67 years have passed since the end of World War II, yet the explosive material contained in various types of ammunition has not lost its properties. Every year in Poland, there are several accidents in which people who have tampered with found unexploded ordnance and misfires die. At the beginning of October this year, a 63-year-old resident of a town near Augustów lost his hand in this way.
On September 20, Bolesławiec Demining Patrol No. 23 received a report that a farmer had ploughed up four shells in a field between Bolesławiec and Dobra. As it turned out, the sappers found a total of 134 pieces of Soviet anti-aircraft ammunition from World War II.
In Wojciechów (Złotoryja County), another farmer ploughed up five artillery shells in his field; the Bolesławiec sappers found seven in total.
Meanwhile, on October 5 in Wilczy Las (Warta Bolesławiecka Commune), a combine harvester operator dug up a mortar grenade whose fuze was seriously damaged, which could have ended tragically. The commander of Demining Patrol No. 23, due to the high risk of an explosion during transport, decided to detonate the unexploded ordnance on site.
The Demining Patrol warns: if we find an object that looks like unexploded ordnance or a misfire, under no circumstances should we touch it; let us remember where it is and report it to the police or a forester.
(information: Warrant Officer Radosław Mazur, commander of Demining Patrol No. 23/ii)