Dried up Vosges pond reveals heat-ignited WWII phosphorus grenade

A Vosges pond dried up by successive summer heat waves revealed a phosphorous grenade from the Second World War which was ignited by the heat, we learned from the gendarmerie on Friday.

Firefighters intervened on Tuesday shortly after 4 p.m. in the town of Ramonchamp, in the Vosges, after the discovery of a “cylindrical metal object” which gave off “white and irritating smoke”, the gendarmerie told AFP, confirming information from the newspaper Vosges Matin.

The device is an M15 type phosphorus grenade submerged in a pond and which found itself in the open air due to drought and the drop in the level of the pond.

“The heat would have primed the shell”

When they arrived, the firefighters saw “a few small flames” coming out, specifies the same source. “The heat would have primed the shell.”

A security perimeter was immediately set up and the deminers intervened to destroy the shell in a quarry in the town. There were “no incidents or injuries”, according to the gendarmerie.

Weather conditions cause the rivers, lakes and ponds of the Vosges to gradually dry up. Between August 10 and 13, the authorities recorded three interventions for the discovery of military devices emerging from bodies of water.

The gendarmerie reminds that in the event of discoveries of this type, you must “not touch the object” and notify the town hall or the gendarmerie.