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Thankfully, there wasn't a sympathetic explosion and the majority of the dump didn't explode, but even so buildings many miles away were damaged and the top of Fauld hill was removed from the skyline. The countryside was littered with live ordnance, Mills bombs, land mines, anti-personnel, detonators and 4000lb bombs. Rescues in the mine took 3 months due to pockets of gas, 10,000 tons of rubble and 6 million gallons of water from the nearby reservoir. One search party reported finding a cow standing in a field, twice its normal size, bloated with air from the shock wave. They tried to put it out of its misery by shooting it, but it failed to fall. On closer inspection it was found to be already dead, the angle of its legs holding it in the upright.
For many years the truth of what had happened here was not disclosed. Kids used to play in the bomb hole, rolling rocks down its steep sides. It was not until recently that the area was fenced off and signs erected. In 1974 it was revealed that the explosion was caused by "bombs being taken out of store- primed for use and replaced unused, with detonators still installed." There is some speculation that it was actually caused by the impact of a German V-2 rocket. Parts of a fin similar to that on the V-2 were found. The V-2 rocket entered service in January 1944, it was the worlds first ballistic missile reaching a height of 55 miles before returning at supersonic speed and impacting at 1,780mph. The theory says that this is why there wasn't a 'sympathetic' explosion, as most of the stored bombs were displaced from the mine before they exploded. Many of the successful V-2 attacks were kept secret by the goverment in order to not demoralise the population or allow the Germans to calibrate their aim.
In the fields around the site are many of these war time buildings. They seem to be old shafts, now capped, many of them with signs of large calibre gun emplacements.
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7 comments:
The poor cow!
What a great post. This is not something you see everyday. The history is fascinating as well. Thank you so much for sharing it with us!
xo
Blue
You make everything such an adventure.
I have a pile of huge boulders on my property.... hope there are no bombs underneath
I just found your blog. It is so interesting.
Yoli
Wow!!
My son would love your blog! I am going to give him your blog address when he comes home from Kuwait.
Please be careful on your adventures! I find myself holding my breath as I am reading your posts! LOL!
That poor poor cow.
I wonder how many secrets it DOES hold. So interesting!
Fascinating story and well researched.
Oscar Wilde said, "To look at a thing is very different from seeing it."
Most people merely look. You took the time to see. And we got the benefit of your effort!
Fascinating post.
(~_^)
So then the boulders at the beginning of your post must have been thrown there by the explosion. Fascinating post.
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