WWII unexploded bomb explosion - GIF

[Moby Duck]

Yes and very unstable. When I was stationed in Germany in the mid 1970s, several times we happened on old lost and forgotten ordinance that had to be destroyed in place because it was determined too unstable to handle. You don't make many friends when you set off a bomb near a residential neighborhood.

I had a friend, an ex RN Clearance Diver who had been in a bomb disposal team in the UK in the early 1950’s. It was mostly mines that they cleared, both German and British mines were still washing up on beaches. He assured me that it wasn’t that dangerous, they had all the plans, knew which plugs to remove to gain access and simply inserted a steam hose and steamed the charge until it ran out onto the beach. I think he said it was then burnt on the beach and they then set off a small charge to make the locals feel good. The normal routine was to evacuate and cordon off the neighbourhood, tape up windows etc then get to work. He also told me that 90% of their call outs were false alarms, mostly steel objects half buried in the sand that people had reported as possible “mines”. With such objects they often did their normal evacuate the civilians and cordon off the neighbourhood routine, then they would blow up the offending chunk of metal, (mostly manhole covers), clean up the mess and become instant Naval heroes. When they let the civilians back in they were all so grateful that a disaster had been averted that there would free food, beer and hot and cold running women for the sailors for the next few days. Then on to repeat it all in the next town that reported a “mine” on their beach. Contrary to your last sentence, they made lots of friends by setting of bombs next to residential areas. Best two years of his life he claimed.