29/12/2022 Regno Unito, (UK)–Galles (Wales)
“If you ever come across anything suspicious like this item, please do not pick it up, contact your local law e enforcement agency for assistance”.
By Neil Prior
There are potentially thousands of unexploded World War Two bombs around Wales, with emergency services still dealing with up to 20 callouts a year. With the coastal towns of Cardiff and Swansea key German targets, many are thought to be in these areas. At the start of the war, the authorities were “utterly unprepared” how to deal with unexploded bombs, according to historian Steve Day. A bomb disposal officer was expected to live for two months. Mr Day said this was consistent with a “farcical approach” at the start of the conflict, with kit typically comprising of a hammer and chisel, ball of string, and maybe a stethoscope if they were lucky. He added: “The running joke was ‘join the Army and see the world, join the bomb disposal squad and see the next world’.” It was an issue my family are all too aware of because on 21 February 1941, my then 15-year-old grandfather, Les Prior, was on traffic duty on Swansea’s Castle Street. As part of the Home Guard, his role was to direct cars away from the area while bomb disposal experts tried to defuse a massive unexploded device dropped during the Three Night Blitz on the town. At about 17:00 he recalled a “whoosh of air” which blew him flat on his face and destroyed the street’s shopfronts. Being several hundred yards away from the blast, he was thankfully uninjured, but seven sappers from the Royal Engineers were not so lucky. In 1941, Wales became a major battleground, not only because of the industrial targets along the Bristol Channel, but because of the undefended route it offered to the north-west of England. “Cardiff, and particularly Swansea were key targets in their own right, especially given the oil refinery at Llandarcy, but the gaps in Welsh air defences made us a back door to attack the far more important prizes of Liverpool on the North Atlantic shipping route,” Mr Day said. “There were no gun emplacements in the gaps between Pembroke, Swansea and Cardiff.” Because of this, more than 80 years later, the sight of Ministry of Defence (MoD) vehicles rushing to emergencies are still a common sight on Welsh roads. This is because about 10% of all German bombs dropped on Wales failed to detonate.
If you find anything that appears to be an explosive device, do not touch it, leave it where it is and call the police. We will contact the appropriate agencies to properly dispose of the item.
Dear editors, Biography of a bomb is aimed at highlighting the danger caused by unexploded bombs. Moreover, the most important aspect is that we work completely non profit, raising awerness about this topic is what drives us. We apologize if we make use of pictures in yours articles, but we need them to put a context in how findings are done. We will (and we always do) cite source and author of the picture. We thank you for your comprehension
