Koblenz Germany To Evacuate 45,000 After WWII Bomb Discovered in Rhine River

The discovery of a 1.8 ton World War II era bomb in the German city of Koblenz has caused officials to call for the evacuation of around 45,000 residents -- nearly half of the city's total population of 106,000 -- while emergency crews work to defuse the British aerial mine.

The mandatory evacuation, which includes two hospitals, seven elderly care homes and a local prison, is the largest in a German city since the end of the war, according to Der Spiegel.

The bomb was found in the Rhine River after an unusually dry fall caused water levels to decline, and officials expect to find more unexploded bombs in the coming days.

Finding World War II munitions is not uncommon in the area, according to The National, which wrote today that an "estimated 2,000 tonnes of American and British aerial bombs and other munitions are still found every year."

The bomb is currently covered by about 16 inches of water and a bomb disposal team will be building a levee around the area in order to safely defuse it.

Manfred Morschhauser of the Koblenz Fire Department told German news outlet The Local that residents are taking the large-scale evacuation in stride.

"People are very relaxed about it, even though it’s nearly half the city’s population who will have to move," Morschhauser said. "Many have left their houses before in smaller evacuations for other bombs. We have found 29 bombs here in the last 12 years."

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified The National as a German newspaper.

Comments

[Charles Queen]

06:34 PM on 12/04/2011

Having lived in Germany for almost 8 years straight whil working for a government agency I have been to Koblenz and the surrounding area many times.Nice places lots of small villages etc.I remembering every so often A farmer would get blown up and or crippled from hitting a WW@ bomb while plowing a field.There's still lots of them out there,thats no lie.Many germanmilitary installtions and public places have underground work places where the german military would make bombs,weapons etc.They were flodded a long time ago but never have been investigated because the majority of them were booby trapped and remain that way tody.Stuutgaurt internation sits on a huge underground facility where they actually made war planes and could rol the right out there and start flying them>it to was flooded and was also boby trapped.They won't go into any of them because of this and it being extremely dangerous becuse they have no idea as to how they were booby rappedn and all,very interesting stuff needles to say

[NYnotLiberal]

05:54 PM on 12/04/2011

Somebody told me that there's an area in Normandy (near the D-Day beaches) that they're afraid to use lawn mowers because of unexploded ordinance left over. Supposedly they use sheep or goats to keep the grass trimmed. Anybody else heard of this, or is this just one of those wive tails?

[Fremon]

04:16 PM on 12/04/2011

About 1972, I was on my first trip to Europe and was 30. I was taking the train from Luxembourg to Vienna. I transferred trains in Koblenz. My stay was only a few hours and after checking my suitcase. I went for a stroll in the train station area. I found a working man's bar and had a few bratwursts and beers. The local or those drinking kind of sized me up after I had to order in English. Wonderful people curious about America. I stayed for about 45 minutes and walked down a street when I saw another bar but this time it was more like a club. I stopped in as there was music playing and started talking to a few of the young ladies. At that time many did not speak english as well as they do today. It was fun as I had a few dances and went on my way. I always remember the city fondly and I am glad this bomb issue was resolved well.

[MolliBlum]

12:23 PM on 12/04/2011

They did it!
The bombs have been safely defused.
But just to remind ourselves of how dangerous their jobs are -- a thought for the three killed and six injured defusing a WW2 bomb in Goettingen last summer:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/02/germany-bomb-war-kills-three

[ElCojonuo]

10:10 AM on 12/04/2011

Pobrecitos, they found an unexploded bomb in one of their cities.
I wonder how many of THEIR unexploded bombs remain in Poland, Ukraine, Russia, etc. ?

[KK2500]

10:10 AM on 12/04/2011

All because Germany re-took half of Poland. Originally German administered land for 200 years. The Polish leaders were threatening Germany with invasion - Poland had Tanks and fighter planes. All thanks to England. Polish dictators, “We have a guarantee!”

USA/Allies, “Must destroy National Socialism! And those zero interest loans and Grants! How dare you treat our beloved Banks that way!”

USA - Economic Man - “Me first, You last!” Germany under Adolf Hitler - “No! We are Spiritual Warriors. The common interest before self!” (You first, Me last).

Supposedly, the USA/England/Stalin were the good guys. Today, we are just fat sheep. - Pay your Income Taxes or else!

We are “Blocks of Shares” as Adolf Hitler phrased it.

[Fremon]

04:09 PM on 12/04/2011

And, after a lovely rant, what is your point?

[MolliBlum]

09:12 AM on 12/04/2011

According to the Rhein-Zeitung live-ticker, work on defusing the bomb (as well as another smaller one) began at 13.20 local time.

http://www.rhein-zeitung.de/regionales_artikel,-Die-heisse-Phase-hat-begonnen-Die-Bombe-in-Koblenz-wird-entschaerft-_arid,346709_arpage,2.html#articletop

[dresdengirl]

09:38 AM on 12/04/2011

Thanks for the link.

[sabelmouse]

11:34 AM on 12/04/2011

i have just been watching videos there about the ghost town feeling. it seems to be over, sadly the live stream isn't working for me.

[lenuk]

06:11 AM on 12/04/2011

This seems to be a 1.8 ton bomb.

It would be quite a small explosion compared with the one that will occur when/if the American munitions ship, the SS Robert Montgomery, blows up.

It's sitting in the Thames estuary, just 2 miles off shore -- and contains 1,400-1,500 tons of bombs.

[MolliBlum]

09:04 AM on 12/04/2011

I'd never heard of that, lenuk. Thanks for drawing attention to it. There's a lot of detail here about the ordinance aboard, and some excellent links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Richard_Montgomery

The article states:

"One of the reasons why the explosives have not been removed was the unfortunate outcome of a similar operation in July 1967 to neutralize the contents of the Kielce, a ship of Polish origin, sunk in 1946 off Folkestone in the English Channel. During preliminary work the Kielce, containing a comparable amount of ordnance, exploded with force equivalent to an earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale, digging a 20-foot (6 m) deep crater in the seabed and bringing "panic and chaos" to Folkestone, although no injuries"

[Paolo Caruso]

09:29 AM on 12/03/2011

Yes, the British and Americans loved to drop those big ones on civilians from 20,000 feet in the air. They still do.

[Fein]

08:37 AM on 12/03/2011

The U.S. dropped over 90% of ALL the bombs dropped in the 20th Century.

This fact will certainly be part of our epitaph.

[grant06]

11:43 AM on 12/03/2011

And that has absolutely nothing to do with this article. If you had bother to read it, you would have found the bomb is British.

[jdl51]

12:40 PM on 12/03/2011

Yeah, don't start wars with the U.S.

[Holly Smoke]

02:26 AM on 12/03/2011

Some of the HP moderator use to work for the KGB

[Satirist1]

01:34 PM on 12/02/2011

I would comment, but the chances of it being posted are rather slim.

[srynmichael2]

12:48 PM on 12/02/2011

Let me guess, it's Bush's fault.

[empress trudy]

12:11 PM on 12/03/2011

Nope. The Jews. Come on, we write the script the least you could do is read it repeat it mindlessly.

[srynmichael2]

12:46 PM on 12/03/2011

Like liberals.

[NYnotLiberal]

06:00 PM on 12/04/2011

Heh heh...witty retort of the day!

[flying hawk]

12:28 PM on 12/02/2011

It' still lost

[flying hawk]

11:54 AM on 12/02/2011

H/P if want us to post comments please post them when they are not calling people names or insulting anyone I sent one about my Experiences in Berlin 1958-1963 only about a Bomb why are you hiding it????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[viper1ex19]

12:38 PM on 12/02/2011

It's ok for them to include the word BOMB in their stories but it's not ok for you to include the word BOMB in your comments.

Lets see if this one gets past their ridiculous screening.