大象传媒

Onions and the Unexploded Bomb
There have been a number of incidents in recent times which involve explosive devices. Quite recently a wartime bomb was discovered on a building site. The Authorities evacuated half the county before action was taken. It was not always so. UXBs as they were known were fairly commonplace. As a rule of thumb, the device was assessed on the basis of two yards per pound. A 250 lb bomb, which was estimated by the size of the hole, required a safety zone of abut 500 yds.

In 1943 or thereabouts, my family lived in Fareham. The outbreak of war had halted all new domestic building. Our house at the time should have faced houses lining the opposite side of the road. The opposite side was not built and although access roads and drains had been completed, the houses were not there. What should have been building plots and gardens were used as allotments for the local residents.

It must have been late summer because the plot of land in question was one vast onion field, divided into individual strips. Onions were as valuable as gold dust and the whole road was anxiously awaiting the time when the ripening process had been completed and the precious crop could be lifted and stored.

It was then that disaster struck. Everyone was advised that a bomb had fallen in the onion field during a raid the previous night and had not exploded. A rather bored ARP man advised that the offending device had been assessed at 250 lbs and an exclusion zone of 500 yds had been set up. No disposal team would be available for several days and all residents must stay away from the windows and only leave the house by the rear entrance.

The principal households concerned held a meeting to determine what was to be done. It so happened that because of the position of certain trees and bushes, the best view of the site of the bomb was to be had from the front bedroom of our house. With the aid of a pair of Zeiss binoculars 6X25 which should have been surrendered to assist the war effort, the scene was examined in detail. A plan was made to rescue the onions. The opinion of my mother and that of the other ladies concerned was that unless some action were to be taken, the whole crop would disappear under army boots and sandbags. No one mentioned theft of the onions, but I am sure this was not discounted.

Observation indicated a few iron rods and some Don 8 signal wire to be the only barrier. During the day two soldiers could be seen sitting behind sandbags on one side of the allotment, but once it became dark they took themselves off to the Red Lion some half a mile away.

Armed with baskets, shopping bags and other containers at least half a dozen ladies including my mother crept out and crossed the wire to retrieve the onions. The whole operation took about an hour and the crop was harvested and brought safely back to the various houses where it was shared and stored.

The two soldiers returned from the Red Lion well after closing time (there must be another story here)and installed themselves behind the sandbag wall. They were quite oblivious to the fact that the field had been cleared.

It was several days later that the Disposal Team dealt with the bomb. This was dragged out and the contents were steamed away. At least four vehicles were seen driving about the area where the onions had been. This was exactly what had been feared and was certainly justification for "Operation Onion" !

There were no repercussions as the Disposal Team had not seen the allotment before the deed was done. It was certain that the two soldiers, who must have noticed what had happened, were not going to mention that they had been down the Pub.

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