The largest evacuation in Germany since WW II is underway in the town of Koblenz, Germany, after an unexploded 4000 lb “air mine” from WW II was discovered on the banks of the Rhine river.  The prison, 2 hospitals and 45,000 residents have to be evacuated this weekend, so that experts can defuse the rusty, +65-year-old explosive device, Spiegel Online (D) reports.

British bombers dropped such massive explosives on German cities in combination with incendiary devices in retribution for the indiscriminate bombing of British cities by Nazi Germany. Currently the water levels of the Rhine river are very low, which has led to a rash of discoveries of unexploded WW II ordnance in Germany’s largest river.

Personally, I remember at least one time growing up when downtown Stuttgart was evacuated due to a WW II bomb. I am still in awe of, and baffled by the motivation of people who sign up not just for the bomb squad, but for the job of securing a huge bomb that is completely corroded after over half a century in the ground. Wow.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 2nd, 2011 at 9:23 am and is filed under Germany. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.