17-4-23 Garand Picture of the Day

[CINDERS]

Try Softly Tread The Brave By Southall in WWII this for sheer guts and bravery snippets from the book ~
Working on a mine with 1 tonne of high explosive warhead out of sight (could not see the fuse) laying on the warhead going by feel in a barge packed with ammunition, the fuse started to run he had 17 seconds to get clear with a 400 yard blast radii he was not going to make it. In his mind he ran but he stayed there and beat the fuse by the barest of margins...which could not be measured!

Another lowered into a gasometer down to the mine standing in tar up to the knees working in pitch darkness as they were scared to use a torch may set it off and delousing it.
One was stuck in an earthen dam quite deep which entailed the mine disposal officer to burrow on his belly like a rabbit underground being dragged out by a rope tied to his ankle each pale full of mud from the dam wall where he calculated the fuse to be.
Then whilst he reached the mine the fuse was on the opposite side to him so he had to burrow over the mine reach out of sight whilst pressed against the 1 tonne of explosive deep underground he deloused the mine but it took 4 days to do it going into and out of that hole day in day out knowing there was no escape.

A magnetic/acoustic was discovered on the mud flats it had been there for quite a while they had a length of rope & chain they set up to see if the mine would go up which the officer dragged the chain over the mine which created noise sufficient to detonate it. Someone had cut the rope so it was to short this held the chain the officer said the mines probably dead as the chain mounted the mine with the officer well within the blast radius he said "see its de...." the blast knocked him flat and bent his knee joints 90 degrees the wrong way he was rather shaken and said "well that's that then"

They were all volunteers RNVR delousing the German aerial mines dropped on London there were numerous types and many of their brethren died trying to delouse them and the two main players Syme & Mould had their fair share of narrow squeaks.
Allot is mentioned of the men at the front but this took bravery and skill to a whole new level and it is truly a worthy book to read (I've read it 5 times) of sustained dedication to the job, some of those mines were booby trapped with the ZUS-40 the best they could get was the George Cross not the Victoria Cross as they were not facing the enemy.

I have my own thoughts and to do that job year in year out even after the war they carried on clearing mines some so lethal it scared even the Germans whom made them there was no official sanction given to them it was so dangerous but do it they did.