Cherbourg, sinking of the “La Fidèle”
The sinking of “La Fidèle” in the Cape Lévi trough, mentioned on nautical charts as an underwater explosive ordnance depot, illustrates the growing dangers of storing, dismantling and disposing of remnants of war or obsolete munitions.
On land, the storage of engines of war is precarious. At Vimy, near Arras in the Pas-de-Calais, the 500-tonne depot of engines of war collected in the region challenges safety regulations. It is open to all kinds of raids through the gaps in the wire fence.