Germany: World War II bomb removal forces mass evacuation in western city | News | DW | 08.04.2018
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Germany: World War II bomb removal forces mass evacuation in western city

A British bomb left over from the Second World War has forced 26,000 people to vacate their homes in the western German city of Paderborn. The bomb is particularly dangerous because it is not deeply buried.

Garden where bomb was found

Bomb disposal specialists on Sunday began work on removing a British bomb dropped on the western German city of Paderborn during World War II, forcing thousands of residents to temporarily leave their residences.
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Dangerous Job - Bomb Disposal Technicians

Buildings within a 1.5-kilometer (0.93-mile) radius of the bomb were to be evacuated, including two hospitals, several homes for the elderly, the university and parts of the historic old town. Emergency shelters have been set up, and more than 1,000 volunteers are helping emergency services organize the evacuation.

The evacuation was to be completed by noon local time (1000 UTC) to enable the disposal work to take place. If all goes to plan, people will be allowed to return to their homes at around 5 p.m. local time.

The bomb, which was found in a garden last month during construction work (above photo), would cause major damage if it were to go off, as it is buried only 80 centimeters (31.5 inches) deep.

Read more: German town lives with lethal legacy of World War II

Ongoing struggle

Unexploded bombs from World War II are still regularly discovered in Germany even more than 70 years after the conflict ended, with US and British air forces estimated to have dropped more than a million tons of bombs on the country between 1940 and 1945 in the fight against the Nazi regime.

In September last year, more than 70,000 people in the financial hub of Frankfurt were forced to leave their homes to allow a particularly large bomb to be disposed of.

Eleven German bomb disposal experts have been killed in the course of their work since 2000.

  • Deutschland - Bombenfunde: Ein Zünder (picture-alliance/dpa/S. Grundmann)

    Unexploded ordnance in Germany - A legacy of the Allied Forces

    What is unexploded ordnance?

    Unexploded ordnance (UXO or sometimes also abbreviated as 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 employed. Unexploded ordnance still poses the risk of detonation; even decades after they were used or discarded.

  • Deutschland - Bomben über Dresden (picture-alliance/Everett Collection)

    Unexploded ordnance in Germany - A legacy of the Allied Forces

    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.

  • Bild des Tages Bombenfunde Berlin (Reuters/H. Hanschke)

    Unexploded ordnance in Germany - A legacy of the Allied Forces

    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.

  • Deutschland - Bombenfund in Augsburg (picture-alliance/dpa/S. Puchner)

    Unexploded ordnance in Germany - A legacy of the Allied Forces

    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.

  • Deutschland - Trauer nach Bombenexplosion in Göttingen (picture-alliance/dpa/U. Zucchi)

    Unexploded ordnance in Germany - A legacy of the Allied Forces

    Have 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 Gottingen in 2010.

  • Bildergalerie Augsburg Über den Dächern von Augsburg (Markus Siefer)

    Unexploded ordnance in Germany - A legacy of the Allied Forces

    Which was the biggest evacuation?

    A 1.8-tonne bomb dropped by Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) was found in the city centre 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.

  • Deutschland Bombenentschärfung in Hannover Evakuierung (Getty Images/A. Koerner)

    Unexploded ordnance in Germany - A legacy of the Allied Forces

    What’s the latest?

    Authorities are conducting another big bomb disposal operation this weekend, with 50,000 residents in the north-western city of Hanover forced to evacuate their homes. Thirteen unexploded ordnances from the 1940s are being removed on Sunday May 7, 2017. 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.

    Author: Aasim Saleem


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