UK man finds live World War II grenades in backyard that looked like 'milk bottles': Watch

A report carried by Smithsonian Magazine stated that as many as 10 percent of bombs dropped by Allied fighter aircraft between 1940 and 1945 during WWII had failed to explode. Last week, a gardener working at a property in Bramdean, Hampshire, UK mysteriously dug up live grenades in the backyard, assuming that they were “milk bottles”. They were later confirmed to be undetonated bombs from World War II that had sunk and buried beneath his backyard over decades. "Initially, we didn't realise how significant it was. They looked like milk bottles so we were lifting them out and putting them on the side," James Osborne, who unearthed more than 40 grenades told ITV in a broadcast. A resident also shared a visual on his Twitter handle showing a military bomb disposal team that carried out a safe and controlled explosion of the bombs back in his garden to verify whether the granades on Petersfield Road were “real”. 

"If you live or were travelling through the Bramdean area this evening around 7.40 pm and heard a large explosion let us put your mind at rest,” the locally run wire service Hampshire Constabulary said in an update to the residents.

"It was a military bomb disposal team safely carrying out a controlled explosion on some World War II grenades dug up in a back garden earlier today. In all just over 45 of the phosphorous grenades around the size of a milk bottle were located in the garden on Petersfield Road,” the update read.

Made grenades 'safe', alerted neighbours

In a separate update on Twitter, the Winchester Cops said that the mysterious loud boom was WWII grenade bombs detonated by the officers after a resident dug them up in the backyard. The cops put a cordon at the end of the road prior to verifying the explosives. A bomb disposal team was summoned to the scene to safely dispose of the grenades. In fact, the Hampshire homeowner told ITV that the inmates had noted smoke fuming out when, what they had previously assumed the “milk bottles,” were being excavated. Confused at the incident, Osbourne called police to the scene, additionally requesting for the fire service deployment. When the team arrived, they first made the grenades safe and alerted the neighbourhood. The grenades were eventually carried away by the explosive ordinance disposal team. 

(Image Credit: Twitter/@JanJanbilly)