Hey, everybody! Thank you for checking out History X.
My name is Ken Stano and today I want to tell you about a story that came out
in the news a couple of days ago. A woman was jogging recently on
the edge of the woods near a German town called Sonnen. Sonnen, Germany.
And she discovered what she thought was a WW2 hand grenade; an unexploded World War II hand grenade.
So she called the police, and the police then called the bomb squad.
And the bomb squad quickly determined that the grenade that she had discovered was a fake.
In actuality, the grenade turned out to be some type of sex toy that was
in a plastic bag along with condoms, lubricant, a usb cable for some reason.
Yes there are apparently sex toys manufactured to look like hand grenades.
Not sure why.
Now you may think a story like this is sensationalism, sensationalist news,
News that really isn't news at all.
I mean, after all, they refer to it, and actually I've got some pictures here.
So this is the grenade that she discovered. They refer to it as a World War Two hand grenade
and it really doesn't look like a WWII hand grenade to me.
Like I said, the bomb squad was called and they found also condoms, lubricant...
But like I said a few moments ago, this is actually a pretty serious story, and here's why...
The problem of unexploded ordnance from WW2 found in European countries...
It's very real. It could be a
new building that you're digging a foundation for. Foundation for a house.
Just roaming in a field. There are unexploded bombs and hand grenades everywhere.
So when I originally heard about this story, about the hand grenade being mistaken for a sex toy,
I thought it was kind of a joke. I thought it was kind of worthless.
Until a friend of mine actually referred me to an article
that was published in Smithsonian Magazine back in 2016.
The article basically states that this problem of unexploded ordnance in Europe is very real.
More than 2,000 tons of unexploded
bombs, hand grenades, bullets, ammunition... It's uncovered on German soil every year.
That's just in Germany. Other countries, like France, England...
It's everywhere. So this is how much of a problem it can be....
And here in the United States we don't consider this at all,
but in Europe, before any construction project can begin, in Germany, from the addition of a house,
all the way to the construction of a highway, the ground must first be certified
as cleared of unexploded ordnance. It's a very real concern.
So when you look at projects like this and you see what could be discovered,
there are repeated evacuations that occur in these European countries just because
someone may discover a hand grenade, or someone may discover some type of bomb.
There was a story several years ago about a drought occurring and the river level dropped
low to the point where an unexploded bomb was discovered and they had to
evacuate 20,000 or 30,000 people. German bomb disposal squads are some
of the busiest in the world and unfortunately, because of that,
as of the publication of this article, which was 2016, 11 bomb disposal specialists have been
killed in Germany over the last 20 years. So it is a big deal.
So you might think a story like this... A woman discovers a hand grenade, turns out
to be a sex toy, is kind of a joke. But it's not a joke at all to the
folks living over in Europe. In fact the children in schools,
just like our kids here in the states are taught things like tornado drills, that type of thing,
children in schools over in Europe, they're also taught what to do when they come across
a hand grenade, or a bomb, or even bullets that are left over from World War Two.
So the next time you think about installing an addition on your house,
or even just digging a pathway for a sidewalk,
think about what residents in Europe have to go through in order to
ensure that everyone stays safe.
I hope you found this video to be interesting
and if you did I hope you'll click and subscribe. Hit the 'Like' button.
My name is Ken Stano. Thanks for tuning in and thank you for checking out History X!