News 50,000 face evacuation in Hannover over World War Two bombs

[Notebook]

Around 50,000 people in Hannover will be evacuated from their homes on Sunday while experts defuse five World War Two bombs.
The operation is the second largest of its kind carried out in Germany, and will affect around a tenth of the city's population.
The buildings set to be evacuated include seven care homes, a clinic, and a Continental tire plant.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39828327

I was fairly calm till I saw the Continental tire plant was involved.

N.

 

[Urwumpe]

Yeah. Last Sunday, they disarmed one near Braunschweig. Its the season again, it seems.

 

[Notebook]

Builders have a lot to answer for!

N.

 

[boogabooga]

Five?! :blink:

I assume that when they find them in the city center, they were British bombs, or possibly Soviet. Long time-delay fuzes that failed, perhaps?

Still sobering that WWII is still claiming casualties of people who were not eve born yet in 1945.

 

[Andy44]

Still sobering that WWII is still claiming casualties of people who were not eve born yet in 1945.

There are places in the US where signs warn you about ordnance from the American Civil War. I drove past one in North Carolina.

 

[boogabooga]

There are places in the US where signs warn you about ordnance from the American Civil War. I drove past one in North Carolina.

I would expect that the potassium nitrate would have dissolved by now. When was the last Civil War evacuation or casualty?

 

[Andy44]

I would expect that the potassium nitrate would have dissolved by now. When was the last Civil War evacuation or casualty?

Beats me. But I saw the sign, somewhere near Beaufort, NC, IIRC.

Point being that this stuff can remain a threat for a long time. Think of all the battlefields and bomb targets since WWI. Vietnam, Korea, etc. Aerial bombs, cannon shells, landmines.

War sucks.

 

[Donamy]

War is Hell !!

 

[RisingFury]

War never changes.

 

[Urwumpe]

I assume that when they find them in the city center, they were British bombs, or possibly Soviet. Long time-delay fuzes that failed, perhaps?

AFAIR, the Soviets did not bomb that far west, the closest was Berlin. It can be US or British.

It is not yet known, which kind of fuze is used for each bomb. In the best case, its an impact fuze that failed. In the worst case, its a chemical time-delay fuze.

---------- Post added at 11:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:48 AM ----------

BTW, the number five is wrong. Its five places with possible duds, but the total number of candidates is 13 on the construction site.

The center of the evacuation zone is the former bus depot of the public transportation system of Hannover, possibly it was quickly fixed after WW2 because of urgent need to get the public transport running again.

Now, they want to build 141 apartments there, 80% of them are prioritized for employees of the public transport agency üstra, 20% are social housing apartments.

 

[Notebook]

Vaguely related, but interesting event:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-39835265/why-is-there-a-polish-warship-in-the-isle-of-wight

N.

 

[Urwumpe]

After two locations turned out to be harmless junk, there is now a bomb that resists all manual attempts to defuse it.

They are now investigating two options there: controlled explosion of the bomb. Or using cutters for separating the fuze from the bomb.

All together, three bombs have been found. Two british 250 kg/~500 lb bombs and a single 500 kg/~1000 lb bomb. Germans measure the bombs in the unit "Zentner" which is exactly 50 kg today as unit of mass - But in terms of bombs, its no exact measure of the weight or type of the bomb.

---------- Post added at 06:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:04 PM ----------

All bombs have been disarmed. A water jet cutter separated the fuze from the too corroded bomb and all fuzes had been detonated at the construction site for destroying them.

---------- Post added at 07:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:32 PM ----------

The troublesome bomb was one of the two 250 kg bombs. It was explained the fuze was too badly damaged to remove it manually.

 

[boogabooga]

AFAIR, the Soviets did not bomb that far west, the closest was Berlin. It can be US or British.

It is not yet known, which kind of fuze is used for each bomb. In the best case, its an impact fuze that failed. In the worst case, its a chemical time-delay fuze.

---------- Post added at 11:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:48 AM ----------

BTW, the number five is wrong. Its five places with possible duds, but the total number of candidates is 13 on the construction site.

The center of the evacuation zone is the former bus depot of the public transportation system of Hannover, possibly it was quickly fixed after WW2 because of urgent need to get the public transport running again.

Now, they want to build 141 apartments there, 80% of them are prioritized for employees of the public transport agency üstra, 20% are social housing apartments.

I make my assumption because RAF Bomber Command was in the habit of bombing city centers with chemical long time delay fuzes as a terror tactic. Americans usually would go after the factories (or rail yards) with near instantaneous fuzing to get a same-day BDA. AFAIK, American GP bombs had two fuzes (nose and tail) as redundancy to reduce the number of duds. I hope the disarmament people are aware that there may be two fuzes that need disarming.

If all bombs are in close proximity, it could be that all these came from the same plane and the crew somehow failed to properly arm them before release.

Is there source for your info?

 

[Urwumpe]

If all bombs are in close proximity, it could be that all these came from the same plane and the crew somehow failed to properly arm them before release.

Is there source for your info?

Close proximity is relative - it is actually a very large area.

http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/220677722

The source is the live ticker of the radio station NDR2 and the local newspapers of Hanover about the place where the bombs had been suspected. :lol:

http://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/niede...r-Bomben-Tag-zum-Nachlesen,liveticker540.html

Also, the USA also used chemical delay fuzes, their bombs are actually the reference type for German UXO training. AFAIR, the US fuzes are considered more dangerous than the British types.

In all events, in which UXO experts had been killed in the past years, the fuze and the bomb had been US made. M124 and M125 fuzes are the culprits in those cases. (Two times a SAP 1000 and once a GP 500 bomb)

 

[Notebook]

UK joining in:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-eng...t-army-detonates-ww2-bomb-found-in-birmingham

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-eng...lds-sand-igloo-around-ww2-bomb-found-in-aston

N.