Throughout the six years of war the Bomb Disposal personal were on permanent duty, they saved thousands of civilian lives, sadly an estimated 580 were killed. Unexploded bombs [UXB's ] came in two forms, some were bombs whose fuses had not had enough time to charge in flight, because they had dropped from a too low altitude, they however continued to charge once they had landed, they were very volatile, and even vibrations could set them off. The second type of UXB was deliberately designed not to explode when it reached the target, instead it was fitted with a timer which varied from a few seconds to several days, the aim was not so much total destruction, but to pose a threat which would cause widespread disruption.
On August 18 1940 eight members of a bomb disposal squad [BD] were killed by a new kind of fuse that could detonate not just in seconds, but up to 80 hours later. Each small BD team was led by an officer, normally with a scientific background, but even more important with a steady patient temperament, that such work required.
At first the main objective of the Luftwaffe was to devastate airfields in Southern England, and so neutralise the RAF in preparation for the invasion of Britain. Day and night, hour after hour BD sections worked with great courage and few basic tools to free runways of UXB's. In September and October 1940 Flight Lt Walter Charlton of the RAF defused more than 200 UXB's on airfields in the West of England, he was awarded the George Cross.
An RAF bombing raid on Berlin on August 25 1940 infuriated Hitler, who then ordered the Luftwaffe to target major UK cities, this relieved severe pressure on Britain's airfields. On September 7 1940 the Blitz started with London the prime target, many time bombs were dropped and signs reading Danger UXB were a very familiar sight.
As one BD officer said “ When you are sitting on top of a bomb, if it goes off you're gone, you aren't going to be injured or in agony”. The coffins of those killed were sealed and not to be opened, many said they were only filled with sand, after having to identify what remained of their comrades, some could not continue, yet most stayed, despite being given the option to leave BD after six months, by the time the Blitz ended in May 1941, more than 190,000 thousand bombs had fallen 20,000 of them were UXB's. However this brought no respite for BD, many UXB's remained to be defused, their numbers were hidden , their location not known, for instance in South London, one afternoon in 1942, a UXB hidden for more than a year went off bringing down a block of flats, 12 people were killed, 60 injured, and 200 left homeless.
Another very dangerous hazard were butterfly bombs, anti-personnel devices , so called because their cases opened up like butterfly wings as they fell, lethal, they were primed to explode at the slightest touch. An example of the extreme danger they offered took place on June 13 1943, German planes flew over Grimsby and Cleethorpes, in Eastern England dropping over a wide area 18 tons of bombs, which included 2,000 butterfly bombs, within an hour of the raid they had killed 30 people, the whole of Grimsby was in chaos, with residents scared to leave their homes, these coffee-jar sized bombs hung from washing lines and garden gates, some embedded within the grass of damp lawns, barely visible.
When the war against Nazi Germany ended in May 1945, Bomb Disposal had defused about 40,000 HE'S, together with about 5,700 butterfly bombs, anti-aircraft shells and incendiaries [many packed with explosives] The clear-up operation was to continue in the post-war period, clearing-up continues even today, with bombs turning-up, particularly on building sites.
For more than 2,000 days Britain suffered the effects of ariel bombardment, 60,000 civilians were killed by the bombing, and had it not been for the resourcefulness and immense bravery of the Bomb Disposal teams, this figure would have been much higher, in addition Britain's industry and infrastructure so vital for the war effort would have been severely effected.
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