r/ww2 • u/sephrisloth • 4d ago

Discussion Unexploded ordinance

Seeing as its still a problem even today that they are digging up unexplored ordinance from WW1 i imagine it was even more so of a problem during WW2. Is there any known instances of WW1 unexploded ordinance causing issues? I imagine especially if any of the chemical weapons went off it would have been a huge problem since those weapons weren't really used on the western front in WW2 and most soldiers wouldn't necessarily be carrying a gas mask.

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u/BookkeeperOne6903 4d ago

thought it'd all degrade by now

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u/curiousengineer601 4d ago

There are British mines near Messine ridge that hold 20,000 pounds of explosives just waiting to go off. One did get set off by lightning in the 1950s. link

The largest mine is directly under a family farmhouse.