Hitler planned to blow up Britain with chocolate

Among the World War Two files declassified by the National Archive today, are details of how Hitler planned to bring Britain to it's knees using exploding bars of chocolate.

The chocolate bar grenade was made of steel with a thin covering of real chocolate. It was activated by breaking off a bit at one end, and the saboteur would then have 7 seconds to get out of the way of the explosion. Details in the National Archives do not however say if the chocolate grenade was actually manufactured or used.

The chocolate grenades were among a whole list of day to day items that were designed to explode, including tins of Smedley's dessert English red plums, tinned peas, throat pastilles, shaving brushes, soap, lumps of coal, pencils and even dead rats stuffed with explosives.

Professor Christopher Andrew, who is writing a history of MI5 said: "German espionage and sabotage of the UK achieved the coveted title of 100 per cent incompetence."