Last year, the demining service of the Austrian Armed Forces was deployed 985 times to recover, remove and destroy war relics in Austria. This involved a total of 31,249.67 kilograms of war material of various kinds. For example, the demining specialists rendered harmless 7.3 tons of infantry ammunition, 312 hand grenades, 16 bazookas and 37 aerial bombs.
“By destroying war relics, the demining experts of the Austrian Armed Forces are making Austria a little safer every day. The probability of finding war relics in Austria is still very high, even after the end of the First and Second World Wars. I would like to thank all the specialists in the demining service for their challenging work. They are available around the clock to eliminate dangers before people come to harm,” said Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner. The demining service’s areas of operation were also diverse last year: lakes and rivers were just as much a part of it as forest areas, cities and alpine terrain. The demining service’s diving team recovered around 6.5 tons of war materials from bodies of water. In high alpine terrain – particularly in the Austrian-Italian region – the experts from the alpine group recovered 106 kilograms of ammunition from the First World War. First World War. All finds were rendered harmless and transported away. The demining service destroyed 14.4 tons of the recovered war material by detonation at blasting sites belonging to the Austrian Armed Forces. Around 8.3 tons of infantry ammunition were annealed in a special furnace and the resulting ammunition scrap was recycled. Around 9.4 tons of war scrap were taken directly for final disposal. https://militaeraktuell.at/stockerau-grundwehrdiener-helfen-mann-in-notsituation/ A particular challenge for the specialists was that they came across a total of 30 pieces of ammunition that were not safe to handle and could not be transported safely. These parts had to be destroyed by blasting on site, i.e. outside the army’s blasting sites. This was even necessary several times in towns and villages. In the process, 259.80 kilograms of war material was rendered harmless. The deployment density was highest in Lower Austria in 2022. There, 12.5 tons of war material were removed in 485 operations. This was followed by Styria with 2.9 tons in 115 operations, followed by Upper Austria with around 1.9 tons in 109 operations. In Burgenland, around 920 kilograms were rendered harmless in 85 operations, followed by Vienna with 3.5 tons in 67 operations. In Carinthia, the demining service removed 7.2 tons in 62 operations, in Tyrol one ton in 26 operations and in Salzburg over 550 kilograms in 25 operations. Vorarlberg brought up the rear with eleven missions and 131 kilograms of recovered war material.
