World War II bomb disposal in Europe

The US Army Air Force and Royal Air Force dropped 2.7 million tons of bombs on Europe during World War II.[1] In the United Kingdom, the German Luftwaffe dropped more than 12,000 metric tons of bombs on London alone.[2] The British Ministry of Defence reported that 450 World War II bombs were made safe or defused since 2010 by disposal teams.[3] Every year, an estimated 2,000 tons of World War II munitions are found in Germany, at times requiring the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents from their homes.[1] In Berlin alone, 1.8 million pieces of ordnance have been defused since 1947.[4] Buried bombs, as well as mortars, land mines and grenades, are often found during construction work or other excavations, or by farmers tilling the land.[5]

Technicians inspecting a British bomb unearthed in Koblenz, Germany in 2011

Great Britain

• 1 October 1969: A German parachute mine was defused by a team led by Major George R. Fletcher MBE, Royal Engineers. at Burghley Road, Camden.[6][7]
• 5 March 2010: A 100 pounds (45 kg) unexploded German bomb was found in Southampton and was blown up in a controlled explosion by the Royal Navy.[8]
• 11 August 2015: A 550 pounds (250 kg) German bomb was found and defused by British Army experts in East London.[9]
• 2 March 2017: A 500 pounds (230 kg) German bomb was found and defused by a British Army disposal team in Brent, north-west London.[10]
• 16 May 2017: A 550 pounds (250 kg) German bomb was found at Aston Expressway, near Birmingham, and destroyed by British Army experts with a controlled explosion. Hundreds of homes were evacuated and bussiness were closed, and London Midland rail services suspended.[11] Two buildings were damaged by the blast.[12]
• 14 February 2018: A 500 pounds (230 kg) German bomb, found during works in King George V Dock, near London city airport, was removed from the area and detoned at sea off Shoeburyness, Essex, by British Army experts.[13]
• 24 May 2019: 1,500 houses were evacuated at Kingston-upon-Thames after a German bomb was found and defused by a controlled explosion by a disposal team.[14] The blast shattered windows along Fasset Road.[15]
• 3 February 2020: A number of streets were evacuated in Central London when a 1,100 pounds (500 kg)[16] World War II bomb was found in the district of Soho.[2]

Germany

• June 2010: 7,000 people were evacuated in Göttingen after a 500 kg bomb was found. Three members of the bomb-disposal unit died after the bomb exploded.[17]
• January 2014: a construction worker in Euskirchen was killed and two critically wounded after hitting a buried bomb with an excavator.[18]
• September 2017: a bomb dropped by the US during World War II led to the evacuation of 21,000 people in Koblenz.[19]
• September 2017: 70,000 people had to leave their homes in Frankfurt after a British bomb was discovered.[19]
• April 2018: a 1.8-ton bomb found in Paderborn forced the evacuation of 26,000 people.[20]
• April 2018: 12,000 people were evacuated in Berlin after a bomb was discovered just north of Berlin Hauptbahnhof.[4]
• August 2018: the discovery of a World War II bomb required the evacuation of 18,500 people in Ludwigshafen.[21]
• April 2019: 600 people were evacuated when a bomb was discovered in Frankfurt's River Main. Divers with the city's fire service were participating in a routine training exercise when they found the 250 kg (550 lb) device.[22]
• July 2019: 16,500 people evacuated in Frankfurt when a 500 kg bomb was found during construction.[23]
• October 2020: 10,000 office workers were evacuated, along with 15 residents in Cologne, Berlin when a 500 kg World War II bomb was discovered.
• January 2021: Over 8,000 people were evacuated in Göttingen after the discovery of four World War II bombs were discovered in the city centre.[24]

Italy

• March 2018: 23,000 people were evacuated in Fano after a British-made bomb was discovered.[25]
• July 2018: 12,000 were forced from their homes after a 250 kg bomb was discovered in Terni.[26]
• December 2019: 10,000 evacuated in Turin upon discovering a British 65 kg bomb, Mayor Chiara Appendino reported that the device was defused by the Italian Army.[27]
• December 2019: 54,000 evacuated in Brindisi in a radius of 1,617 m after discovering a bomb.[28][29]

See also

• Unexploded ordnance

References

1. Higginbotham, Adam (January 2016). "There Are Still Thousands of Tons of Unexploded Bombs in Germany, Left Over From World War II". Smithsonian. Archived from the original on 2018-09-24. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
2. Rob Picheta. "Unexploded World War II bomb found in central London prompts evacuations". CNN. Retrieved 2020-11-09.
3. "Unexploded bombs: How common are they?". BBC News. 2018-02-14. Retrieved 2020-11-09.
4. "Thousands Evacuated in Berlin After World War II Bomb Is Found". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2018-08-17. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
5. Landler, Mark. "60 Years Later, Buried Bombs Still Frighten Germans, and Kill Some". Archived from the original on 2017-05-19. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
6. "Parachute Mine Defused in London, October 1969 – Frontline Ulster". Retrieved 2020-11-09.
7. "Major George Fletcher". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2020-11-09.
8. Law, Peter (5 March 2010). "Royal Navy detonated WW2 bomb in Southampton". Daily Echo. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
9. Laura Smith-Spark. "Experts defuse unexploded World War II bomb in London". CNN. Retrieved 2020-11-09.
10. "London neighborhood evacuated after WWII German bomb found". Military Times. Associated Press. 2017-08-08. Retrieved 2020-11-09.
11. "WW2 bomb detonated safely near M6 in Birmingham". BBC News. 2017-05-16. Retrieved 2020-11-29.
12. "Army carry out controlled explosion of 'largest' WWII bomb found on British soil". ITV News. Retrieved 2020-11-29.
13. "WW2 bomb found near London City Airport blown up". BBC News. 2018-02-14. Retrieved 2020-11-09.
14. "Kingston World War Two bomb 'successfully dealt with'". BBC News. 2019-05-24. Retrieved 2020-11-09.
15. "Residents' windows shattered by 'controlled' blast of WW2 bomb". Evening Standard. 2019-05-27. Retrieved 2020-11-09.
16. Ohikere, Onize. "Unexploded WWII bomb found in London". world.wng.org. Retrieved 2020-11-09.
17. "WWII bomb kills three in Germany". BBC News. 2 June 2010. Archived from the original on 2018-01-21. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
18. "WW2 bomb kills German digger driver". BBC News. 2014. Archived from the original on 2017-09-09. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
19. "Koblenz residents move out as World War Two bomb made safe". DW.COM. Archived from the original on 2018-04-09. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
20. "Germany: World War II bomb removal forces mass evacuation in western city". DW.COM. Archived from the original on 2018-09-20. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
21. "World War II bomb defused in Germany after 18,500 evacuated". The Straits Times. 26 August 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-10-20. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
22. "World War Two bomb detonated in Frankfurt river". 2019-04-14. Retrieved 2019-04-14.
23. "US bomb from WWII defused in Germany after mass evacuation". Retrieved 2019-07-08.
24. "Over 8000 people evacuated after discovery of WWII bombs". The Brussels Times. 30 January 2021. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
25. "Mass evacuation in Italy over WW2 bomb". BBC News. 14 March 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-04-01. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
26. Yedroudj, Latifa (26 July 2018). "Italy WW2 bomb THREAT: 12,000 people evacuated after bomb discovered in Terni". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
27. "WW2 bomb defused in Turin after thousands evacuate". BBC News. 2019-12-01. Retrieved 2020-11-09.
28. Tondo, Lorenzo (2019-12-15). "Italy: more than 50,000 evacuated in Brindisi after WW2 bomb found". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-11-09.
29. Reuters Staff (2019-12-15). "Italian city evacuates 54,000 people to defuse WW2 bomb". Reuters. Retrieved 2020-11-09.