The Defense Explosive Ordnance Disposal Service (EOD) yesterday destroyed the last explosives found during work in Badhoevedorp since the turn of the year. Around the Oude Haagsebrug over the Ringvaart, workmen unexpectedly encountered a large quantity of landmines and ammunition from the Second World War. NH was at the last big blow.
The last WWII explosions went up with a lot of noise – NH Media
It was quite a shock when the first objects were fished out of the water. For the renovation of the Oude Haagsebrug near Badhoevedorp the bottom of the Ringvaart was dredged. When a machine gun tire was found there, a soil research company was called in to further investigate the sludge that had already surfaced.
Explosions on industrial estate
One of those researchers is Sep van Sermondt. He talks about what they found: “We found two more land mines on site in the sludge that had already been collected. We then immediately switched to a major investigation.”
That investigation led not only to the explosives in the Ringvaart, but also to the sludge depot in Mijdrecht where part of the soil had already been transported. The items found there were so dangerous that the EOD had to destroy them on the company premises. The last of those cleanups took place yesterday.
Divers and metal detectors, among other things, were used to remove all dangerous items from the water, says Van Sermondt: “In terms of quantities, this is a truly unique find, a very wide variety of items. We are already at 30,000 bullet cartridges, Panzerfausten, demolition charges, and a total of sixteen landmines.”
Even for Ben from the Defense Explosive Ordnance Disposal Service, responsible for destroying the last items, it is a special catch: “There were items among them that we have not encountered in the Netherlands for forty years. The amount of landmines in the same place was especially special. .”
One of the most striking finds in the water near Badhoevedorp was a number of ‘Riegelmine’. The German anti-tank mine is infamous among bomb disposal squads because it takes very little to set it off. This is because the wires in the detonation mechanism rust easily, making the mine unstable.
The residents of the Oude Haagsebrug react with raised eyebrows to the news that they have practically lived on top of a pile of land mines for all those years. This also applies to Nel van der Lelie, who has lived right next to the bridge for 53 years: “I’m not very concerned about it, because nothing has gone wrong in all these years. But when my children still lived at home, they went to the doorstep. sometimes magnet fishing, I really don’t want to think about that now.”
The residents can only guess how all that dangerous material ended up in the Ringvaart, but Van Sermondt does have a theory about what happened eighty years ago: “There were two loose piles of stuff on the bottom. We think that the One pile was dumped by a truck when the bridge deck was open and the other when it was closed. But the exact reason for this will probably remain a guess forever.”