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In this video, we're going to blow up 4 tons of views and 400 kg of explosives. We take that down, we go through all that, it's incredible. We're going on a day-long immersion with the miners. Here we go. Gill, how are you doing Hello, I'm in good health. Thank you for welcoming us to the Diners. If I understand Gill correctly, what's going to happen is that we're going to go into a pit to retrieve munitions from the First World War. We're going to go back up, we're going to store them and then we'll blow them up at the end of the video. That's exactly it. We received a request for removal from the farmer
who cultivates the plot. He fell, he saw ammunition in a cavity that collapsed. So the idea is to go and see what's there by progressing very slowly and taking out whatever ammunition there is. Where are we here? So, we are in a combat zone here. We are right next to the Chemin des Dames and the front line was located in this sector between the Germans and the French during the First World War. So, from 1914 to 1917, it was stable. So they had time to build shelters and therefore there are still munitions scattered all over the territory. So, this is a former war zone, where we were.
Exactly. Former war zone. Nico, pleased to meet you. Are you doing well? How are you. And you? Very well, thank you very much. Nico, this is your field, right? Or are you a farmer? I'm a farmer. Yeah. So, regarding women's care. Do you often find German caches from the First World War? Ammunition, shells? So, we find between 4 and 5 shells per year. Then there were holes like this, my father must have found three, and then me, this is the first one I've actually found. So you, you've known since you were little that here in the area, it's communes, shells.
Yeah. In that genre, we also found a slightly lower-quality one Another cache. So. Wow! Thank you so much. Let's see what's hidden underneath. So, with pleasure. So what's going to happen here, is that we're going to go down below into the pit, the bomb disposal guys are going to see first if it's breathable or if we need to put on a breathing apparatus. We'll see was able to make a bigger hole anyway. They should 21%, how much is breathable? Between 20 and 21%, that's good, you can breathe easy; below 17%, it's not good. Ah yeah, there's already a difference between 21 and 17. Ah yeah, it's tight. Wait, take a breath. Wait. Yeah, that's good.
OK. OK, that's good. OK. Here we are. OK, that's good, we can breathe. So guys, I removed the rice because, as you were saying, we're at 21 % oxygen. Yeah, absolutely. We have our little detector here. So 20% oxygen is good, we need 19% and at the level of carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide, there is nothing. So we can breathe quite properly without risk. Here, we are in an old German cellar. That's it. It was partly occupied by the Germans until 1916 and then after the German lines, the German trenches retreated. So perhaps the French used it later, but initially it was certainly dug by the Germans.
Amazing. So here we can see that there is a French munition there, a trench bomb. So that's uh, typical of the First World War. It's standard ammunition. Impressive, we'll make progress, we'll spot if there's any other serious ammunition. And we leave the detector here, which is in alert mode. If you ever hear it ring, it beeps immediately. Yeah. So now we're making progress into the cavity. Hop. If you're as muscular as me, guys, that's perfect. We're doing well. Wow!
You saw on the ground, you can see all the beam remnants. So all of that deteriorated over time. Whoa! But how did they manage to dig that back then? They were miners. And then I wonder, it wasn't a PC because we can see nails up there. What is a PC? A command post. I think there was some communication involved. OK. Wow! Under the field we saw above, there's this. Wow! Amazing! So, we're making a little progress. Go ahead, I'll follow you. You see that? What is all this? That's what it looks like, those are the old mattresses. Oh yeah!
Those are the Popes' mattresses that were left there. Wow! Impressive. Wow, that's crazy. So we don't see any ammunition here, there's nothing. Yeah, because incidentally we're also here not just to visit but to find ammunition. Yeah. So often there are grenades or mortars in the cracks like that in the Yeah. on the sides. I need to keep an eye on it. I can't see anything here. OK. And then we go straight ahead, we go down, and then we send it there, we see something there on the ground. That's definitely a shell. So what are we allowed to touch with our hands? Perhaps you should analyze it first. That's it.
Ah yes, absolutely. We need to analyze it. Never touch it with your hands because if it turns out to be a toxic shell, you could get contaminated. So here we can see that it's a German shell. And there, we see that the advance rocket, it is missing, it is broken. So there, normally, there's a tiny little point, a little head. It's the brains of the ammunition. And so, we're going to measure it. Depending on the size, we will know if it is a questionable or not questionable ammunition. So now we're going to measure the height under the rocket. So we take the shot just below the rocket. And here we have 243,244. So we know that this is not toxic because when it is toxic, it is above. That's it. It's going to take a little longer. It will be
313. So, we're going to take this one by hand and bring it to the surface to bring it up to our colleagues. Okay, let's bring this to the surface then. Okay, I'll go ahead of you. Go ahead. Because we mustn't forget that it's still a question Yeah, that's probably something that could still blow up. I mustn't fall, you know. Ah yeah, I'll get it. Yeah, what's crazy are the wires we can see there. These were wires used for communication. So it's impressive to see that this still exists. Amazing.
You have rations. Look at a fork and everything. No, but that's crazy. Look at. I don't know if you can see the people, but there's a fork, rations, and everything. That's incredible. Did you get anything here? Ah yeah, here, here, here it looks like a grenade. No, in this case it's not a grenade, that's a German mortar. One might think it's a stick grenade. In fact, the mortar fins have disappeared. This often happens over time, it rusts, it deteriorates and the fins are gone. So that's a really good, top-notch mortar. And now I see that there are cartridges too. Yeah. Wow. So we're going to remove that. Then afterwards we'll use a detector to try and pick up any stray cartridges.
It looks like there are several cartridges there. Yeah. So this was all ready to go, actually, to put in the rifle. So I removed the tube mortar. We'll try to pick up the cartridges that are lying around. OK. That's a small metal detector. And when you touch it, you can see it vibrates. Ah yes because, no matter what, there is also a pollution aspect somewhere in the ground behind you there. Yeah, he has a huge one. Yeah, that's the impression, so we'll continue. We dodge the wires and there, oh, there's a beautiful baby there. Wow, so this is a huge object.
We're going to take his height. Yeah so I think you're looking at the nose like this, we're on a degraded belt there in Zamac. That's a German material and given the length and diameter, I think it's a 17cm minion. 17 cm. Yeah, that's right. So it's a first-rate morti allement. OK. And so, it's risky to carry it, to move it. So, same thing, we're going to identify it and see if it's loaded with explosives or toxic substances. So. In this case, it looks like an exercise. Are you active right now? Yeah. So in my opinion, it's complete. We can see that he has his rocket ship. Straighten what?
Yeah. Wait, I'm taking care of myself. Don't slip. So that makes a little over 50 kg. Oh dear. We'll knock that down, we'll all go through it. We won't say that, but we'll avoid playing with it anyway. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I understand. Now we're talking serious stuff. If that starts, the whole structure will collapse. Wow! So, the almonds hid their ammunition underground and brought it out to put it in the cannons. Generally, they try to store them away from bombings. So, how do we transport it? So we'll take this together. We will use a clamp created specifically to carry shells that are too heavy to carry alone.
OK. The risk when carrying it alone is that if it weighs 50-55 kg, it's hard and you also risk dropping it. So we can get it started. So we're going to carry it safely, two of us using the clamp. Wow, that's a great dye job! Ah yeah it's like something out of " saut pourcher les dents" [laughs] and rest for you. That's good. Yeah, you're a little over 50 kg there. OK. Okay, let's go I imagine you shouldn't hit the sides. We're trying not to hit the rocket, actually. What a mess. Is that all right, Tibo?
Yeah, it's a bit slippery but it's okay. Don't hesitate to use your feet firmly. OK. Hop. If you're having trouble, we'll put it down and ask our colleagues for approval. OK. It's okay for now. Fibo, are you following? Yeah, we'll put it there. Yeah. OK. So here we have the rope because, believe it or not, as you say, Ben, it's actually 50 kg. Ah, it's physical. It's still a physical job. Yeah, that's good guys, you can go back up So, be careful. Oh, that's a shame. Go ahead.
Oh dear. Yeah. You're going out, that's crazy. That's incredible. How are you, Julien? The shape is very good. Julien, what is your mission here? So, I'm the head of bomb disposal. The head of the civil security relocation unit, which brings together all the civil security bomb disposal experts who intervene throughout the French territory with the exception of Paris. Is what we just did an everyday task So it's a daily mission, particularly in this area. In fact, we had a lot of fights. The primary mission of demining when it was created in 1945 was to give farmers and industry the opportunity to
return to work. And that's exactly what we're doing here, even 100 years later, where we still have territories that are still very heavily polluted. And if we currently produce the best potatoes and beets in the world on this land, well, it's thanks to French farmers and also a little bit thanks to miners. Gill, which village are we in? So here, we are in the old village of Chivi. We are just below the Chemin des Dames. This was a position held during the First World War conflict . Under the Chemin des Dames, in any case, there are seven or three destroyed villages and that's part of it. This is a destroyed village. And you can see that it's very hilly. It's because of the bombs, that's it. That's it, it's due to the explosions. There
were houses that were built, the village has been reconstructed in this picture-like form and you can see a relief effect and you can see what the street must have looked like. And now, there's nothing left. So Gill, this morning we collected the ammunition, now we're going to see where we're going to store it before we blow it up, which you'll see at the end of the video. So, we're going into a hold. That's it. Yes, it's an ammunition bunker. This is the storage site. All the ammunition we collect, it passes through here to be made into pallets so that it can be destroyed at the end of the day.
Awesome. Okay, let's take a look at that. now, everything is under alarm. I obviously stop the surveillance and we're going into the s. So, what does it look like? So, these are old army bunkers, type 1935. Wow! Construction began in the 1930s-35. It was occupied for a while by the Germans during World War II and afterwards construction began and it became operational in the 1950s. The army liberated the site and we, the civil security, took the opportunity to reclaim it. Amazing. So this is the thing you find in the ground. So, what we find in the ground is what we call large- caliber ammunition, which can be artillery ammunition or large bombs.
Oh dear! Here for example, we are dealing with a large aerial bomb and aerial bombs must be neutralized before being transported. I imagine that when you handle them, you have to be super careful afterwards. Yes. There, it's secured in the vehicle, we're driving carefully. Here, I can show you a piece of ammunition that is particularly interesting from a historical perspective, let's say. This is the one. It's a small German bombshell. The unique feature of this bomb is its priming system. But also, as we often see in movies, when bombs fall, it makes a screeching noise. So.
And it was this small utensil that was on the tail of the bomb and that made the noise. So, what was the goal? Why make To stress the population who could hear its bombs thumping and who are stressed. Whoa! So this is really a hold in which there are only large models. So. with bombs that have been neutralized and are also destined for destruction. This is the ammunition that was fired here mainly during the First World War I, our territory extends as far as the Somme. So we're collecting ammunition from all over the place Impressive. When you find bombs this huge, do you have to warn the population that you are going to extract this bomb from the ground, and therefore uh, that they should move away?
We are carrying out what is called an evacuation. First, we conduct a security study. We look at the quantity of explosive, the priming system and then we determine evacuation radii. This works for bombs, it works for ammunition depots too, simply because the explosive during dismantling will have migrated into the threads and unscrewing can trigger this explosive or the bomb's priming system. I hope you have a risk premium, right? On the payslip. A small risk premium. Ah yeah, [laughs] we're going to send a message about that.
Thanks Julien, you also know a lot about the history of bombs. Where can you find that type of bomb? Whereas these are typically aerial bombs which were dropped on French territory, not by the Germans but by the Americans, by the British mainly to break the Nazi advance and to facilitate the liberation. So what were these bombs used for? To destroy bridges, to destroy railway junctions, to destroy road junctions to prevent the Germans from moving up. And so these bombs are found quite frequently in France. This one in particular was found in an airport and it's extremely dangerous because it contains a lot of explosives. And it happens quite frequently, especially when working in oil depots, that
miners are required to carry out bomb removal operations, taking enormous and dangerous risks on their own. So we can be led, we did it not so long ago in La Rochelle where we removed a bomb of this type which was at the foot of a fuel tank. We're adding danger to danger, and for minors, their lives-that's what it's all about. It's about addressing this type of problem and confronting this kind of danger in which they very clearly put their lives at risk. Gill, where are we here then? Here we are on a civil security destruction site, site which allows us to destroy all the munitions that we can collect throughout the year.
All right. So, for example, the ammunition we picked up this morning, we're going to come and destroy it here. So. And it goes through transit to a depot which allows us to build them up by dedicated furnace and then we destroy them here. All right. OK. So it was destroyed outdoors, but not indoors. So. It's destroyed outdoors. We destroy them underground and make what is called a furnace. OK. We can go and see the stove then. So there you have it. How many sites like this are there in France? We have four or five of them. After the destructive capabilities which vary depending on the explosive used. Here for example each well is set to 100 kg
of active material. We're going to have two shooting sequences. A sequence of gunfire on a well that explodes instantly. And then we will proceed to another phase of destruction in the same sequence. Great. Approximately how many kilos? We will produce 100 kg of active material, which represents approximately 3.5 of ammunition destroyed in one morning. Why this particular area for detonating munitions? When working with munitions, there is always a risk of potential explosion. So in fact, we are working on security zones that we can destroy because it is a military area all around. So there isn't
much activity nearby, which means the safety radii are guaranteed. Does it make a lot of noise or not? That's a pretty big shot, let's say. OK, very good. As for the rest, we'll see how it goes. OK. Okay, let's take a look at that. So, as a result, mechanical shovels. So, the mechanical shovels, it's a company specializing in public works that's doing the well for us. Wow! What size hole is that? The hole is approximately 6 to 7 meters deep. So, the ammunition will be lowered to the bottom. We then cover it with the remaining material. If we don't cover them, they can be in the air and we risk flying debris.
Yes, that's it. OK. And much more noise. Behind us, we can see that the guys are unloading the ammunition. That's it. Yes. The munitions that have been collected are transported here in crates so that they can be brought here and packaged for destruction. And there's the moss and everything on top of it. There you go, these ones, they were surely found in the woods and they remained piled up for some time. So, we can see that the system can be more or less sensitive. For example, this one, we can see, we can still see the priming system with the small springs and all that, it remains intact and it can become more sensitive over time and become more and more dangerous. And that, once it can be like that, is very rare, very rare. These are the
most troublesome phases for us, because if the crate breaks, the ammunition risks falling out and colliding with each other. Oh yes, that's a tough one. Yeah. So if we need to step back a little, we'll step back a little, okay? It's good. OK. So we need to be delicate about this, is that it? How long will it take to finish blowing up all the old ammunition? So there are different figures that are being put forward. In fact, we take into account the number of manufactured munitions fired that did not explode on the battlefields. And then at the rate of collection, we are advancing the figures to 600-700 years
in OK wait, let me understand correctly, in 600-700 years, we will have finished detonating all the munitions from the First World War that did not explode. So, mining is a profession of the future, in a way We won't be unemployed, we won't see the end of it. We'll pass that on to other generations. Whoa! Hello, how are you? How are you feeling? Are you alright, Gill? We have the ammunition here, we're going to blow them up So, the munitions that we're going to detonate, they arrive by truck. That's also where you realize volume. The number of US dollars drawn is in billions, and then during the first 4 years, we have billions. And these ones are smaller and these ones are bigger. These are what are
classically called trench bombs. They are recognizable by their fins. Then there were the artillery munitions, whether French or German. Fired by cannons. I fired from cannons at varying distances and of different calibers. And ammunition like that always contains powder. There's always a risk that it could explode. Yes, yes, yes, absolutely. If we go back to the other destruction point, on the side, there is a munition that did not work following the destruction attempt we made and we can see the exposed explosive and it can be dangerous.
Hence the need to remove them and blow them up to prevent children from playing with them and blowing them up Exactly. And to proceed with the destruction, afterwards we will put anti-tank mines on it which are decommissioned from the army and which will allow us, thanks to the detonating cord, to send them back to the surface outside the hole and make the whole thing work. The mines are delivered like this. They are discharged from the army. They are very old. How old are these mines? It dates from the 1960s. It has been decommissioned; the army no longer uses it. So serves as a priming explosive for our destruction.
Is that one mine or three mines? From two mines. One mine and another mine. This is the packaging to separate them. Oh dear, [laughs] it mustn't fall. No, ammunition found like that is just as dangerous as grenades with the pin pulled. That's because in an auus, there are a whole bunch of safety features that are put in place when they are manufactured so that they don't explode while being handled or transported. But once they have been fired, the safety mechanisms are disabled and once it has been fired, there is a reason why it does not explode. But what is certain is that the security features it had inside have been erased. And so, we have a munition that is just as dangerous as if we had a cut-up grenade. It's
really very dangerous. People who go to find ammunition, you absolutely must not touch them. The real message we're going to get across is that these munitions are cutting grenades. The accidents we had during the move that killed bomb disposal experts were generally handling accidents. Gill, we're a few minutes before the explosion. What are we going to do with these anti-tank mines? These anti-tank mines are used to trigger an explosion near the munitions we have recovered. So to create this, we create a pyrotechnic chain that will start from the anti-charge mine. Inside, a little bit of explosive is put. So this is an explosive
that actually helps to strengthen the explosion. Then, to send the explosion to the surface, we have paint in this yellow tube. That's explosive cord. It contains explosives. It's explosive. Using a cork, the whole thing is screwed together to cause the explosion. Next, we will attach a detonator to the end. The miners believe that the war is never over. That is to say, all those munitions that were fired but did not explode, all those munitions that were produced but not fired, they remained after the war, after the first, after the second, they are still in
the ground. We still have 600 to 700 years of work ahead of us to finish the cleanup. For the miners, the war is not over. It didn't stop at the armistice. It continues, it continues even today, and it still kills people. War leaves traces that are very difficult to erase. We saw it this morning on the mission we did, but that's every day. It is estimated that 1 billion shells were fired during the First World War. 1 billion. Approximately 20% of the shells did not explode. The war industry was producing approximately 200,000 shells per day at the end of the First World War. And here, I'm only talking about conventional shells with explosives, and we're adding to that everything that involved chemical shells. We probably have
several hundred million chemical shells that were produced, a huge amount that were fired, and roughly the same volume that did not explode. So we also have conventional shells like this in the ground, but also many toxic shells that are just as dangerous now as they were back then. Why are the deminers putting sand there? So, we placed the mines in a way that was suitable for explosion. There, we realize that in fact, we put a mine on each one and it is hit by a mine. So the shock will cause the explosion. And to prevent it from moving during transport near the hole, we pack it with sand and then when it's at the bottom of the hole, we'll have the optimum effect we wanted for destruction. Perhaps you'd like to put some
sand in the crate? Of course, with pleasure. Thank you for your suggestion. OK. Okay, so OK, we need to cover everything. Yeah, yeah, yes, yes, yes. You found the right plan, you lazy bum. Go on, and push it down. [laughs] Thank you. My pleasure. Thank you. And we mostly talk about the First World War, but were there shells and the Second World War that did n't explode? So, there were fewer battles for the First World War because there were not many artillery battles on national soil. At the beginning and then at the end of the war for liberation, there were many bombings in the areas that were involved in the
Normandy landings, but also on the Atlantic coast. Quite a few aerial bombs. So here we have very, very large bombs, therefore a huge amount of explosives. We also have a whole bunch of sites that were destroyed by Allied bombing, so American and British. But in fact, we're going to find these bombs all over the country. We had a sequence in Paris last year where a bomb was discovered at a construction site next to the northern war zone. That was exactly it because there were bombings north of Paris at that time to neutralize Germany's ability to send trains in an orderly fashion. So, with the clamp, it will hook the crate and then lower it to the bottom.
Wow, that's crazy. It's a heck of a job. So these are the most sensitive phases where if we have a problem, well the munitions will drop from 5 6 m and there it is between shock so major risk. Wow! Oh dear! Impressive! It's because we realize the power of explosives because they need to be placed deep down, and earth needs to be put back on top. Yes, that's it. Yes. Yeah. All this to limit the projection of fragments and then destroy them, confine them as much as possible to obtain a global explosion of the whole. This is what is called the constitution of a furnace. The palette, it's cracked a little there.
Yes. Yes, those are the dangerous phases. Yeah. You can only fit a maximum of two crates. That's it. So. Maximum two crates. Gill, did you want to show me something? Yes, a munition that did not explode. In fact, we try to detonate the munition but sometimes the explosive has stabilized and we find munitions that are partially open. OK. So. It didn't explode. We can see that it has suffered deformation of the dec but it did not start. OK. So, what is it?
Actually, that's a very sensitive issue. It can be very sensitive and we'll put it back into destruction. We'll put it back in another pallet and there we go again Do we know the number of victims linked to these people who find bombs? We don't necessarily have that number. We are the number of deminers who have been killed in operations. More than 620 deminers have been killed since the creation of demining. We have injuries regularly every year, whether from accidents related to explosions, handling, or other incidents. There was a civilian death quite recently, someone who tried to tinker with an obedience unit. So that still exists. We must have several deaths per year on these issues, after all Seb, are you feeling well?
Tibo Seb, you are a bomb disposal expert. How does one become a miner? You come to the centers to present yourself, you take the pre-selection tests and it lasts about a week. After the selection process, there is an interview in Paris with the demining management and then we go on to training which lasts 17 weeks. It's a course where we work on historical munitions and on everything related to threats, attacks and terrorism. Why is it important that bomb disposal experts have their faces covered? We are classified as defense secret, we transport explosives, so we must preserve anonymity for the security of the service and also for the safety of our loved ones and our families.
Why did you want to become a miner? So I was Chinese before putting a dog in the police, working as an explosives dog, so that's how I learned about bomb disposal and I was quite interested because of my childhood, I was in the woods when I was a kid, I picked mushrooms but I saw shells along the trees so that got me started from a very young age. Of course, of course. OK, that's it, Gill. So we put the soil back on top. This is to limit the effects of the explosion of shard projections and to contain the effects to the same place as much as possible. Well, we'll put more soil on top of it. We are going to create what is called a containment dome to prevent projections.
That's a lot of work, isn't it, to blow up two crates? That's huge. And that's a micro-fraction of what was achieved during the 4 years of the conflict. And that's 5, 6, 10 hours of work to destroy 400 kg in total. It's insignificant compared to everything that was shot, and you really have to put it in perspective with the abomination that was the First World War. All of this involves explosions, gas, and people in trenches. This was an abomination and it continues to this day with the work of bomb disposal experts So, you explained that to me, that's the most dangerous thing.
Instant ignition, 0-second start. Here, at the base, we have a pair of ignitions and at this level, we have 1 g of primary explosive which will therefore be triggered via the detonator in a little while. So now we're going to proceed with the priming. The bomb disposal expert is at the bottom. So, here we go. will connect the detonator. We can't film for security reasons. So Gill, what happens now? So now we're going to proceed with the ignition. So the explosion, everything is primed, the detonators are in place and now we will proceed to the firing station, to the priming, to the firing. So the yellow cables we saw over there, hey presto, they come here. That's it. So that's it. Up there, it was detonating cord, so we have an
electrical line that starts from here which will give an electrical impulse to the ignition bead in the detonator. After that, it will initiate the detonating body and extend the well with the obstacles. So, we proceed in the following way. We are now connecting the detonator to the line. We charge the dynamo. Oh yeah! We make sure everyone is there, we see without security that there is no one left on the field. We count down, press the button and off we go. Chief of the miners, that's good. So be careful with a countdown shot of 3 2 1. Ah yeah, we really felt the Yeah. The ground is impressive. Wow! Despite all the soil we put on it, we could feel the vibrations. We saw the fireball that came out. That's impressive. Wow Caution before firing.
We count them from 3 to 2 to 1. That's great. Ah, that shook the earth. Wow! OK, now we're going to go see the creator, see what it looks like. Let's go! Damn, it smells amazing! It smells like. What does it smell like? It smells like fire. It smells like gunpowder. So, is that a nice hole, that Gile there? It's a magnificent hole. Oh my goodness, it's perfect. It looks like a Volcur. We can see that it is indeed circular and for us, it is an explosion that is controlled, that is perfect. Wow! I hope you enjoyed the video. To discover another video about an extreme profession, just click below.
We'll see each other very soon. Take care of yourself, love and protein. Ciao!
