The landlord of a friend of mine in Suffolk was digging a trench in her garden. He and his helper dug up this: Second World War unexploded mortar detonated on beach by bomb disposal unit Weight was reported as 1 kg (c. 2 lbs) and they are calling it a "mortar" and a "bomb." So, a bomb for a 2 inch mortar, perhaps? It looks like one from the images I've seen of such ammunition on the net. The silly landlord actually picked it up before the Army arrived. The Army took it down on the beach and exploded it. WW2 bomb safely detonated on beach
There doesn't appear to have been any training ranges in Walberswick during WWII, although quite a few surviving (and threatened by erosion) defences. So it looks like it may have been lost/overlooked, rather than just failed to explode.
Meanwhile in Somerset... Woman, 85, polished live WW1 shells "A woman who cleaned and polished two military shells she had borrowed for a village show was shocked to discover they were live ammunition. June Hill, 85, from Somerset, was offered the anti-aircraft rounds for an exhibition about World War One. She was "thrilled" with the buffed shells and put them away in a drawer. But they were later destroyed by the Army's Bomb Disposal team, leaving Mrs Hill "disappointed" at a lack of a centrepiece for her exhibition. ... The bomb squad said 'don't touch that'", and arrived later that evening."
Now my friend reports that they have just found another one there. Some mortar team was damned careless 70 years ago.
If, perchance, a mortar bomb fails to go off, it often, depending on the state of the ground, buries itself quite deeply. Since the range of the two inch mortar is several hundred yards, finding a two inch diameter hole in the ground is difficult and time consuming. I have every sympathy with the mortar crew who failed to find and blow up their blind(s). I once (as a safety officer at BATUS) watched a live antitank rocket bounce off a tank hulk and fail to explode. I thought I saw where it fell, and it was unlikely that it buried itself, but I couldn't find it. Chris
Two from my early museum days : 1/ Gentleman turns up at front desk and plonks down a shell. As we all backed off he said "it's OK, it's a dud", "How do you know?", "I threw it against the garage wall a couple of times and it didn"t go off". It was a live and fused 18pdr shell - Bomb Squad. 2/ Older woman brings in two shell cases. On being questioned, the expended 18pdr case was brought back as a souvenir of the First WW by her late husband. She had however felt that the fireplace would look better with one either side so when some 'Army Trucks' stopped outside during the 2WW she took the opportunity of lifting a 'spare one'. It didn't quite match but looked good polished next to the roaring fire. She did say that she had tried to gouge out the waxy stuff inside however didn't get far as it had a funny smell. Live 25pdr propellent - Bomb Squad
I know it's a deviation from the topic, but I've always been puzzled about the derivation of the word 'ordnance.' What does it mean literally? In french the word 'ordonnance' means a medical prescription.
Thanks CL1 "1300, an authoritative direction, decree, or command" So there's a connection with the french version, but in UK it changed over the years.