Unexploded Bombs

[ZZyXX]

See stories all of the time about them in Germany, France and other
parts of Europe, but can't recall any about them in Japan, The
Philippines or any other Pacific battlefields.

[john Szalay]

ZZyXX <zz...@CampSoda-RestorationProject.null> wrote in news:ofab7q$u72$1
@gioia.aioe.org:

> See stories all of the time about them in Germany, France and other
> parts of Europe, but can't recall any about them in Japan, The
> Philippines or any other Pacific battlefields.
>

https://japantoday.com/category/national/undetonated-one-ton-u-s-bomb-
found-near-downtown-osaka

https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-land-of-the-unexploded-bombs-
cdc73e6d8665


http://www.staradvertiser.com/2013/06/04/breaking-news/unexploded-wwii-
bomb-destroyed-in-tokyo/

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/863049/unexploded-500-pound-world-war-ii-
bomb-found-in-surigao

https://mikeinmanila.wordpress.com/2009/01/24/ww2-uxbs-found-inside-us-
embassy-compound-in-manila/

[Bill Shatzer]

https://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/japan-still-clearing-world-war-ii-bombs-from-okinawa-1.295150#.WRi-SENNybl

[Geoffrey Sinclair]

"ZZyXX" <zz...@CampSoda-RestorationProject.null> wrote in message
news:ofab7q$u72$1...@gioia.aioe.org...

> See stories all of the time about them in Germany, France and other parts
> of Europe, but can't recall any about them in Japan, The Philippines or
> any other Pacific battlefields.

Partly it is about what rates as news. The demining and
UXB efforts in South East Asia are ongoing for example,
but rarely make the news.

Mostly it is about the bombs dropped, in Europe and North
Africa, the RAF claims to have dropped about 1,330,000
short tons of bombs, the USAAF says it dropped 1,550,000
short tons. The Luftwaffe also dropped plenty of bombs as
did the Red Air Force and all the other air forces involved.
So over 3 million short tons.

The USAAF claims dropping 503,000 short tons in operations
against Japan. The USN dropped about 103,000 short tons
for the war, mostly against Japan. The RAF etc. also dropped
bombs plus the Japanese forces but overall it is close to a
5 to 6 to 1 ratio Europe to Pacific.

Also most of the bombs dropped on Japan were by the 20th
Air Force and its total tonnage for the war on all targets is
171,060 short tons. So definitely under 200,000 short tons
all up were dropped on Japan even counting the USN and
other air forces.

The allies dropped around 1,400,000 short tons of bombs
on Germany.

Geoffrey Sinclair
Remove the nb for email.

[Don Phillipson]

"Geoffrey Sinclair" <gsinc...@froggy.com.au> wrote in message
news:tpGdnYTlw6-MPYTE...@westnet.com.au...

>> See stories all of the time about them in Germany, France and other parts
>> of Europe, but can't recall any about them in Japan, The Philippines or
>> any other Pacific battlefields.
>
> Partly it is about what rates as news. The demining and
> UXB efforts in South East Asia are ongoing for example,
> but rarely make the news.
>
> Mostly it is about the bombs dropped, in Europe and North
> Africa, the RAF claims to have dropped about 1,330,000
> short tons of bombs, the USAAF says it dropped 1,550,000
> short tons. The Luftwaffe also dropped plenty of bombs as
> did the Red Air Force and all the other air forces involved.
> So over 3 million short tons.

The two missing numbers here are the proportions (1) of
duds dropped in war (bombs that failed to explode) and
(2) the proportion of duds discovered and deactivated
in wartime.

It appears that roughly 5 or 10 per cent of explosive bombs
(as distinct from incendiary bombs) failed to explode: and
a small fraction of these went undetected (were not discovered
and deactivated in wartime) -- hence the regular recurrence cf.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/mar/03/second-world-war-bomb-leads-to-evacuations-and-school-closures-in-london-brondesbury-park

We also read that farmers on WW1 battlefields, especially
in France, sometimes get blown up when a ploughshare
spikes a shell that failed to explode a century ago.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

[Jim H.]

It's been a decade or more since I read
"Aftermath: The Remnants of War: From Landmines to Chemical
Warfare--The Devastating Effects of Modern Combat" by
Webster Donovan. IIRC, it deals with this topic, but mostly
WWI artillery duds in Europe, and relatively modern minefields
in SE Asia. Still worth a read, IMO.

It even tells of the then-current way of disposal
of the vast quantities of such duds from WWI & WWII
in France.

I think it was elsewhere that I read of either a Frenchman
or Belgian who was self employed collecting and selling
battlefield relics. He 'deactivated' stuff in his garage.
He cut into a dud 75 or 105 projectile once too often, it
went bang, and he & his garage went away, permanently.

Jim H.

[john Szalay]

"Jim H." <irond...@gmail.com> wrote in news:c153053a-8d46-448a-8a5b-

>
> I think it was elsewhere that I read of either a Frenchman
> or Belgian who was self employed collecting and selling
> battlefield relics. He 'deactivated' stuff in his garage.
> He cut into a dud 75 or 105 projectile once too often, it
> went bang, and he & his garage went away, permanently.
>
> Jim H.
>
>

there was a guy not too long ago that was collection and cleaning
US civil war cannon balls, using a wire brush to clean one up
it exploded. never again....