Don’t panic! Dad’s Army bombs left in family’s garden blown up
A DAD was shocked to find live and smoking wartime grenades in his garden – on the spot where he held family bonfires.
Barrister James Osborne believed the two crates of 24 Dad’s Army-style Home Guard bombs unearthed at his £2million home were milk bottles.
But he then found a sign saying “AW bombs fire instantly on breaking in air” and rushed to alert 999 crews. The village of Bramdean, Hants, was later rocked by a huge explosion after the 48 grenades were detonated by a bomb disposal team in a controlled explosion.
James, 45, made the Second World War find as a landscape gardener levelled part of his six-acre estate. James, who has three children, Rocco, nine, Alexander, eight, and Sophia, five, said: “We used to have roasting bonfires on this spot. It could have been a disaster.
“The chap with the digger was just scraping away and the tops of the bottles were showing out of the dirt.
“They were loose so we just pulled them out. But then they started to smoke.”
The milk bottle-sized SIP – Self-Igniting Phosphorus – grenades were issued to the Home Guard to throw at invading Nazi troops and tanks.
Around six million were made but most were never used and were buried.
James said: “This used to be the rector’s house and it could have been one of the meeting spots of the local Home Guard.
“The blast was incredible, very exciting for the kids.”
An unimpressed Alexander said of the aftermath: “It smells like rotten eggs.”