page_title: Bomb disposal
section_title: WWI: Military bomb disposal units
hierarchical_section_title: Bomb disposal / History / WWI: Military bomb disposal units
caption_attribution_description: English: A British NCO prepares to dispose of an unexploded bomb, during the First World War. Français&#160;: Deux officiers anglais surveillant la préparation de la destruction d'un obus non explosé, en 1918
context_page_description: Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. Bomb disposal is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the military fields of explosive ordnance disposal and improvised explosive device disposal, and the public safety roles of public safety bomb disposal and the bomb squad.
context_section_description: Bomb Disposal became a formalized practice in the First World War. The swift mass production of munitions led to many manufacturing defects, and a large proportion of shells fired by both sides were found to be "duds". These were hazardous to attacker and defender alike.  In response, the British dedicated a section of Ordnance Examiners from the Royal Army Ordnance Corps to handle the growing problem.
  In 1918, the Germans developed delayed-action fuzes that would later develop into more sophisticated versions during the 1930s, as Nazi Germany began its secret course of arms development. These tests led to the development of UXBs (unexploded bombs), pioneered by Herbert Ruehlemann of Rheinmetall, and first employed during the Spanish Civil War of 1936–37. Such delayed-action bombs provoked terror in the civilian population because of the uncertainty of time, and also complicated the task of disarming them. The Germans saw that unexploded bombs caused far more chaos and disruption than bombs that exploded immediately. This caused them to increase their usage of delayed-action bombs in World War II.
  Initially there were no specialized tools, training, or core knowledge available, and as Ammunition Technicians learned how to safely neutralize one variant of munition, the enemy would add or change parts to make neutralization efforts more hazardous. This trend of cat-and-mouse extends even to the present day, and the various techniques used to disarm munitions are not publicized.
caption: A British NCO prepares to dispose of an unexploded bomb, during the First World War.
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