'World War II bomb' found in city

[Anarcho-Socialist]

Source: BBC News

Parts of Coventry city centre have been closed off after what is believed to be an unexploded World War II bomb was unearthed on a building site.

It was found at the Belgrade Plaza development in Upper Well Street. Officers from the Explosives Ordinance Division are at the scene.

Eight junctions of the ring road are shut and hundreds of workers have been told to leave their offices.

Police said the device seems genuine but it is not clear if it is live.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/7292097.stm

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These things do show up in Britain occasionally. Coventry was heavily bombed by Nazi Germany during World War Two.

[Thothmes]

1. They also show up often in German cities.

[driver8]

2. I lived on Guam as a kid during the 70's...

At least once or twice a year, kids would find unexploded ordinance from WWII and would get killed because they played with it. I remember the Air Force Ordinance experts coming to our school to lecture us about playing with bombs we might find in the jungle.

[Thothmes]

6. I was in San Diego in the mid 80s

Two kids seriously injured themselve from an unexploded mortar shell they found in the canyon behind their house. The area had been an ordnance target range during WWII.

[neverforget]

8. I'm headed to Guam for a few weeks in April for work and am really

looking forward to it.

[Tesha]

11. Is this the right moment to mention cluster bomblets? (NT)

[irish.lambchop]

13. Hey! I lived on Guam in the late 60's!

(Agana) - I remember the warnings and even think there was a story or two about individuals being discovered in remote jungle areas believing the war was still going on.

[driver8]

14. A japanese soldier was captured while we lived there -- he thought the war

was still going on. He had lived in the jungle for close to 30 years!

[14thColony]

3. I was just in Conventry!

Went there on Saturday to make a pilgrimage to IKEA. Glad I missed that. What a nightmare.

[Hardrada]

4. People still find unexploded ordinance from WW I

and it's still dangerous! Makes one wonder if they've swept all the mines from the ocean.

[petronius]

5. Probably not, but at least the ocean is a hostile environment

Mines and torpedoes have probably sunk or rusted away by now. Still, I don't plan to go around poking them if I happen to fine one...

[fedsron2us]

7. North West Europe is littered with unexploded ordinance

from two world wars. It is still not safe to enter parts of the old Somme battle field in France because the ground still contains large numbers of live shells. There are also known to be a number of massive unexploded deep mines laid by the British under the Messine ridge in Belgium

[Hardrada]

9. I heard Paschendaele was bad. I didn't know about the Somme

although that makes sense considering the extensive barrage activity from both sides of No Man's Land.

[DavidMS]

10. It goes back much further...

I have read that occasionally Franco-Prussian war ordnance gets found. Thats been in the ground for 140 years!

Scary.

[Thothmes]

12. Same is true around Verdun

Every year I have heard that a couple of French or Belgian farmers blows themselves in the next world by hitting unexploded ammunition left over from WW I or WW II.

[LibertyLover]

15. There is so much unexploded ordinance in Europe

that France for years had a special group of munitions experts devoted to clearing it. If I recall correctly, a few years ago, 60 Minutes did a segment on one of its last employees who was close to retirement age. He was very concerned that once he retired, problems were going to crop up. Of course, here in Washington DC where I work one of the neighborhoods up by American University has a little problem with gas canisters from World War I popping up in their backyards now and again. Apparently during World War I the area was a training site on as warfare for troops going overseas.

[CTresident]

16. National Geographic

had an article several years back on the French disposal teams.It showed them moving shells to the Normandy coast where they were placed in pits and detonated. I remember it saying that the teams were the only French army unit kept intact by Germany in WWII and continued the work.