Bombs Linger Decades After a War Is Over-- Part 3: The Civil War and World War I

Explosives often aren't still potent a century and a half after they were made, but not always.

Union and Confederate forces lobbed an estimated 1.5 million artillery shells and cannonballs at one another during the war. and as many as 20% failed to detonate.  Some still pose a threat.

In small farming towns in France and Belgium, undetonated World War I shells turn up during each year's spring planting and autumn harvest.  This is referred to as the "Iron Harvest."

According to BBC, more than a billion shells were fired during this war and as many as a third failed to explode.  In 1996, the French Interior Ministry estimated that there  were at least 12 million shells still posing a danger near Verdun (site of major battles) alone.

And, of course, there are those World War II shells and bombs as France was a major scene of fighting again.

Since 1946 when France's Department du Deminage was established, more than 630 demineurs (de-miners) have been killed in the line of duty.

--GreGen