• WW2 Bomb explodes in Germany - 1 dead 2 seriously wounded
    92 replies, posted
When I was in France and Belgium the last time (on a WW1 tour), I saw several areas that were closed because of unexploded ordnance still left from WW1.
[QUOTE=ExplosiveCheese;43404698]It was part of it, but not entirely. They have problems with unexploded cluster bomblets, which are the size of oranges, and are powerful enough to blow up farming equipment like large tractors. They are also hard to spot due to their size, so it's not uncommon to hear about some farmer picking up a cluster bomblet thinking it was a piece of scrap metal.[/QUOTE] For much of the history of cluster munitions, they were even expected to have a few bad bomblets in a batch. Their rate of failure rate was expected to be much higher than conventional free fall bombs. This lead to shitloads of the things being left everywhere they were used. Modern cluster bombs use a mixture of self destruct protocols and battery actuated trigger mechanisms to keep them from killing people down the line. With the right sort of high explosive and a battery designed to only chemically be capable of holding a charge for a certain period of time, they have really made some major improvements in terms of safety.
[QUOTE=ExplosiveCheese;43404698]It was part of it, but not entirely. They have problems with unexploded cluster bomblets, which are the size of oranges, and are powerful enough to blow up farming equipment like large tractors. They are also hard to spot due to their size, so it's not uncommon to hear about some farmer picking up a cluster bomblet thinking it was a piece of scrap metal.[/QUOTE] Part of why we stopped using them after Desert Storm.
I remember watching a program on Discovery where they were building a megastadium in Poland and had to halt construction and call the bomb squad because they excavated a bomb. They said it happens at a lot of construction sites even still.
[QUOTE=Psychokitten;43405026]Part of why we stopped using them after Desert Storm.[/QUOTE] That's not correct. We used them in Afghanistan and Iraq (in the 2000s).
[QUOTE=Radley;43403215]War... war never changes.[/QUOTE] yay someone died lets spit out memes
[QUOTE=Radley;43403533]Well if you think about it, yes. Instruments of war will never take sides, they will always do what they we're designed to do. A bomb blows up in a peaceful country and people get hurt. This however is no-ones fault since the bomb can not take sides. It will lie dormant until destroyed, and it will do what it was built for until that day. So in essence, War never changes.[/QUOTE] what are you talking about yes it does war has changed a shitton bombs are indeed still explosives if that's what you mean [editline]3rd January 2014[/editline] "Hitler was terrible for bombing innocent people" no it wasn't his fault because [I]bombs don't take sides~~[/I]
[QUOTE=ThaBoss;43402769]The kind of bombs that do things like this [IMG_THUMB]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Wesel_1945.jpg[/IMG_THUMB][/QUOTE] That's interesting to look at. You'd think it's a picture of animal footprints in mud. And then you look at the buildings next to that.
[QUOTE=Singed;43405490]what are you talking about yes it does war has changed a shitton bombs are indeed still explosives if that's what you mean [editline]3rd January 2014[/editline] "Hitler was terrible for bombing innocent people" no it wasn't his fault because [I]bombs don't take sides~~[/I][/QUOTE] The way we wage war changes constantly, but the why rarely does, which is what I interpreted that statement to mean.
[url=http://www.amazon.com/Aftermath-Remnants-Landmines-Warfare-The-Devastating/dp/067975153X/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top]There is a book written on things along the lines of this if anybody wants to read about it.[/url]
Gramps is still kicking ass from beyond the grave
[QUOTE=Octomum;43405747]Gramps is still kicking ass from beyond the grave[/QUOTE] Innocent people died.
[QUOTE=Radley;43403215]War... war never changes.[/QUOTE] goddamnit look what you done! Now I have to go to play fallout 3 again.
[QUOTE=S31-Syntax;43405699]The way we wage war changes constantly, but the why rarely does, which is what I interpreted that statement to mean.[/QUOTE] Yeah, that's a cool quote and all but what does that even have to do with somebody accidentally setting off an old WW2 bomb? Or the fact that bombs are not sentient beings that can make their own choices?
[QUOTE=Niklas;43404189]And the blame is obviously on the people who decided to carpet bomb civilians[/QUOTE] That would be British Commanders.
That's a pretty.. Grim reminder of past happenings, you'd think by now we'd have either gotten rid of all of the remnants or they'd be disabled for good after so long, but no.
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;43408457]That would be British Commanders.[/QUOTE] I believe they dropped flyers telling people to leave the area before they dropped bombs on this large of a scale.
[QUOTE=ExplosiveCheese;43403628]I heard it's even worse in Vietnam.[/QUOTE] I believe Laos has it much worse, being the most heavily bombed country, per capita, and with about 30% of the bombs dropped remaining unexploded after the war. [img_thumb]http://takethelowroad.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/12-nine-years-of-bombing.jpg[/img_thumb] Went to Laos last year, and it's pretty ridiculous and terrifying knowing how much is still left in the country.
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;43408457]That would be British Commanders.[/QUOTE] [t]http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/images/online_exhibitions/C5422LG.jpg[/t] [I]They started it[/I]
Wow, good job, human race.
[QUOTE=goon165;43408761][t]http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/images/online_exhibitions/C5422LG.jpg[/t] [I]They started it[/I][/QUOTE] Technically it was an accident. Luftwaffe Bombers were strictly forbidden from attacking civilian (non-industrial, non-military) targets, because Hitler wanted to negotiate with the British (fun fact, he actually liked Britain and didn't want hostilities with them). They attacks supply lines, factories, and RAF airfields, but "Terror Bombings" were forbidden. Then one fine day, a raid flew off course and mistook a suburb of London for their target. In return, the RAF bombed German Civilians, and then an infuriated Hitler initiated The Blitz. After that, the RAF and USAAF continued the bombing of German civilians until the war ended. The Russians also bombed indiscriminately, for their own reasons.
[QUOTE=BuffaloBill;43402854]Sad news incoming: This probably wasn't an extraordinarily heavy one. To give you an idea of how ridiculously huge the bombs used were, the RAF occasionally used something called the Grand Slam, which was a [B]10.000kg[/B] Earthquake bomb (i.e. it burrows into the ground on impact, then detonates underground).[/QUOTE] There were 99 grand slam bombs built and only 42 were used. Unlike carpet cluster bombing, these things were heavily documented as to where they were dropped because they were so expensive to produce (like the tall boy.) The few that failed were recovered or destroyed because they didn't want them in enemy hands. It's extremely unlikely there are any of these things left. There might be a few Tall Boys around (12,000 lb) since there were 854 built and the US made some knockoffs of it that were used up into the Vietnam war. But the same still applies as above, they were only dropped on very specific targets and had lots of documentation on how they were used. [QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;43408960]The Russians also bombed indiscriminately, for their own reasons.[/QUOTE] Probably because the German Army killed, raped and plundered everything in their invasion of Russia. The Red Army was out for blood and they paid it back many times over to the Germans when the tides turned as they pushed into Germany.
[QUOTE=ExplosiveCheese;43403628]I heard it's even worse in Vietnam.[/QUOTE] about 8 times more munitions were dropped in Vietnam then all of WWII (besides the nukes). 8 times the bombs in one small country and parts of Cambodia. Also unexploded ordinance can stay active for a very long time. in 2008 a naval artillery shell from the (American) Civil War killed a dude. [editline]3rd January 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=GiGaBiTe;43410086] Probably because the German Army killed, raped and plundered everything in their invasion of Russia. The Red Army was out for blood and they paid it back many times over to the Germans when the tides turned as they pushed into Germany.[/QUOTE] A fair portion (not all but a fair portion) of those rape photographs and stories were doctored soviet propaganda.
[QUOTE=goon165;43408761][t]http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/images/online_exhibitions/C5422LG.jpg[/t] [I]They started it[/I][/QUOTE] yeah they started it, then the Allies firebombed every major German city into nothingness. Dresden's civilian suburbs were firebombed so badly, that the German military couldn't dig mass graves deep enough for the tens of thousands of bodies. They had to come in with flame thrower infantry and burn the bodies again before they could bury them. The firebombing was so effective and so immense, that Germans had to get POW's to help with the clean up, including shoveling families that were burnt alive out of bomb shelters and cellars. Allied bombing of Japan and Germany was mass murder disguised as anti-moral and factory efforts.
The fires in Dresden got so hot that the asphalt caught on fire. Don't even talk about the fire bombing of Tokyo (killed more people then either of the Atomic bombs). Carpet bombing of civilian targets is murder and there was and still is no excuse for it.
[QUOTE=Paul McCartney;43402515]Lands mines are still active all around the globe. It's a nice thought.[/QUOTE] a NICE thought?
[QUOTE=Aurora93;43410257]a NICE thought?[/QUOTE] Knowing that taking a stroll through northern Africa or some parts of Europe might cause you to lose a leg or 2 is a rather comforting thought.
[QUOTE=Kyle902;43410133] A fair portion (not all but a fair portion) of those rape photographs and stories were doctored soviet propaganda.[/QUOTE] Just as those same rape statistics and stories were doctored by the Nazis, in an attempt to further depict the Soviets as a savage, unruly and barbaric military. In fact German propaganda was much more elaborate and effective in falsely portraying the war than the Soviets had been at doing the same. It became such an intricate and detailed war of propaganda that actual statistics of rape are simply impossible to determine, since a lot of times when, for example, you'd want to assess approximately how many rapes have been committed by the Soviets in any given area, the only source you would find would be German state-controlled media which often inflated and even bluntly made up rape figures out of thin air. Nazi propaganda, originally meant to stiffen civil resistance by describing in gory and embellished detail Red Army atrocities such as the Nemmersdorf massacre, often backfired and created panic. Whenever possible, as soon as Nazi officials left, civilians began to flee westward on their own initiative.
[QUOTE=Melnek;43410858]Just as those same rape statistics and stories were doctored by the Nazis, in an attempt to further depict the Soviets as a savage, unruly and barbaric military. In fact German propaganda was much more elaborate and effective in falsely portraying the war than the Soviets had been at doing the same. It became such an intricate and detailed war of propaganda that actual statistics of rape are simply impossible to determine, since a lot of times when, for example, you'd want to assess approximately how many rapes have been committed by the Soviets in any given area, the only source you would find would be German state-controlled media which often inflated and even bluntly made up rape figures out of thin air. Nazi propaganda, originally meant to stiffen civil resistance by describing in gory and embellished detail Red Army atrocities such as the Nemmersdorf massacre, often backfired and created panic. Whenever possible, as soon as Nazi officials left, civilians began to flee westward on their own initiative.[/QUOTE] Any disinformation the Nazi's gave out would have only been marginal to how the Russians acted. The red army was a bunch of brute savages and rapists, theres absolutely no denying that.
I always find these stories fascinating, trying to understand the history behind each item. About a 5 to 10 minute drive away from me is a section of land on the beachfront (maybe an acre or two?) that is all closed off. It was the site of a beach gun battery placement during world war 2, and supposedly there is a LOT of unexploded ordinance buried in the ground around there. It's basically one of the last undeveloped bits of waterfront land on the coast, and after constantly digging up nothing but shells and bombs, the developers went 'screw it' and just sectioned it off for good. I recall back in the 80's they had to detonate a few things there while there were display homes nearby being built, and after nearly having massive sandbags and timber sleepers smash all the display homes to bits, everyone just gave up. I always get antsy just driving past it, since it backs onto a main motorway and housing estates on two other sides.
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