The builder was digging when a sheet of flames shot out of his tipper and exploded – leading to frantic calls to bomb disposal experts.
The specialist team arrived at around 9am on Monday, who, along with police and firefighters, unearthed the vast cache of buried explosives that appear to have been stashed at the site in Eastbourne, East Sussex, in the 1940s.
The grenades were to be used as improvised anti-tank weapons to protect Britain’s shores from invasion following the army’s retreat from Dunkirk in 1940.
Bomb squad technicians loaded the bombs into skips at the development of 120 homes before carrying out controlled explosions at around 4pm.
Eastbourne Police warned residents not to fear the massive blast when all 80 bombs were detonated at the same time.

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