Le groupe de plongeurs démineurs de la Manche s’assure de la bonne neutralisation de la mine avant son renflouement
Photo : Préfecture de la Manche
August 18, 2018: A German mine in the nets of a trawler off Grandcamp-Maisy
Author: Aurélie Misery
Source: France 3
It was around 2:30 a.m. this Friday morning that the Maritime Operations Center of the Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and North Sea was alerted by the CROSS in Jobourg that the trawler « Le Retour, » then in a fishing zone 2 nautical miles (4 km) from Grandcamp-Maisy (14), had trawled a German mine dating from the Second World War.
The Channel Mine Clearance Divers Group immediately intervened to safely refloat the historic device.
The munition, a Bomb Minum 1000, contains an explosive charge of approximately 860 kg. According to the press release from the Maritime Prefecture, « although dating from the Second World War, it still represents a danger: a simple movement, particularly with the trawler, can be enough to strike its primer and ignite the warhead it contains. »
At 4:55 a.m., the French Navy’s Caïman helicopter stationed at Maupertus in the English Channel, took on board five GPD Manche personnel from the Cherbourg military base, who will be winched aboard the trawler at 5:30 a.m. The trawler’s crew was evacuated and placed at a safe distance by a boat from the Grandcamp-Maisy SNSM station. The munitions were then put back in the water for a counter-mining operation next week.
Comment (Marc Laurenceau)
This mine was a Luftmine B (LMB) model of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force), known to the British as the « British Mine Disposal Service » (or « G-mine »).
Equipped with a Bakelite tail, this one-ton mine was dropped by aircraft and exploded on impact. With a total length of 270 cm, it measured approximately 70 cm in diameter.
The Luftwaffe had organized a night raid off the coast of Grandcamp-Maisy, a few weeks after the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944. The objective was to drop one-ton underwater mines at sea to strike the Allied armada. Some of these munitions, having been dropped too early by German bombers, had crashed against the remains of Pointe du Hoc in Cricqueville-en-Bessin, causing several of the battery’s casemates to collapse. In these bunkers were German prisoners, tasked with clearing mines in the area… The Luftmine B found at sea on August 17 could be one of the mines dropped during this air raid.
German mine models. The one found corresponds to the model on the right, Luftmine B, weighing 1000 kg and named « Monika. »
Photo : DR
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