German police say pigs find WWII anti-tank weapon

[Nagishkaw 510]

BERLIN – German police said a couple of hungry pigs digging for food came nose-to-nose with a long-buried World War II anti-tank weapon. Police said Friday the two pigs found the single-shot "panzerfaust" on private land southwest of Dresden. The pigs' owner secured the animals in their stall then called police who were able to remove the weapon and destroy it.

The inexpensive and easy-to-operate panzerfaust was used extensively during the defense of Germany and through the rest of the war. Such finds are still relatively common, even 65 years after the end of the war.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100430/ap_on_fe_st/us_odd_pigs_find_weapon;_ylt=AsZbLvGFy9PMmPNNtYf_6dftiBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTJzMmd1MGIyBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNDMwL3VzX29kZF9waWdzX2ZpbmRfd2VhcG9uBHBvcwMyBHNlYwN5bl9hcnRpY2xlX3N1bW1hcnlfbGlzdARzbGsDZnVsbG5ic3BzdG9y

[scandal 951]

There's even more WWI ordinance lying around in Europe than WWII.

Iron harvest

Unexploded munitions

It has been estimated that, for every square metre of territory on the front from the coast to the Swiss border, a tonne of explosives fell. One shell in every four (some sources say one in every three) did not detonate. The Canadian National Vimy Memorial Site is notable for supposedly having one unexploded munition for every square metre.

Given the swamp-like conditions of trench warfare in the period, the unexploded weapons - in the form of shells, bullets and grenades - buried themselves on impact or were otherwise quickly swallowed in the mud. As time passes, construction work, field ploughing and natural processes bring the rusting shells to the surface. Most of the iron harvest is found during the spring planting and autumn ploughing.

Dangers

Despite the condition of the shells, they remain very dangerous. The French Département du Déminage (Department of Mine Clearance) recover about 900 tons of unexploded munitions every year. Since 1945, approximately 630 French démineurs have died handling unexploded munitions. Two died handling munitions outside of Vimy, France as recently as 1998.

The rusting of the shells also pollutes the land and the water table - the land around the Ypres Salient and the Somme being intensively farmed whilst having excess iron (the metal from shells) in the soil, trees and vegetation over 90 years later. There have been reports of gas from unexploded chemical weapons seeping from buried caches underneath war cemeteries, requiring the closure and evacuation of the surrounding area, especially mills, where the oil used to lubricate the grinders was especially vulnerable to the gas. This gas often caused the oil to turn into what the workers called "Iron Grüdgdèl", which referred to its yellow color.

[mawilson 2,133]

German police say pigs find WWII anti-tank weapon

Actual pigs or police officers?

[Ban Hammer 13,634]

Actual pigs or police officers?

[Nagishkaw 510]

Actual pigs.

[mawilson 2,133]

Actual pigs.

So let me get this straight.

German pigs said a couple of hungry police officers digging for food came nose-to-nose...

[thongd4me 69]

Ah yes, "Porky" will be exposing unexploded truffles...in the next news flash.