SUSTAINABILITY

FEATURES
Unexploded Ordnance on the MOD
estate 75 years of Royal Engineers
Bomb Disposal
explosive ordnance hazard in a defined
area. It combines systematic search
techniques and EOD specialist skills,
and can be carried out periodically to
provide duty of care, or in response
to a specific request or requirement.
Consequently, the BAC teams were
formally recognised as an integral
part of the Regiment and evolved into
the aptly titled Explosive Ordnance
Clearance Group (EOC Gp).
Historic photograph of Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) activities from WWII © Central Press
Following the outbreak of World War II,
the German Luftwaffe’s bombs fell
across the UK, often in vast quantities
with a number failing to function as
intended. Authority was given in May
1940 to establish the first Bomb
Disposal formation, to counter the
threat of unexploded ordnance
detonating and killing people or
damaging property and services.
By the end of June that year twenty five
Royal Engineer Bomb Disposal (RE BD)
sections had formed. Initially business
had been slow but as the German
bombing campaign grew another 109
RE BD sections were authorised. On 29th
August 1940 the Luftwaffe started its
offensive on London and the sections
began working to, or beyond maximum
capacity. In the 287 days between 21st
September 1940 and 5th July 1941, some
24,108 bombs were made safe and
removed by these brave men, who by
1945 statistically had a life expectancy of
just 16 weeks. Following the end of WWII
a large number of displaced personnel
volunteered to work in the UK’s first
Bat tle Area Clearance (BAC) teams.
Their job primarily was to clear land
which had been used as ranges for
live ordnance training during the war,
but some found themselves clearing
the many sea defences from coastal
beaches around the UK.
In 1973, following a number of
command changes, HQ Bomb
Disposal Unit RE was re-designated
as 33 Engineer Regiment (EOD). It was
rapidly recognised that one niche
area of the Regiment was the BAC
teams conducting explosive ordnance
clearance (EOC). EOC is a deliberate
activity to reduce or eliminate the
Explosive Ordnance Searchers from the EOC Gp working in the field © Crown
Sevent y-five years on from the
formation of the first RE BD sec tion,
the EOC Gp currently consists of a
HQ element and four sec tions, each
comprising of t wo RE BD personnel
and 17 civilian E xplosive Ordnance
Searchers, capable of carr ying
out a full clearance of all areas
they have been tasked to search.
Although sec tions are t ypically
recruited regionally and assigned
to their regional areas of the United
Kingdom, they are able to deploy
any where in the UK or on overseas
task s in suppor t of a multitude of
organisations; recent task s have seen
EOC Gp suppor t requests from the
Forestr y Commission, the National
Trust, the Welsh Assembly and
Defence Infrastructure Organisation
(DIO). The EOC Gp of ten finds itself
on task s suppor ting DIO, although
the group remains ready to conduc t
any other task s it is ordered to
complete by 8 Engineer Brigade.
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Sanctuary 44 • 2015