Content on this page requires a newer version of Adobe Flash Player.

Get Adobe Flash player
 

  • Nederlands
  • Deutsch
Search in the Encyclopedia

Dieren en planten

Water en land

Mens en Milieu

Soil and ammunition   Explosives WWII   

Dumped explosives from the Second World War

In the spring of 2004, the North Sea fishermen were startled by the death of three colleagues when a bomb on board exploded. For decades, the fishermen never worried about fishing up bombs and grenades, dumped during the Second World War, which they often threw back overboard without reporting them to the coastguard. Since the three deaths, the situation has totally changed. Bombs are now reported to coastguard, who contacts the navy, which in turn explodes them. In total, more than 50,000 tons of ammunition was dumped in Dutch waters after the end of the war.

  • Explosives in fish nets

    After the accident in April 2004, the fishermen now realize that not reporting bombs can be perilous. The result was that in the first week after the accident, 23 bombs were reported to the Navy, which were then safely exploded by three mine hunters. In 2005, two hundred explosives were deactivated, while the average number in previous years was only fifty. After the accident in 2004, the government has provided fishing vessels with sonar buoys. If a bomb is found in a fishing net, then the fisherman can bind a sonar buoy to the net and throw it overboard. Mine hunters from the Navy trace the buoys with their sonar and safely explode the bomb. Fishing boats have been receiving compensation for years now for the bombs.They can receive a maximum of 2269 euros per year.

  • Location of the bombs in the North Sea

    The bombs lie along the approaching routes of the allied airplanes during the Second World War. Pilots threw away excess bombs here in order to save fuel for the return trip. There are also lots of bombs in the area north of the Dutch coast and in the German Bight. In addition, excess ammunition was discharged in two dumps sixty kilometers west of IJmuiden and Scheveningen.

  • Explosives on the beach

    There are regular reports of explosive finds from the Second World War along the Dutch coast. In the spring of 2000, nineteen mines from the Second World War were found in Egmond aan Zee. There is a mini submarine of the type 'Seehund' lying in sea close to the nude beach. According to the commander of the submarine and the Historical Society of Egmond, unexploded torpedoes still hang under the submarine.
    At the end of July of the same year, a hand grenade was found on the busy beach between Zandvoort and Bloemendaal. One week later, more unexploded explosives were found, including an anti-tank mine. The explosives come from an explosion well made by the allies and probably surfaced due to displacement caused by natural dynamics. The well is a deep hole in which unused ammunition and explosives were detonated at the end of the war. However, not all exploded. Instead, they were slung out over a large area around the well. For safety reasons in 2000, a strip of beach almost a kilometer long was evacuated for the entire summer and provided with a dam wall until the entire beach had been scoured.
    Ten to twenty thousand tons of explosives were detonated in such wells after the war. The exact locations of the wells are often unknown.

  • Explosives in the Mok Bay, Texel

    Dredging works in the Mok Bay (Texel) in 2003 uncovered German grenades. Further study showed that the bottom of the bay was strewn with unexploded ammunition from the war. The invaders probably dumped their excess explosives in the bay at the end of the war. After months of specialist work, 5331 pieces of ammunition surfaced. An additional 359 kilograms of gunpowder was also found.