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Subscribe to RSSPolice in Munich say experts successfully detonated the remains of a 550-pound bomb from the Second World War on Tuesday evening.
Updated at 6:56 p.m. ET: MAINZ, Germany -- Nearly 3,000 residents were evacuated from the heart of Munich after construction workers found an undetonated, 550-pound World War II bomb.
The evacuation, which affected several blocks in the busy party district of Schwabing, was ordered by local officials as a routine security measure.
Citing the dapd news agency, The Associated Press reported that explosives experts detonated the remains of the bomb on Tuesday night. Burning debris from the controlled explosion reportedly caused fires in several nearby buildings that had been evacuated.
On Monday night, experts from the Munich bomb disposal squad determined that the explosives were not equipped with a “normal mechanism,” but a chemical, delayed-action detonator.
"It is an extremely dangerous device," Roman Leitow, a Munich fire department spokesman told NBC News.
“A specialist is presently trying to defuse the bomb with his team,” he added.
Leave immediately
Fire department officials went from door-to-door to enforce the evacuation, after fire trucks had passed through the streets, instructing residents with loudspeaker announcements to leave their homes immediately.
Marc Mueller / EPA
Diethard Posorski, of the bomb disposal team, stands next to an unexploded WW II bomb which was found at a construction site in Munich, Germany, Monday.
Experts from Munich fire department spent most of Monday night shielding the bomb with sand, bales of straw and other insulating material, which would catch shrapnel and muffle the shock wave in case of an uncontrolled explosion.
Most of the evacuated residents spent the night with friends and family, but about 600 were brought to one of the three temporary shelters set up by in nearby schools by rescue teams. Red Cross workers handed out blankets and drinks.
Massive WWII bomb successfully defused
During World War II, Allied forces dropped nearly 2 million tons of bombs on Germany and experts estimate that between 5 to 15 percent of the bombs did not explode.
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BOMBs Away! Bye Bye!
"Germany homes evacuated after WWII bomb found" - seriously... MSNBC, please try just a bit of editing, especially with headlines.
Im just imagening the face of the person that was closest to that thing when it fell. 0.0 "F&*K ME"
Considering the large number of bombs dropped in Europe during WWII they will probably be finding unexploded bombs for the next hundred years. Considering the failure to detonate rate was sometimes as high as 30 per cent and millions of bombs were dropped that would leave a lot of unexploded ordinance buried all over the place.
Not to mention hidden caches of German weapons and ordinances that are found from time to time.
Very very true indeed!
Ordnance not ordinance. You were in the military? You have to be an American.
I never could spell that correctly. At least I am consistant.
DOU44: You are a snob? Must be European.
Just happily return it to the barbarians who dropped it- the US or UK.
Well, arn't you just a good Nazi! Germany started both WWI & II and at the end the United States marched in to Berlin the Victor. Barbarians? when the USSR closed the roads to Berlin who do you think flew airlifts to feed and cloth the people of Berlin. Who's world leader welcome Germany back to the free world by stating "Ish ben en Berliner" (pardon for my bad spelling)
If I remember correctly the bombing was in response to German policy of indiscriminate bombing of english cities first. Sometimes the only response to barbaric actions is teach the barbarian the error of their ways. Just as the first chemical warfare use of WW1 was by german forces had to be responded to.
DOU44; must be short for douche bag:
If above exerts from your homepage express your opinion of our fine country,,,,,,,give me a call. I will happily pay for your VISA and one way ticket to Middle Eastern country of your choice.
I suspect from your posting that your choice will be Pakistan or Iran.
From the picture it appears to be a British 250 kg bomb, (oval tip shape, U.S. bombs had round shape tip with fuse holder. British bombs had tail fuse only.) Could have been dropped by a Lancaster or a Sterling, only planes to drop this type. They were used in conjunction with incendiary bombs, timed to explode from 1 to 3 hours after the raid, in order to kill rescuers and firefighters. Used from early 1944 until Feb. 1945.
The U.S. also used this tactic during the fire bombings of Japanese cities from mid 1944 till the end of the war.
In various parts of Europe agricultural equipment dealers sell tractors, etc., with the option of an armor plated chassis to protect the operator in the event they happen to "find" unexploded ordinance while plowing.
If the bomb was a little newer it could be the Greek financial time bomb that is ready to explode after the US elections...
Wait until the inevitable result of democratic party agenda economics. Clintons "new economy" results will seem mild.
You political trolls can turn anything into an absurd political mental masterbation.
It does not matter who's bomb is it. There was a war going on. Probably there are undetected bombs buried also in english soil thanks to the german Lufftwaffe's daily air raids.
It was dropped from a submarine, why else would it be pointed up.
Wow, I hate to make the comparison....but if delayed fuse was to catch rescuers and firefighters...that's kinda like an IED, just not improvised.
War is hell.
It does not matter who's bomb is it. There was a war going on. There must be undetected bombs also in english soil thanks to the daily air raids by the german Lufftwaffer.
What if that bomb blew up while that old guy was standing next to it LoL.
If that happened you would see it on "WORLD'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS" or "WORLD'S DUMBEST..."
It's amazing to be part of a German evacuation. It's all like clockwork, NOBODY is left behind, and everyone is in the shelter eating spaghetti within an hour of the discovery. An old bomb was found in the neighborhood where I was teaching, and the whole place was empty in about 15 minutes. No chaos, no panic, nobody freaking out or trying to stay in their house. They had a bus for every group and it felt like we were going to a concert or something. I didn't live in that neighborhood, so I simply went home, but my students told me that they had a nice time in the shelter and ate tons of free food. I can't remember if they detonated the bomb or disabled it, but it was all surprisingly organized and even a bit festive. Let's see how Americans handle Isaac today. We suck at evacuations.
Hopefully Isaac isn't another Katrina. My thoughts go to the people of that part of the country today and hope everyone remains safe and no "emergencies" need to be declared.
If the city ends up under water again, how many times do you think they will continue to rebuild under sea level? IMO it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that building below sea level, at the border of the sea, will eventually lead to flooding of unbelievable levels and lives will be lost. Imagine a tsunami like the one that hit Japan hit New Orleans, I doubt I need to say more on that.
It does not matter who's bomb is it. There was a war going on. Probably there are undetected bombs buried on english soil thanks to the daily air raids of the german Lufftwaffer.
Just think, if them Nazi's never happened then we would not have to worry about this kind of thing. Mark my words, Germany will eventually be a bully as history has taught us. This country should be kept guarded.
"We are socialists, we are enemies of today’s capitalistic economic system for the exploitation of the economically weak, with its unfair salaries, with its unseemly evaluation of a human being according to wealth and property instead of responsibility and performance, and we are determined to destroy this system under all conditions." Adolph Hitler
Sound familiar? Socialism is a danger everywhere it gains a toehold whether it is National socialism, the "occupy" fools or the nanny state.
Ironic since Hitler attacked socialists, leftists, union leaders, labor organizers, & anyone else who might support those who work for a living. The industrialists (the 1930s word for capitalists) loved him. To their undying shame, some of those industrialists were Jewish.
Mussolini showed Hitler the way.
Germany has always been a bully nation. It's only a matter of time before they start all this goose stepping thing again. This WWII bomb is only a fraction of what all the other nations are going through because of their arrogance.
" 3000 people evacuated" - " a very dangerous device". " hey let me get a quick snapshot of me standing next to it cuz I gotta facebook this".
I am sure this wont be the last bomb to be found across Europe and the UK both sides dropped and fired many many bombs and shells. Hopefully they can be defused and no one gets hurt from anger from so long ago
Dieter who's standing there was caught trying to cart off that 550lb monster. He wanted to mount it on his den wall to remind him of the good ol Hitler Youth days...lol
Perhaps the bomb was a Chinese import and it was filled with just sawdust and no explosive? You get what you pay for!
WOW - INSTABILITY in Germany.
I'm surprised the Stock Market hasn't lost 100 points!!!
When the Germans were building the U-Bahn for the 1972 Olympics, finding unexploded ordnance was practically a weekly occurrence. The line went right through the center of Schwabing. I guess they missed this one the first time.
What the reporter meant was 250 Kg. Pop quiz - in what year did Pres Johnson sign the U.S. conversion to the metric system?
Yeah, it was a trick question. The year was 1866, & the president was Andrew Johnson. Ain't it grand, a mere 156 years behind the curve.
"During World War II, Allied forces dropped nearly 2 million tons of bombs on Germany and experts estimate that between 5 to 15 percent of the bombs did not explode."
That would be 100k to 300k tons of unexploded bombs!?! IMO that's a lot of bombs. I am kind of curious as to how many bombs have already been found and what they estimate the number of bombs not found is? I do not know much anything about bombs, but am curious who was using this type of bomb with such an unreliable detonation device. With the type of mechanism described it seems like a situation where the pin was pulled (if it had one) but it failed to detonate. Sure does sound extremely dangerous.
There has to be a way to retrace whose bomb it is right? Pretty scary to think that someone's house or even a big business with thousands of employees could be sitting on top of an unexploded 550lb. bomb with this type of detonation mechanism.
This article has been real fun....but here's some food for thought.
There is no political spin or moral judgement in what was told to me. Just the experience of being on the receiving end.
Edeltraudt Yosh came to my hometown in 1955 with what was left of her family. Originally from a place called Dresden, Germany. Her town was fire-bombed off the map. As we got older, her father told us about it.
He talked about the wind as they tried to escape blowing so strong into the fire that people were swept back into it. Talked about the acrid smell, the burning bodies, frantically trying to get someplace safe. Most of the people killed were burned to death and the victims who survived were horribly burned. The fires were so intense that it was causing 3rd degree burns from a block away. He said lots of people suffocated because the fire burned the oxygen out of the air and people in basement didn't stand a chance.
He saw people dropping and passing out from lack of oxygen/smoke inhalation. Breathing was painful due to the heat. Only those who kept moving survived in their area. And he said the most awful part was that a 2nd wave of bombers struck the areas people were trying to get to avoid the fires. On top of the firebombs, he said they were using huge bombs which destroyed whole city blocks.
None in her immediate family were killed. Their extended family lived mostly in another section of town...they had no idea about any of them, because there was nothing left and have never heard anything....Probably burned in their basements.
I will never forget the look on their faces as they talked about the experience, or the comment he made a lot that, "We already knew the war was lost, and looked forward to the end." as a statement of disbelief and the horror of the waste of it all.
It was wierd to me that he never said anything bad about the air force or the allies.
Think about that. Wonder how many got to live because this one DIDN'T explode. Life is precious if we learn anything at all from war and history.
Thats a very moving account dude. Dressden was one of the worst hit, and as 90% of the citywas built from wood and other combustible materials, it aided its own destruction. It was a pre-meditated attack to help destroy morale. The explosives where used to blow the roofs off the buildings, then sticks of incendaries dropped inside, starting a fire storm. Although Hull and Coventry where almost wiped from the map as well. War is Hell.