UXB found in Japan

[syscom3]

I saw this on the B29 newsgroup.



Tokyo Residents Evacuate While WWII Bomb is Dug Up
Sunday, November 27, 2005

TOKYO —Thousands of residents were evacuated in Tokyo on Sunday while authorities dug up an unexploded 550-pound bomb, believed to have been dropped by the United States during World War II, a local official said.

The bomb, about 14 inches in diameter and 47 inches long, was detected earlier this month in a residential area in Tokyo's Katsushika ward by Self-Defense Force investigators, said Katsushika spokesman Takanori Kato.

About 3,900 residents within a 985-feet radius of the site were evacuated for 1.5 hours while troops removed the bomb, according to Kato.

The evacuation came after a diver found 59 unexploded shells in waters near Tokyo on Friday, believed to have been left by Japan's former Imperial Army.

The shells, about six inches by 20 inches, were found near a port just west of Tokyo during dredging work. It was not clear when the shells were placed there.

Unexploded bombs from U.S. attacks or arms hidden by the Japanese during the closing days of World War II in 1945 frequently turn up in Japan. Troops defuse the bombs and often dispose of them at sea.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

They find bombs that have not exploded here in Germany all the time. I remember when I was in the 8th grade they had to evacuate our school in Stuttgart because they found a 1000lb bomb while they were digging up the ground next to our school to build a new military clinic.

 

[elmilitaro]

wow! I guess you'll find un-exploded bombs or shells anywhere where a war has occured.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Yeap that is true.

 

[Jabberwocky]

It's not that rare an occurance in Japan, even recently.

When I was living in Japan earlier in the year they dug up a string of 8 unexploded bombs outside Fukouka, in northern Kyushu (about 120 km from where I was living) while repairing a highway from earthquake damage.

The crazy thing was that they weren't near any possible military targets. I have actually driven up the highway they were found near and it's all just farmland, bamboo and those typically Japanese tiny rural towns.

It seems to me that there were 2 possibilities; either someone had failed to arm the bombload properly, as all the bombs were found in a fairly tight, straight pattern or the bomber had been unable to find the target (a not unusual occurance) and just dumped its bombload without arming it.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Yes but they may have been bombing something that was there 60 years ago. There may have been moving targets or a military camp set up there. The same is here in Germany all the time. Most of the bombs are found in farm land or woodland. You still find some in the cities when they are doing construction though.

 

[elmilitaro]

Its true. When my best friend went to England he said that many bombs or shells that they found were nothing new to them.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

It is almost an everyday occurence somewhere here in Germany.

 

[P38 Pilot]

There is place in France that WWI mines still are in the ground and that people die from the explosions everyday! It was on a Ripley's Beleive it or not episode!

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

You are probably talking about the place (I can not remember the name) where they dug tunnels underground and placed explosives under houses and under the trenches of the enemy. A lot of the unground "mines" are still there today and the locations have been lost. I saw a report about it on tv the otherday. They found one and showed it as they wree carefully removing the explosives.

 

[Gnomey]

Another thing that turns up regularly in the coastal waters around Britain and other countries I believe are sea mines. I think track mentioned one that was detonated near him a while back. There is still a lot of Unexploded devices from many wars scattered around the world that is for sure, especially land mines. They occur all over and do terrible damage to the populations of war torn countries especially in Africa.

 

[P38 Pilot]

Yeah, and people who go into the woods often step on them and blow up.

 

[pbfoot]

in germany isn't it customary to check for unexploded ordnance on all construction jobs?

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I am sure it is. Most are found in the beginning stages.

 

[evangilder]

I know they found a couple at Lakenheath while I was there. Every now and again there would be an explosion from the Thetford Forest from something that ha gone off from an animal or for unknown reasons. The really funny thing is that we used to paint-ball in the Thetford Forest and we had to be careful, just in case.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

We had the same problem in Stuttgart. We would and play paintball and then the next day they would find a bomb out on the field.

 

[elmilitaro]

really, that's interesting.

 

[Aggie08]

Wow, you guys are nuts, you must have really like your paintballing...

I know it is still a very serious issue in Vietnam, mostly land mines. I am sure it is a problem in African countries too.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Well, considering that there was more tonnage of bombs dropped on Vietnam by the USAF than were dropped by all combatants in WW2, I could see how it would be a problem

 

[P38 Pilot]

We had the same problem in Stuttgart. We would and play paintball and then the next day they would find a bomb out on the field.

Thats pretty freaky. Discovering a bomb while playing paintball!

Especially in Vietnam not just from bobmbs but also boobie traps that were never activated!