Last Wednesday June 5, a world war two unexploded shell was found on a path running across the fields by Pett Level Road. Sussex Police closed the road and the Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team was called out.
The shell was found on a path by a worker repairing a fence who thought it was a metal pipe. When pulled out, what was thought to be a pipe was actually found to be a bomb. Local farmer, Frank Langrish, was on the scene and saw the bomb disposal unit in action. "It was about two feet long. Two bomb disposal men carried it across the field to a ditch. They dug a hole in the bank, put the shell in and set an explosive to destroy it. There was quite a loud bang and it left a circular hole about three feet across.”
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “The item found, a 120mm high-explosive squash head practice round, was safely disposed of in situ.”
High-explosive squash head (HESH) shells were developed in the 1940s as “wallbusters” for use against concrete fortifications and were also effective against tanks.
During world war two Camber, Winchelsea Beach and Pett Level were heavily fortified, the local population evacuated and parts of the sea wall blown up to flood fields at Pett Level.
Anyone who discovers what looks like an explosive device should not move it but move to safety and call the police.
