosives range. Are they still a danger? Well, do you want to find out? Do you want some kid or some construction worker to find out?

I'd be more terrified of the chemical shell going off in my face than the explosive shell

“Alright, throw it in the back”

Still packs a punch

They could lance them with high pressure water jets right where they found them. Why do they move them?

France, outside Russia, was the second hit hardest in both wars . And I think the French showed themselves when they could. I call on French Patriots as real fighters.

I can see why the helmets reduced injuries and death. after each bomb there is a shower of rocks and dirt that rains down. If you were near the explosion you were dead but if you were far enough away that the rocks fell on you the helmet protected you

Now make a documentary about allied bombs in Germany.

Keep in mind the eastern front was a thing too Who cleaned up after the battles in the east?

Nothing says “We value You”, like being sent out to find mines!

what? some dude smacked the detonator on a shell with a chunk of metal and it blew up? darwin award plx?

Even more frightening, there will (at the last estimates) be work for the current clearer's children and their children after them.

Some parts of America, they just put an explosive charge on the bomb and detonate it

Seventy-eight unexploded bombs disliked this.

The war that keeps on killing.

In America, the "bomb squad" would use a blast resistant trailer/truck to transport to the range. Seems like that would be safer...

I'm just surprised that these shells are still active even through all these years of them being out in the rain, heat, and cold. I would've just figured that the charge inside of it would've fizzled out after the first 30 years.

The amount of duds they find is wild. The technology was still so crude.

Cool job!!!

4:37

WWI was the last gasp of our worst inner chimp.