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Writer's pictureLEGENDA ARCHAEOLOGY

Forest Cleared: 340+ Mortar Rounds destroyed

Updated: Jan 10, 2021

The forests on former battlefields still are littered in dangerous unexploded ordnance, Legenda have over 20 years experience in Military Archaeology so for the team its common to find munitions left behind.

The find was reported accordingly, after which the Police cordoned the area off Latvian Army EOD Unit arrived to take care of the disposal. The unit was: Ogres 54. bataljona zemessargi (Latvian Army EOD Picture: Source Facebook)

Last month the Legenda Team found over 340 untouched German WW2 mortar rounds on an abandoned wartime position.

The find, a 'deadly stash' of German mortar rounds were discovered by the Legenda Team in late September. After an inspection they were all declared as non-fired rounds, the team went directly to work uncovering them and moving them swiftly onto the flat ground for counting and for making records. On closer inspection the rounds still had the wartime red paint intact, as well as remnants of the wicker baskets they were transported in.


The rounds were for the German 8cm Granatwerfer 34 (8 cm GrW 34) the mortar had a maximum range of 2.4km. Seen here in action during the Second World War with German troops.


In total this silent forest had 348 rounds, all containing a deadly and intact payload, even after all these years. Legenda then proceeded to call the police in order to report the find according to protocol. After the police visited the site, they made contact with the local Latvian Army EOD teams and then cordoned the area off.


Professionals: Ogres 54. bataljona zemessargi arrived to remove safely the UXO and bring to a safe place. (Latvian Army EOD Picture: Source Facebook)


The ordnance was removed safely by the professional Latvian Army EOD unit and taken to their site for safe disposal. They reported the destruction via their Facebook page.


After controlled detonation by Latvian Army EOD. (Latvian Army EOD Picture: Source Facebook)


Legenda has found stashes of up to 2,000 mortar rounds. Although, the main objective of the team is to find the missing, they often come across such deadly stashes. As part of Legenda's open policy, a live stream was conducted reaching over 130,000 people worldwide. The Legenda Team answered questions both verbally via the comments section.


The live stream of the removal can be found by clicking here.



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