James Osborne, a resident of Bramdean in Hampshire, United Kingdom was shocked to learn that the milk bottles that were discovered from his backyard were live grenades.
A landscape gardener working at Osborne’s property is said to have found them buried in his backyard. While clearing the area, they noticed many bottles in the dirt. They pulled out 48 bottles and kept them aside. The bottles which looked like ordinary ‘milk bottles’ were white on top and contained a yellow liquid at the bottom. Soon they noticed smoke coming from some of the bottles. Realising that what they found were not ordinary milk bottles they informed the police.
The police, fire brigade, and many ambulances reached the scene. It was decided to carry out a controlled explosion.
Winchester Police took to Twitter to make sure the residents of the area were not alarmed by the sound of the explosion.
“If you live or were travelling through the Bramdean area this evening around 7.40pm and heard a large explosion don’t be alarmed. It was a military bomb disposal team safely carrying out a controlled explosion on some WW2 grenades dug up in a back garden earlier today.”
A clip of the explosion was also shared by a Twitter user:
Was exciting pic.twitter.com/sy8tPVLKdd
— Jan Hall (@JanJanbilly) April 29, 2021
The 48 “Self-Igniting Phosphorus” (SIP) grenades were detonated in a controlled explosion by the bomb disposal unit.
According to media reports grenades were issued to Britain’s Home Guard during the Second World War to ward off potential Nazi invasion of villages. Most of the grenades were never used and were buried.
Mr. Osborne said the seven-bedroom house once belonged to the rector and it could have been one of the main meeting spots of the local Home Guard.
The firefighters had set up wall of water to control the flames. The detonation was carried out behind it. The explosion was big enough to surprise even the professionals on site. During the controlled detonation huge plume of smoke and fire shot into the air.
Post Your Comments