SHARE
COPY LINK

BOMB

Cologne’s giant bomb successfully defused

Bomb disposal teams have successfully made a 1,000-kilo explosive dropped during the Second World War safe, allowing 20,000 evacuated people to return to their homes.

Cologne's giant bomb successfully defused
The bomb was burrowed deep in the ground. Photo: DPA

Experts from the Kampfmittleräumdienst (war materiel disposal service, KBD) defused the bomb just before 4pm on Wednesday.

KBD master defuser Wolfgang Wolf told the Kölnische Rundschau before the job that the so-called “block smasher” – an American weapon designed to level whole buildings with a high-pressure blast – was the biggest device he had ever worked on.

“Anyone who gets scared wouldn't be right for our job,” he said.

But disposal experts “should have respect for the size of the weapons if they want to grow old in our career. Gamblers or people who want butterflies in their stomach don't belong.”

City officials said that Cologne's largest evacuation of people since the end of the war had gone smoothly.

Roads had been closed around the city and train, ship and air traffic was cancelled.

The evacuations mostly hit the Riehl and Mülheim districts of town.

The inhabitants of a retirement home and a home for disabled people all had to be evacuated, often by ambulance. The schools in the area were closed, as was the zoo.

The bomb was found during work on an underground heating system, five meters below the surface.

“As is so common with these heavy bombs, this one is very deep down,” Dieter Daeneck, who is leading the operation told FAZ.

“Such a big bomb can't simply be taken out. We need to dig a deep and wide hole first.”

Finds of this nature are not uncommon. Last year two unexploded bombs had to be defused in the same Cologne neighbourhood.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

BOMB

WWII bomb found in Frankfurt safely detonated after mass evacuation

A massive World War II bomb found in Germany's financial capital Frankfurt was safely detonated in the early hours of Thursday, the city's fire service said, allowing tens of thousands of evacuated residents to return to their homes.

WWII bomb found in Frankfurt safely detonated after mass evacuation
Experts stand on mountains of sand, which were put in place to soften the force of the explosion of the WWII bomb in Frankfurt's Nordend. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Frank Rumpenhorst

The 500-kilogram unexploded bomb was unearthed during construction work on Wednesday in the densely populated Nordend area of the city, a location firefighters said made it a “particular challenge” to remove.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper reported the ordnance had been discovered right next to a children’s playground at a depth of about two metres (6.5 feet).

READ ALSO: What you need to know about WWII bomb disposals in Germany

Its report said the controlled blast, which happened just after midnight, “sounded like thunder rumbling” and left a hole three metres deep and ten metres wide.

Firefighters said that they had covered the bomb with 40 truckloads of sand before detonating it, in order to minimise damage to the surrounding buildings.

Around 25,000 people had been asked to evacuate the area, including the occupants of a nearby community hospital’s neonatal ward.

Among residents who took shelter at a skating rink was 29-year-old Tobias, carrying his pet cat in a cage.

He said he had heard the news over a police loudspeaker and been ordered to leave his home immediately, causing a “bit of stress”.

Barbara, 77, told AFP the news was “a bit of a shock, we don’t expect that”.

However, building works in Germany regularly unearth unexploded World War II ordnance, 76 years after the conflict’s end.

Seven bombs were defused in 2020 on land near Berlin where Tesla plans to build its first factory in Europe for electric cars.  

READ ALSO: WWII bomb in Frankfurt triggers 30m high water fountain

Other bombs were also discovered last year in Frankfurt, Cologne, and Dortmund.

In Frankfurt, the discovery of a 1.4-tonne bomb in 2017 led to the removal of 65,000 people, the biggest such evacuation in Europe since 1945.

SHOW COMMENTS