Farmer discovers live tank shells in the field - and takes them home without further ado

Created: 05/19/2022, 05:02

By: Elke Robert

Emergency services evacuated the surrounding houses in Schwabniederhofen © Hans-Helmut Herold

A farmer found a grenade in the field on Monday and took it home without realizing the danger.

A special team arrived. 

Altenstadt/Schwabniederhofen - It could have turned out differently: while plowing in the field, a Schwabniederhofen farmer discovered the tank shell on Monday and simply took his find home to his farm - in the middle of town.

However, this morning he alerted the police, who acted quickly, because the ammunition that looked so inconspicuous was an 8.8-centimeter anti-aircraft gun, 8.8-cm anti-aircraft gun or "eight-eight" for short, and it was still active at the time.

"The farmer was extremely lucky," said the spokesman for the Weilheim-Schongau district office.

Farmer finds live grenade: A case for a special company

A case for the special company Tauber explosive ordnance clearance.

Two demolition experts from the Munich demolition squad were quickly on site.

Those responsible decided to quickly remove the World War II ammunition from the local danger area.

"The demolition expert took the risk of carrying the tank shell," said Helmut Stork from the regulatory office in the district office.

In order to facilitate the evacuation, a narrow aisle was quickly mowed in the direction of the outskirts and a small bridge was built over the Schönach.

Mayor Andreas Kögl, who was also on site, organized a mini excavator with which a three to four meter deep hole in the ground was dug with a sufficient safety distance.

The anti-aircraft ammunition was very carefully placed in it and covered with sand.

The residents of some houses were evacuated for the controlled demolition

Now the controlled demolition could be prepared.

After the two demolition experts had retreated behind the safety line at a distance of 150 to 200 meters, the ammunition was detonated.

"There was already a decent explosion, you could certainly hear it in town," says Stork.

To be on the safe side, the residents of both the agricultural building concerned and seven surrounding houses had previously been evacuated and the county road blocked at this point.

To ensure that the tank shell could be brought safely to the site of the controlled detonation, emergency services mowed a path in the tall grass © Hans-Helmut Herold

The tank grenade came with great certainty from the Second World War, it was said on site.

It is no longer possible to determine whether the ammunition was fired by the nearby anti-aircraft school during practice shooting or during a fight.

One thing is clear: at least serious damage to the building could have occurred.

In the worst case, however, bad injuries would have occurred, because the fragments of these tank shells fly 80 to 100 meters.

also read

Report of embezzlement: Denklingen's mayor speaks out

With "Hexe Hagasusa" through Schongau: Special guided tours for children

"Do not touch or take ammunition finds"

The Munich explosives expert Sebastian Braun warns of the great danger of finding ammunition and appeals to the citizens, please never touch unknown objects, let alone take them with you - "please leave them where they are and alert the police - they will take care of everything".

Stork put it even more clearly: "It can be life-threatening."

"It wouldn't have been funny if the grenade had gone off," summarized Altenstadt's commander, Johann Deschler.

"It's not something you see every day," Deschler continued.

Since he was active in the fire service, he can only remember one similar incident.

At the end of 2019, the discovery of a phosphorus grenade from World War II triggered a major operation.

At the Jenoptik company in Altenstadt, the grenade was damaged during work after felling a tree - the rootstock had been milled off - and a fire broke out after a flash of fire.

By the time the fire brigade arrived, company employees had already put out the flames with a fire extinguisher, and no one was injured.

By

the way : everything from the region is now also available in our regular Schongau newsletter.