Daily ESOH Topic

24 May 2019Countries of Bombs

Germany is a country of bombs. Every day new ordnance with deadly poison gas is discovered. More than five thousand bombs from the Second World War are recovered and dismantled in an elaborate process every year.

In May 2018, a UXO was found in the Grafenwoehr Training Center. A 4lb British incendiary bomb was found on a construction site in June 2018 at USAG Stuttgart. Frankfurt am Main and Wiesbaden had two UXO discovered last month.

But it’s not just Germany that was affected by bombs dropped during WWII or by UXO left behind from training missions, Poland also has its share of UXO. In August 2012, a 1.5t mortar from 1944 was found by workers at a construction site in Warsaw.

“The UXO threat is extremely prevalent here,” said (SFC) Vanklompenberg (745th EOD). “After the last war a lot of the munitions were not accounted for or were left in caches, either in tunnels or buried underground.”

Work that we perform increases our exposure to encountering UXO whether it’s here in Germany or in Poland. Always be mindful of your surroundings. Remember and use the 3Rs (Recognize, Retreat, Report) if you see any objects that look like they could be UXO.

Source: https://www.zdf.de/dokumentation/planet-e/planet-e-unexploded-englische-fassung-100.html; https://de.usembassy.gov/security-message-for-u-s-citizens-removal-of-unexploded-ordnance/; https://www.bavariannews.com/blog/2018/05/10/unexploded-ordnance-

Daily ESOH Topic

requires-controlled-detonation-may-12-13-at-grafenwoehr-training-area/; https://www.stuttgartcitizen.com/announcements-news/uxo-causes-caution-on-robinson-barracks/; https://www.eucom.mil/media-library/article/19548/kfor-gives-uxo-class-to-local-children