Construction workers discovered 36 bombs in the German town of Neutraubling over a 3-day period. Bomb disposal experts were drafted in to decide which explosives were harmless and which were still live.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Auer
Advertisement
While planning the construction of a new industrial park in the district of Regensburg, experts and construction workers came across the last 12 specimens of a series of World War II bombs they had found in a matter of days.
All of the unexploded bombs were still functional. Local police said that evacuations were not necessary before because there is nothing to evacuate around the site.
Experts defused or blew up 12 of the 36 bombs from on Friday, each weighing ten kilograms. Twenty-four others were already made harmless on Wednesday and Thursday.
One of the explosives was a 500-kilogram bomb uncovered on a construction site in the city center and the others compromised of splinter bombs.
Neutraubling suffered multiple air raids during World War II due to the presence of the Messerschmitt aircraft manufacturing facility at the time. For this reason, bomb disposal experts continue to frequent the area today.
Fifteen bombs a day is a "one-time event" for a town like Neutraubling, police reassured.
However, Thomas Rolz, head of the Neutraubling police, told German media PNP that "in and around Neutraubling, you will always find something" because of the town's history.
"During the war, Neutraubling was bombed several times," he said.
Unexploded ordnance in Germany - a legacy of the Allied Forces
Over 50,000 people were evacuated from the northern city of Hanover in May 2017, so that bombs from World War II could be defused. Even 72 years after the war ended, unexploded bombs are still found across the country.
Image: picture-alliance/AP/U.S. Strategic Air Forces
What is unexploded ordnance?
Unexploded ordnance (UXO or sometimes also abbreviated to UO), unexploded bombs (UXBs), or explosive remnants of war (ERW) are explosive weapons such as bombs, shells, grenades, land mines, naval mines and cluster munitions that did not explode when they were deployed. Unexploded ordnance still poses the risk of detonation, even decades after they were used or discarded.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Grundmann
Why does Germany have a bomb problem?
Between 1940 and 1945, US and British forces dropped 2.7 million tons of bombs on Europe. Half of those bombs targeted Germany. Experts estimate that close to a quarter of a million bombs did not explode due to technical faults. Thousands of these bombs are still hidden underground, sometimes a few meters down and sometimes just below the surface.
Image: picture-alliance/Everett Collection
How big is the issue?
The industrial Ruhr area and the Lower Rhine region were heavily bombed, as were the cities of Dresden, Hamburg and Hanover. So this is where most of the unexploded ordnance is found. Bombs are usually unearthed during construction work or are discovered during the examination of historical aerial images. Experts say it could still take decades to clear all of the remaining unexploded ordnance.
Image: Reuters/H. Hanschke
What happens when an unexploded bomb is found?
When confronted with the discovery of an UXO, UO or a UXB, bomb disposal experts have to decide whether to defuse it or to carry out a controlled explosion. Many have lost their lives on the job. German authorities are under pressure to remove unexploded ordnance from populated areas. Experts argue that the bombs are becoming more dangerous as time goes by due to material fatigue.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Puchner
How many bomb disposal experts have died?
Eleven bomb technicians have been killed in Germany since 2000, including three who died in a single explosion while trying to defuse a 1,000-pound bomb on the site of a popular flea market in Göttingen in 2010.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/U. Zucchi
Which was the biggest evacuation?
A 1.8-ton bomb dropped by Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) was found in the city center of Augsburg on December 20, 2016. The find prompted a large-scale bomb disposal operation and consequently the evacuation of over 54,000 people on December 25. To date, this remains the biggest evacuation for the removal of World War II unexploded ordnance in Germany.
Image: Markus Siefer
What’s the latest?
Authorities conducted another big bomb disposal operation in May 2017, with 50,000 residents in the northwestern city of Hanover forced to evacuate their homes. Thirteen unexploded ordnances from the 1940s were removed. Hanover was a frequent target of Allied bombing in the latter years of the war. On October 9, 1943, some 261,000 bombs were dropped on the city.
Image: Getty Images/A. Koerner
7 images1 | 7
'Not surprised'
On Friday, the remaining 12 bombs were placed together to be blown up. At first, Rolz said there was a small "misfire" and only half of the bombs exploded. A special demolition squad made some readjustments and the remaining explosive devices were defused.
Michael Weiss, a state bomb disposal expert, said he was not surprised at the number of 10-kilogram fragment bombs discovered in the area. Fragmentation bombs were used to damage aircraft awaiting takeoff.
