Definition of "smithereens"
(originally Ireland, informal) Fragments or splintered pieces; numerous tiny disconnected items.
Quotations
However, something once happened on the railway there which showed the very best of mankind: heroism, duty, self-sacrifice and calm professionalism under terrible pressure. It is a story which gives us far, far better reasons for remembering this attractive little town, which without these heroes would have been blown to smithereens in a gigantic explosion. (Two railwaymen lost their lives in 1944 when a wagon in an ammunition train caught fire and blew up, an even worse disaster was averted however.)
2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 42