13,000 people will be evacuated from their
homes in the German city of Dortmund after
'unexploded Second World War bombs' are found
Daily Mail (UK),
by
Jemma Carr
Original Article
Posted By: ladydawgfan,
1/12/2020 2:06:13 AM
Around 13,000 people will be evacuated from their homes after unexploded World War II bombs were discovered in a German city, authorities believe.
Officials suspect the bombs were dropped on Dortmund by Allied forces during World War II.
The city - in Germany's industrial Ruhr region - is to be brought to a standstill after the evacuation affecting retirement homes, hospitals and the main train station.
In an online statement, Dortmund city hall said they had identified four locations where they suspect the bombs are buried.
The suspicions were based on 'anomalies' detected during construction projects, the statement said.
'Only an excavation' could confirm the existence of bombs, it added.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
caljeepgirl 1/12/2020 2:40:27 AM (No. 285957)
If you ever get a chance to watch the late 70s-early 80s British ITV mini-series 'Danger UXB', don't pass it up. It's fabulous!! About the guys responsible for disarming WWII unexploded bombs all over London....fascinating and really well done!
3 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
DVC 1/12/2020 2:45:09 AM (No. 285958)
Very odd. How did they locate so many at the same time? Strange.
A friend used to work as a EOD officer, defusing unexploded ordinance. He told me a story of when he was stationed in England perhaps 20 years ago, and was actually no longer doing EOD day-to-day (he was a LtCol), but knew the local British EOD folks well. They called him to ask if he wanted to help defuse a 3,000 lb WW2 German bomb found under a playground during a construction dig. He jumped at the chance. I told him that I was very impressed with his bravery but not as much with his intelligence. That was actually a joke, he was a very smart guy, and I told him I was kidding about the intelligence, but not the bravery.
He pointed out something that has stayed with me, he said, "Aw, heck, the damned thing was broken and didn't work back when it was brand new. It was damaged by the impact, and has been corroding for over 50 years. It is a finely made mechanism, the odds of the fuse going off as we remove it is nearly zero."
That actually made some sense to my engineering mind. But I still want to be far away when these brave, even heroic, men dismantle old bombs. Still scares the heck out of me.
Best wishes, brave men. Stay safe.
9 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
caljeepgirl 1/12/2020 2:50:58 AM (No. 285959)
AND, lo and behold, I found the series uploaded online!! Wonder of wonders.....someone personally made the effort to do it....sweet.
https://archive.org/details/DangerUXB
[Note: the episodes are listed a bit out of order, but they're all there.]
3 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Safari Man 1/12/2020 6:29:44 AM (No. 286001)
If Trump is responsible for the downing of the Ukrainian jet, then he's responsible for these bombs too. If you can't figure that out, you're too stupid to understand. So there.
8 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
F15 Gork 1/12/2020 6:53:47 AM (No. 286026)
Dear Deutschland, here’s a news flash - if you have a City that the 8th Air Force leveled during your little Nazi adventure, then I suspect you’ve got lots of unexploded bombs. Enjoy them. They came from the heart.
9 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
worried 1/12/2020 7:42:14 AM (No. 286079)
#2, I was an Aviation Ordnanceman during the Korean War era. We were taught that older explosives could become unstable due to chemical decomposition. It would be possible for something like a little jar to make it explode, never mind the fuse. Unless they have found a way to guarantee a bomb of that era can't go off after corroding in the ground for many years, I wouldn't be as confident as your friend!
3 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Jethro bo 1/12/2020 7:44:59 AM (No. 286082)
Trump to be impeached over this according to Naci Piglosi. Update on the network evening news at 10.
5 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
GO3 1/12/2020 10:37:50 AM (No. 286283)
IIRC, Trump was a bomb group commander during WWII. s/o
1 person likes this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Chuzzles 1/12/2020 11:10:04 AM (No. 286322)
I suspect that various EU nations are going to be finding these for decades to come. The only surprise is that more of them haven't exploded on their own, just from becoming unstable and being near things like heavy trucks and building construction. It is truly a wonder that more of these haven't gone off. 13K is a huge number of people to be evacuated though.
0 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Terry_tr6 1/12/2020 1:37:05 PM (No. 286480)
there was a fascinating story of how a group maps combat reports, post attack photos, and payload records to determine danger areas for unexploded ordinance in germany. the one they showcased was a guy whose house had to be destroyed because of a large btitish bomb they had to detonate, then could not rebuild because they were pretty sure the property held 2 more.Probably similar (or maybe part of The Bomb Hunters series). They are all over london, egypt, the pacific, japan, anyplace there was fighting during WWII or any other conflicts.
1 person likes this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
DVC 1/12/2020 2:40:58 PM (No. 286539)
#6, maybe it was a story that he liked to tell, downplaying his bravery. He was a pretty modest guy, really.
0 people like this.
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Scary thought that these are still around, but not surprising.