# 76th Anniversary of D-Day & 4% Of Normandy's Beach Is Still Shrapnel



## BeyondTheNow (6 Jun 2020)

D-Day Fighting Was So Intense That 4% Of Normandy's Beach Is Still Shrapnel



> It turns out that the fighting on D-Day was so fierce that as much as 4% of the sand on Normandy beaches is magnetic shrapnel that has been broken down over the decades into sand-sized chunks.
> From BLDGBLOG, a paper in the upcoming issue of Archeology  finds that the spherical metal shards are a significant portion of the beach's composition.
> 
> In the photo to the right, see the smooth sphere? It's got a diameter of around one-tenth of a millimeter judging by the legend. That's sixty-year-old shrapnel, sanded down to a smooth, microscopic ball.
> ...



 https://www.businessinsider.com/d-day-fighting-was-so-heavy-that-4-of-normandy-sand-is-still-shrapnel-2012-8?IR=T


Pandemic makes for a lonely D-Day observance in Normandy



> BENOUVILLE, FRANCE -- At daybreak on Saturday, Charles Shay stood lonesome without any fellow veteran on the very same beach where he waded ashore 76 years ago, part of one of the most epic battles in military historic that came to be known as D-Day and turned the tide of the Second World War.
> 
> Compared to last year, when many tens of thousands came to the northern French beaches of Normandy to cheer the dwindling number of veterans and celebrate three-quarters of a century of liberation from Nazi oppression, the coronavirus lockdown turned this year's remembrance into one of the eeriest ever.
> 
> ...



https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/world/pandemic-makes-for-a-lonely-d-day-observance-in-normandy-1.4972440


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## Colin Parkinson (6 Jun 2020)

Thanks very neat, I like the reminder that in a 100 million years our foot print won't be much.


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## mariomike (6 Jun 2020)

"Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely."

General Dwight D. Eisenhower


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## Oldgateboatdriver (6 Jun 2020)

BeyondTheNow said:
			
		

> D-Day Fighting Was So Intense That 4% Of Normandy's Beach Is Still Shrapnel
> 
> https://www.businessinsider.com/d-day-fighting-was-so-heavy-that-4-of-normandy-sand-is-still-shrapnel-2012-8?IR=T
> 
> ...




BeyondTheNow:

I've been out on mine warfare exercises with the French Navy in the mid-90's as a NATO observer. In that "exercise", we found a whole bunch of the training mines that had been set up, but also two real mines left over from WWI and WWII which the French navy then proceeded to detonate. When the UK about four years ago started to dredge Portsmouth harbour so the new QUEEN ELIZABETH class aircraft carriers could be based there, they found an unexploded 500 pound bomb from the Blitz that had to be blown in place. In Germany, they regularly find unexploded ordinance under their streets when doing roadwork.

There are tons of unexploded and discarded ordinance all over Europe. Those things are the legacy of having been at the epicentre of the two largest modern/mechanized wars the world has ever seen.


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## BeyondTheNow (6 Jun 2020)

Oldgateboatdriver said:
			
		

> BeyondTheNow:
> 
> I've been out on mine warfare exercises with the French Navy in the mid-90's as a NATO observer. In that "exercise", we found a whole bunch of the training mines that had been set up, but also two real mines left over from WWI and WWII which the French navy then proceeded to detonate. When the UK about four years ago started to dredge Portsmouth harbour so the new QUEEN ELIZABETH class aircraft carriers could be based there, they found an unexploded 500 pound bomb from the Blitz that had to be blown in place. In Germany, they regularly find unexploded ordinance under their streets when doing roadwork.
> 
> There are tons of unexploded and discarded ordinance all over Europe. Those things are the legacy of having been at the epicentre of the two largest modern/mechanized wars the world has ever seen.



Thank you for sharing OGBD. It must have been quite a sight.

I’ve read a lot of articles about D-Day, and have a decent little collection of books on WWI & II at home. I’ve always been interested in, and intrigued by, reports which still circulate quite often about remnants found from battle(s) all over Europe—some still live like what you experienced. I’d never seen a photo of the sand in terms of what this article described though, so thought I’d post it. 

I’d like to get there one day.


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## mariomike (7 Jun 2020)

BeyondTheNow said:
			
		

> I’d like to get there one day.



I have been to Eastern France regarding, "The war on the rails." 

Not likely to get the Hollywood treatment, but I found it interesting nonetheless.



> Halt US and British bomber attacks on German strategic targets. … Divert these airplanes to strike railways and bridges in occupied but allied France. … Accept in the process up to 160,000 French casualties. … That, in the spring of 1944, was what Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe, chose to do.
> 
> Eisenhower’s verdict was epic in its consequences. Except for Truman’s resolve to strike Hiroshima, no World War II air war decision was more complex or caused more bitterness than Ike’s move to attack the French railway system in advance of the June 6, 1944 Allied landings in Normandy.
> 
> ...


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## my72jeep (7 Jun 2020)

Oldgateboatdriver said:
			
		

> BeyondTheNow:
> 
> I've been out on mine warfare exercises with the French Navy in the mid-90's as a NATO observer. In that "exercise", we found a whole bunch of the training mines that had been set up, but also two real mines left over from WWI and WWII which the French navy then proceeded to detonate. When the UK about four years ago started to dredge Portsmouth harbour so the new QUEEN ELIZABETH class aircraft carriers could be based there, they found an unexploded 500 pound bomb from the Blitz that had to be blown in place. In Germany, they regularly find unexploded ordinance under their streets when doing roadwork.
> 
> There are tons of unexploded and discarded ordinance all over Europe. Those things are the legacy of having been at the epicentre of the two largest modern/mechanized wars the world has ever seen.


I worked for a Canadian company in Berlin building wood house’s before we could dig we had to have the ground checked by the German army for UX. We were always finding mortar tails spent and live ammo. The area we were in had some fierce fighting between the Russians and German’s across the  Teltow canal. During my stay a Brit crew in the city hit a 500 lb with a back hoe the bucket was all that was found and it was 3 blocks away.


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## BeyondTheNow (7 Jun 2020)

my72jeep said:
			
		

> I worked for a Canadian company in Berlin building wood house’s before we could dig we had to have the ground checked by the German army for UX. We were always finding mortar tails spent and live ammo. The area we were in had some fierce fighting between the Russians and German’s across the  Teltow canal. During my stay a Brit crew in the city hit a 500 lb with a back hoe the bucket was all that was found and it was 3 blocks away.



Out of curiosity, I’m not sure if anyone would know this, but are there any areas anywhere (meaning the overall geography where fighting took place—even if comparatively minor) where crews no longer have to worry about finding anything—even if only smaller rounds and/or debris not likely to cause any injury or complications at all with construction?


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## daftandbarmy (7 Jun 2020)

BeyondTheNow said:
			
		

> Out of curiosity, I’m not sure if anyone would know this, but are there any areas anywhere (meaning the overall geography where fighting took place—even if comparatively minor) where crews no longer have to worry about finding anything—even if only smaller rounds and/or debris not likely to cause any injury or complications at all with construction?



Given the heavy bombing campaign over years, by both sides, I'm guessing that you could find something nasty just about anywhere. 

The WW1 western front is also still riddled with UXBs, that's for sure. I used to hike around there alot and there were always piles of shells stacked like cordwood for the UXB guys to take away:

The Iron Harvest

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_harvest


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## Kat Stevens (7 Jun 2020)

If I lived in Eastern France, Western parts of Germany, or Belgium, I wouldn't dig a potato patch without running a metal detector over the ground.


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## garb811 (7 Jun 2020)

Iron harvest


> The iron harvest is the annual "harvest" of unexploded ordnance, barbed wire, shrapnel, bullets and congruent trench supports collected by Belgian and French farmers after ploughing their fields. The harvest generally applies to the material from the First World War, which is still found in large quantities across the former Western Front.
> ...


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## Colin Parkinson (7 Jun 2020)

BeyondTheNow said:
			
		

> Out of curiosity, I’m not sure if anyone would know this, but are there any areas anywhere (meaning the overall geography where fighting took place—even if comparatively minor) where crews no longer have to worry about finding anything—even if only smaller rounds and/or debris not likely to cause any injury or complications at all with construction?



Part of the problem is that planes in trouble jettisoned their bomb load pretty much anywhere and there were abandoned positions and dumps that went unaccounted for. One can be reasonably sure you won't find something, but you never know for sure.


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## BeyondTheNow (7 Jun 2020)

Thank you everyone, I appreciate the feedback. I’m familiar with some of the points mentioned, but had never heard about whether or not any specific areas where regular excavations, searches and scans taking place had sufficiently cleared an area beyond the point of concern.

I’ve taken my son to the War Museum in Ottawa a few times over the years, and we’ve recently watched some war movies together also. He’s a rather inquisitive kid, and some of the questions he’s asked about things sparked some thoughts of my own when I couldn’t give him an answer. 

We’ve also been looking at our Military Atlas of WWII (Chris Bishop) together a lot recently, and I’ve been thinking of the areas that were less affected.


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## Brad Sallows (7 Jun 2020)

You probably have to stick to established trails in most areas that had any military use, if you want to completely stack the odds in your favour.  Even in the remote Norwegian hamlets/towns that were also host to German marine coastal batteries (WWII), not all the (land) mines in the wire-and-mine belts around installations were cleared.  A few sheep have lost their lives.


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## SeaKingTacco (7 Jun 2020)

In France, there are still large areas known as “red zones”. They are too polluted with UXOs from World War 1 to be safe for anyone to traverse them, much less live in them. Also, the soil is dangerously contaminated with lead and arsenic from explosives residue. These red zones are are expected to stay in place for anywhere from between 1-5 more centuries. 

Think about that. The physical legacy of World War 1 will last well into the 25th century.


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