Unexploded Second World War grenades found in field

grenades were originally mistaken for milk bottles Engineers were left stunned when they unearthed a stash of 70 unexplo ded S e c ond World War grenades – after almost mistaking them for old milk bottles.

The bomb squad was called in after power engineers made the shocking discovery during routine improvement works.

A controlled explosion was carried out on Wednesday at the site of the discovery at Tongland Dam, Dumfries and Galloway, after nearby homes were evacuated and power turned off.

SP Energy Networks engineers originally thought the collecti on of gl ass bottles were used for milk, but quickly changed their mind when they spotted smoke coming out of one of them.

Team leader Duncan Muir said: “The lads thought it was old milk at first when they saw t he yellowed glass bottles, then one started slowly smoking and that’s when our health and safety training kicked in.

“We covered them back over with soil and retreated to a safe distance to call the fire brigade and the Ministry of Defence.”

The Home Guard was tasked with defending Britain’s 5,000 miles of coastline in the event of an invasion by Germany.

A rag- tag volunteer militia, resources were scarce and they often had make- do uniforms and weaponry.

The grenades unear t hed by the SPEN team were commonly known as the “SIP” – self- igniting phosphorus – grenade and were primarily to be used as an anti- tank weapon.

The Home Guard hid caches for use in the event of an invasion, but not all locations were recorded and some were lost.