The Dangers of Battlefield Digging

**Dimas** · 01-21-2013, 01:05 PM

The problem in Russia, anyway if this leave in the forest, even if you put them back to the hole - it's a potential problem, if one day you will be taken by police and they will ask you, that you may found something and leave in the forest- it will be counted as you have made hiding place with explosives- better to forget about that

**Dimas** · 01-21-2013, 01:12 PM

by Datrus

It of course depends on how dear you hold life. We did not mess around with any of these shells. However i have seen people do it. I just don't really understand why. Thing is you never know if the detonator cap is eroded and the charge have swollen up(around the charge) so to speak. If this is the case, turn the fuse head and the thing blows.

Attachment 450558

Regards, Lars

The last pictures are German Pak 40 7,5 cm antitank shells, they are practically safe if you will not try to open them ,in the case of opening back side- turning the head to the wrong direction will cause the explosion- they had a right side threading, one guy from Latvia had exploded a couple of years ago, but fortunately just wounded to the leg. I know some peoples in Estonia collect for the scrap cooper compression rings, from unexploded shells- using the hammer and chisel

My advice is never touch them, if you do not want to be a " vegetable" all the rest of your life

**Paul D** · 01-21-2013, 01:47 PM

Some munitions found on the Ostfront are known to be far more dangerous than others , the rounds from the Soviet 45mm Anti Tank Gun " Goodbye to the Motherland " are one such round , never handle one of those !!

Some guys have become expert at dismantling munitions over the years but the advice not too mess with live ordnance is the only one thast is guaranteed to keep you safe !!

**Dimas** · 01-21-2013, 02:00 PM

Paul, the same with 3 Inches- 76,2 Soviet round- they use the same head- KTM 1, some peoples has been exploded, being just touch them

**Datrus** · 01-21-2013, 04:03 PM

by m3bobby

All UXO should be dealt with by trained EOD operators, it is there call as to how they deal with it. Most of the training a British operator will go through is on his decision making process. The only time a item a UXO would be rendered safe is if the safety of the area is at risk from a high order. Obviously you can find what we call PUCAs, pick up and carry away, these are assesed to be safe to remove from the area and dispose of at another location or as part of a larger dem. I can't stress enough about how important it is not to pick up any item of UXO unless you know it's safe, and by that I mean, certification or training. Besides if you do find something you can ask the operator if you can press the button to dem it.

I can only agree with your statement, but it's not how it works here, unfortunately. Meaning you don't just call EOD. I was in a Engineers Regiment back in Denmark so have some experience on unexploded ordnance. Enough to not fiddle around with them, too much. I can say that it's only if people try to "deac" them things start to go wrong. It's of course risky to move them. We move these UXO's to be able to search the trenches and see if there should be anything of interest there. We don't like finding mines and shells as it's only more work

Regards, Lars

**LeonardoL** · 04-02-2013, 12:57 PM

Over here in Croatia there are very big potential areas full of relics. Most people are afraid to go metal detecting or do anthing there, we have bigger problems than ww2 ammo and bombs and those are mines and traps left from the war in the early 90-s. Most of the mines are made from plastic so they are heavily detected. Reading a title in a newspaper "Man killed in an unmarked minefield" is unfortunately too often here.

**Zeller** · 04-02-2013, 01:25 PM

I read somewhere that also the area of Drvar (now in Bosnia) which might be very interesting, has been heavily mined in the 90's so it's a suicide to go metaldetecting there.

**Rankkuri** · 09-13-2013, 10:22 PM

Today some guy exploded himself here at my hometown in Finland. Actually one bloke got killed and other is wounded.. Don't know very much about it yet but there were WW2 era artillery or mortar shells in his garage and one of them blew up from one reason or another. Story tells there were 12 shells in the garage! The army is working on them atm.

**bigmacglenn** · 09-13-2013, 10:54 PM

Always sad to hear, yet a tragic reminder of the dangers involved...We've had a few posters lately show off dangerously questionable ordnance, and they seemed to shrug off our advice and warnings...These incidents tend to give the authorities grounds to sharpen the laws as well...
Just my 2 cents...
cheers, Glenn

**Rankkuri** · 09-14-2013, 01:54 PM

Here's a couple of pictures about the ammunition storaged. You can click the pictures so they will open bigger in new window. In the end there was a bit more than 12 pieces..

Over hundred pieces including HE artillery and mortar rounds, claymore mines, hand grenades, armor piercing rounds, some kind of recoilles rifle (panzerfaust?) etc. The guy had been collecting these from battlefields around Finland. It would be interesting if some of you could recognize the ammunition from the pictures? I dont know what kind of shell or round exploded but it has been told it wasn't full scale explosion. Actually the garage is in pretty decent condition though..