Over the years we periodically hear of incidents in Europe in which people are maimed or killed by unexploded bombs. I recall one that blew up when it was disturbed by maintenance crew on an autobahn. Another in which 17 people were injured by a UXB near Hattingen, Germany. During my time in Germany with Uncle Sam during the 80's I recall fairly regular stories of UXB discovery over Armed Forces Radio and Television. Lastly, I read a story in which the body of an American soldier was found in the Hurtgen Forest exactly where he fell in '44. German engineers in 2000 were sweeping the area for lost mines and detected grenades on the remains of the soldier. As I understand, the Germans sowed something like 5 million mines in the Hurtgen battlefields, most or many of the Schuh mines, made mostly of glass. One wonders how much ordnance is out there STILL waiting to kill someone 65 years after the end of the war. Is battlefield exploration and archaeology really a laymen's hobby? Should it be?
An interesting question indeed. I don't think it would be possible to prevent laymen from exploring and cataloguing battlefields (unless there was some kind of ultra-fascist government that put GPS chips in everyone's heads). So I guess the current reality is that amateurs will continue to explore, and some of them might die. But they choose to take that risk, and by so doing they reduce the danger to other people - so, overall, I think it's a positive. Nevertheless, I would hope that all such interested folks would educate and train themselves to minimise the possibility of tragic outcomes.
To add to the stories of old ammo Last year the remnants of a German minefield had to be detonated by the Danish army, on the northern part of our West Coast, and Danish fishermen stil catch an old mine from time to time. It is not much of a problem here, I can't remember any stories including fatalities, but around the world, there must be tons of unexploded munitions from the war, just waiting for some poor bastard to show up and be a bit too curious Vest
There's still a large amount left from WW1, as anyone who has explored the Western Front will know. I've come across many, many dangerous items from both World Wars in my years of wandering battlefields. Common sense should prevail - if it looks dangerous - leave it alone.
