The reminders of war .....

[The_Toe_Of_Bo]

About 5 minutes from where I live, Royal Naval bomb disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion on Shoebury East Beach, on Easter Sunday, after seven WWII artillery shells and six under wing machine guns, were found a quarter of a mile off shore.

There has been some recent dredging for the deep water docks in Tilbury that has removed a lot of silt from Shoebury so anything that landed in the river is coming to the surface.

For 150 years there was a massive Royal Artillery garrison in Shoebury, and even now there is still some sneaky beaky, secret squirrel MOD establishment, so the artillery shells are fairly easily explained as guns were always being test fired over the water.

There have always been tales of planes crashing into the Estuary during WWII, especially during the Battle of Britain, so the machine guns have probably come from a previously undiscovered plane wreck.

One well known wreck occurred on the night of Sunday 15th September 1940, when the Anti Aircraft Gun Emplacement at Thorpe Hall shot down a German Heinkel HE111 bomber, which crashed on the mud flats of the New Ranges. The crew were rescued and taken to hospital to have their injuries treated. The wreck of the aircraft was left to be slowly destroyed by the tide, parts of the aircraft were still visible until the mid-1970’s, the engines are still believed to exist under the shifting sands.

Not far off the coast is the ship wreck of the SS Montgomery, an American Liberty ship, which sank in 1944 with around 1,400 tonnes of explosives on board. To this day, the ship, and its contents, are a hazard to the area.

There is also a section of a Mulberry Harbour, which sunk in bad weather whilst being towed to the Normandy beaches, which is till visible about two miles off the coast.

Just goes to show that although WWII ended nearly 70 years ago, we are surrounded by constant reminders.

The controlled explosion being carried out

[DaveSchilling]

Got any pics of that Mulberry-pice? Those are interesting.. Had a good look at the crap at Arromanches a couple of years ago..

[AOD_PapaPnut]

Fascinating, thanks for sharing.

[AOD_B.Rubble]

whenever they dig a new footer/basement/parking lot in London,they usually find a few UEX from what I gather. My family "extended' lived near the Roseville,Ca train depot when a load of 500lb bombs enroute to 'Nam were lit by a brake fire. Then ensuing explosions caused damage over 2mi away including shrapnel damage "a piece pierced My Grandfathers hood about 4in long' and broken windows. About 5 yrs ago they were digging a new road-bed for track replacement and brought up around 4more UEX that hadn't been found. They were taken to a range by Naval EOD if I remember correctly. Many memories exist,just but a few inches below our feet! Trod lightly no matter where one goes,for You are only stepping in the footprints of the heroes before You! Nice Posting!

[AOD_Danneskjold]

whenever they dig a new footer/basement/parking lot in London,they usually find a few UEX from what I gather. My family "extended' lived near the Roseville,Ca train depot when a load of 500lb bombs enroute to 'Nam were lit by a brake fire. Then ensuing explosions caused damage over 2mi away including shrapnel damage "a piece pierced My Grandfathers hood about 4in long' and broken windows. About 5 yrs ago they were digging a new road-bed for track replacement and brought up around 4more UEX that hadn't been found. They were taken to a range by Naval EOD if I remember correctly. Many memories exist,just but a few inches below our feet! Trod lightly no matter where one goes,for You are only stepping in the footprints of the heroes before You! Nice Posting!

They accidentally cut into a 500 pound bomb with a cutting torch in the Philippines about a month back. Took out 8 people.

[Barzack]

Reminded me of when I had to do some trainning at Camp Pendleton SOI when I was in the Marines. I was part of a 12 man patrol at night in the rain when PFC Hesslinger who was about 40 yards behind and to left of me steped on a WW I mortar shell. the shell detonated removing a portion of Hesslingers right foot and wounding 2 other Marines. It's scary enough to see what war is like but it's even worse what it leaves behind the thousands wounded still to this day from landmines left from WWII or who knows what else waiting below the surface for the rain to bring up.

[The_Toe_Of_Bo]

Got any pics of that Mulberry-pice? Those are interesting.. Had a good look at the crap at Arromanches a couple of years ago..

Couple of pictures of the Mulberry Harbour section. First is the view from the shore. Second is a close up.






The link, below, is to an article on the BBC website about the SS Richard Montgomery and the problems it is posing to the development of the proposed Thames Airport.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-17513286