Editing Bomb disposal (section)

===WWII: Modern techniques===
[[File:Bomb disposal 1940.jpg|thumb|left|A bomb disposal team in 1940]]

Modern EOD technicians across the world can trace their heritage to [[the Blitz]], when the United Kingdom's cities were subjected to extensive bombing raids by [[Nazi Germany]]. In addition to conventional [[airstrike|air raids]], [[unexploded ordnance|unexploded bombs]] (UXBs) took their toll on population and morale, paralyzing vital services and communications. Bombs fitted with delayed-action [[fuze]]s provoked fear and uncertainty in the civilian population.

The first UXBs were encountered in the autumn of 1939 before the Blitz and were for the most part easily dealt with, mostly by [[Royal Air Force]] or [[Air Raid Precautions]] personnel. In the spring of 1940, when the [[Phony War]] ended, the British realized that they were going to need professionals in numbers to deal with the coming problem. 25 sections were authorized for the Royal Engineers in May 1940, another 109 in June, and 220 by August. Organization was needed, and as the Blitz began, 25 "Bomb Disposal Companies" were created between August 1940 and January 1941. Each company had ten sections, each section having a bomb disposal officer and 14 other ranks to assist. Six companies were deployed in London by January 1941.

The problem of UXBs was further complicated when Royal Engineer bomb disposal personnel began to encounter munitions fitted with [[anti-handling device]]s e.g. the [[Luftwaffe]]'s ZUS40 [[Anti-handling device|anti-removal]] bomb [[fuze]] of 1940. Bomb fuzes incorporating anti-handling devices were specifically designed to kill bomb disposal personnel. Scientists and technical staff responded by devising methods and equipment to render them safe, including the work of [[Eric Moxey]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205049825 |title=The Work of RAF Bomb Disposal Squads in the UK and Germany During the Second World War }}</ref>

The [[United States War Department]] felt the British bomb disposal experience could be a valuable asset, based on reports from [[United States Army|U.S. Army]], [[United States Navy|Navy]], and [[United States Marine Corps|Marine Corps]] observers at [[RAF Melksham]] in Wiltshire, England in 1940. The next year, the [[Office of Civilian Defense]] (OCD) and War Department both sponsored a bomb disposal program. After the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]], the British sent instructors to [[Aberdeen Proving Ground]], where the U.S. Army would inaugurate a formal bomb disposal school under the [[United States Army Ordnance Corps|Ordnance Corps]]. Colonel Thomas J. Kane became the U.S. Army Ordnance Bomb Disposal School commandant, and later served as ETO Director of Bomb Disposal under [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]].<ref>Leatherwood, Jeffrey M.; (2012) ''Nine From Aberdeen: U.S. Army Ordnance Bomb Disposal in World War II'', Cambridge Scholars Publishing, {{ISBN|978-1-4438-3786-6}}</ref> In May 1941, British colleagues helped establish the Naval Mine Disposal School at the [[Washington Navy Yard|Naval Gun Factory]], [[Washington, D.C.]] Concurrently, the U.S. Navy, under the command of Lieutenant [[Draper L. Kauffman]] (who would go on to found the [[Underwater Demolition Team]]s{{spaced ndash}} better known as UDTs or the U.S. Navy Frogmen), created the Naval Bomb Disposal School at University Campus, [[Washington, D.C.]]

The first US Army Bomb Disposal companies were deployed in [[North Africa]] and [[Sicily]], but proved cumbersome and were replaced with mobile seven-man squads in 1943. Wartime errors were rectified in 1947 when Army personnel started attending a new school at [[Indian Head, Maryland]], under U.S. Navy direction. That same year, the forerunner of the EOD Technology Center, the USN Bureau of Naval Weapons, charged with research, development, test, and evaluation of EOD tools, tactics and procedures, was born.