Saturday - December 03, 2011

Speaking of Germany

When they say “It’s the bomb” I think they’ve got something else in mind ...

For more than 200 years, the myth of the Lorelei rock, named after a mythical mermaid who lured fisherman to their deaths by singing the most beautiful song ever heard and causing them to crash into the rocks, put fear into the hearts of captains of boats plying the Rhine River. Historically low water levels this November are presenting a new threat: World War II bombs.

Sinking water levels have exposed much more of the river bed than normal, and it turns out the bottom of one of Europe’s busiest waterways is still littered with World War II leftovers. Over the weekend, passers-by alerted the authorities to the presence of one incendiary bomb near Cologne, two barrels in Koblenz filled with a chemical used during the war to create smoke screens and one large bomb, also in Koblenz, that is still lying in 40 centimeters (16 inches) of water, waiting to be defused.

Indeed, the dangers of finding additional World War II detritus are so great that officials are now reminding people to immediately report any suspicious objects they might spot.

The munitions are now coming to light due to an unusually dry autumn in Germany, resulting in the lowest November water levels seen along the Rhine in decades. With no rain in sight, it is likely to continue to drop.

This weekend, a large section of the German city of Koblenz will come to a standstill as bomb experts gingerly defuse a massive World War II bomb that recently emerged from the Rhine River due to low water levels. Almost half of the residents will be evacuated, the largest such operation in the city’s history.

Unexploded ordnance from World War II frequently turns up in German communities, and sometimes authorities are forced to evacuate small areas to dispose of the dangerous explosives. But a large bomb that recently surfaced in the Rhine River has sparked security measures of historic proportions in the central German city of Koblenz.

Three meters (10 feet) long and weighing 1.8 tons, the aerial bomb was recently spotted after a particularly dry November lowered water levels along the busy river. Now preparations are underway for a massive evacuation set for Sunday.

Some 45,000 residents—nearly half of the city’s total population of 106,000—will be forced to leave the area. That includes two hospitals, seven retirement homes and the jail. To aid in the operation, the city has organized some 900 people and 350 vehicles to ferry residents to safety.
...
Around 45,000 people will be evacuated from a 1.8 kilometer radius around the bomb site in what is Germany’s biggest evacuation since the end of World War II.

The 1.8 tonne bomb - dropped by the Royal Air Force (RAF) - was uncovered after water levels in the Rhine fell significantly as a result of a prolonged dry spell.
...
Experts will defuse the bomb on Sunday.  It is the biggest bomb-related evacuation in Germany’s post-war history. Nearly half the population of Koblenz is affected.

The bomb was found last week alongside a 275lb bomb dropped there by US forces during the war, after the Rhine’s water level fell due to lack of rain.

Authorities this week built a temporary dam of some 350 sandbags around the bomb which is covered by just 16 inches of water.

The plan is then for bomb disposal teams to pump the water out and get to the bomb proper to begin the delicate job of removing the detonator.

Koblenz was a German operations centre during the Second World War and was hit repeatedly by air raids carried out by RAF and US bombers says the report.

It was also the home of Army Group B which oversaw the conquest of France. Later in the war the city was the hub for defensive operations for German forces following D-Day. Eighty-seven per cent of Koblenz was eventually destroyed in more than two dozen air raids. German newspaper The National reports ‘an estimated 2,000 tonnes of American and British aerial bombs and other munitions are still found every year.’

Posted by Drew458     on 12/03/2011 at 01:35 PM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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