WW2 British bomb found in Koblenz causes 45000 people evacuation

[Sternjaeger II]

Yep. The only solution would be to use echo-scanners or similar sonars, so that you can get some sort of silhouette of what's below, but even in that way it might not be easy: think about the intricate pipework, subway and sewage systems of modern cities.

I'm also afraid about the instability of fuzes and explosives in general after 70+ years. The dramatic thing is that many cities have a lot of subterranean caves (natural or artificial) which could expand the shockwave in unexpected and really dangerous ways.

[Kongo-Otto]

Originally Posted by Sternjaeger II

It's virtually impossible man. Sometimes bombs get 15, 20 metres deep, there's no way of finding them. It's a sad testament of those dark years, but thinking about finding them all and neutralising them is too much of a prohibitive thing to do in terms of costs.

Originally Posted by Bewolf

That's indeed a problem. Ground in Germany and especially rivers are so full of metal that any focused search for bombs is an excercise in futility. You just have to go by what is obvious.

Yes you have to go by what is obvious, therefore the Aerial Photos supplied by the USA and the UK are an important factor for searching unexploded Bombs.
Otherwise in every Major Town namely Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Augsburg and of Course the Ruhrgebiet and many more, when ever you dig a hole a search has to be Performed specially in those Areas where Ground Combat also took place.
I did some research, why there wasnt a search performed at the A3, there was a Search performed in 1955(!) and therefore a new search was considered as waste of time(!)
I call such behavior a criminal act caused by laziness along with stupidity!
I see it here in Augsburg from first hand, every time when they tear down a building and build a new one or build a new one on vacant land, a search is performed.

Before i came to Augsburg i lived in Wolfratshausen a tiny City with 17000 People south of Munich, even there they found a few unexploded 500 lbs, cause sometimes when the Target couldnt be reached due to battle damage the Bombers dumped their payload right there where they flew.

But there is a much bigger danger not on Land but in the North Sea, the Allies sunk Ships with Tousands of tons german Ammo after the war, including Yperite (aka Mustard Gas), Sarin and Tabun Gas Grenades and Bombs, this is an imminent Danger to all Nations around the North Sea specially Denmark, Norway, the UK's East Coast and Germany.

[fruitbat]

There's a liberty ship that sank off the coast of Sheerness, can see it at low tide.



Navy divers won't go near, its to unstable, some say sooner or later it will go bang, probably taking most of Sheerness and the Isle of Sheppy with it, some say it won't, who knows.

On board,

13,064 general purpose 250lb bombs
9,022 cases of fragmenting bombs
7,739 semi-armour piercing bombs
1,522 cases of fuses
1,429 cases of phosphorous bombs
1,427 cases of 100lb demolition bombs
817 cases of small arms ammunition

http://www.ssrichardmontgomery.com/i...montgomery.htm

Arguably, if you've ever been to the isle of Sheppy (the isle of 6 toes) this can be viewed with a positive spin.

[Bewolf]

Originally Posted by fruitbat

There's a liberty ship that sank off the coast of Sheerness, can see it at low tide.



Navy divers won't go near, its to unstable, some say sooner or later it will go bang, probably taking most of Sheerness and the Isle of Sheppy with it, some say it won't, who knows.

On board,

13,064 general purpose 250lb bombs
9,022 cases of fragmenting bombs
7,739 semi-armour piercing bombs
1,522 cases of fuses
1,429 cases of phosphorous bombs
1,427 cases of 100lb demolition bombs
817 cases of small arms ammunition

http://www.ssrichardmontgomery.com/i...montgomery.htm

Arguably, if you've ever been to the isle of Sheppy (the isle of 6 toes) this can be viewed with a positive spin.

Doesn't even need to explode to be highly dangerous, when the casings erode and all the bad stuff goes out into the environment. But if there is a real danger of exploding the government will have to take action, everything else would be crass irresponsible.

That aside, I understand the need to get rid of all the ammo after WW2, but the kind of action taken reminds me of todays nuclear waste and other environmental harm, not a problem today, lets those in the future sort it out.

[Sternjaeger II]

yep, it seems to be in a very critical area

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=SS++...omery&t=h&z=13

I don't think there's a safe way to operate in the area, since there's no accurate mapping of the load and the conditions (water pollution, streams, conditions of explosives) would make it into a suicide mission..

I think that it's better left as it is, but I agree, if that set off, it would probably change the coastline!

[Al Schlageter]

Watch the program 'Trashopolis - Berlin'. Berlin has an active bomb finding crew which uses old after mission bomb photos and hand held ground scanners.

Back in May,

WWII bomb discovery causes massive evacuation in Berlin
http://www.thelocal.de/national/20110526-35281.html

[csThor]

Every german federal state has a dedicated service to find, remove and get rid of unexploded bombs and any kind of other WW2 weapons junk. I guess it's one of the most crisis-proof jobs available ... There's so much to be done that the federal state of Brandenburg alone estimates it will take another six to seven generations to remove most of it.

[Kongo-Otto]

Originally Posted by Al Schlageter

Watch the program 'Trashopolis - Berlin'. Berlin has an active bomb finding crew which uses old after mission bomb photos and hand held ground scanners.

Back in May,

WWII bomb discovery causes massive evacuation in Berlin
http://www.thelocal.de/national/20110526-35281.html

Interesting thanks for posting.
Every German State has them, its called Kampfmittelräumdienst (iirc its called Bomb disposal unit in english) it belongs to the German Police force, also there are private Companies in Bavaria which are on the behalf of the Bavarian Government and in Hamburg the Bomb disposal unit is part of the Fire department.

Here is a news article from Oktober 2011, which states that 117 unexploded WW2 Devices which includes Bombs and other kinds of ammo where found in Bavaria alone in 2010. Total weight of them was about 50 tons.
Bavaria spends 700.000 Euro per Year only for Bomb Disposal.
It says further that 117 Unexploded WW2 devices found means almost every third day something is found.
http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/...d17023476.html

June 2010: Explosion of 500lbs kills thre member of Bomb disposal crew:
http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/...id7928386.html

[Kongo-Otto]

Originally Posted by fruitbat

There's a liberty ship that sank off the coast of Sheerness, can see it at low tide.

Navy divers won't go near, its to unstable, some say sooner or later it will go bang, probably taking most of Sheerness and the Isle of Sheppy with it, some say it won't, who knows.

On board,

13,064 general purpose 250lb bombs
9,022 cases of fragmenting bombs
7,739 semi-armour piercing bombs
1,522 cases of fuses
1,429 cases of phosphorous bombs
1,427 cases of 100lb demolition bombs
817 cases of small arms ammunition

http://www.ssrichardmontgomery.com/i...montgomery.htm

Arguably, if you've ever been to the isle of Sheppy (the isle of 6 toes) this can be viewed with a positive spin.

Ok if this was a Ammo Transport ship which i assume then the Bombs are not equipped with fuzes, so there is a little risk for an explosion, but there is an imminent risk for the enviroment if those stuff contaminates the water.

May i ask how the ship was sunk?
Accident, air raid or U-Boot?

[csThor]

I for one wouldn't want to do that job - not for all the money in the world. I once helped a friend of our family dig out the fundaments of the house he'd bought and while digging I suddenly came face-to-detonator with an unexploded 120mm mortar round of german make. We had to call the Kampfmittelräumdienst and they dug out another mortar round, some decayed remnants of infantry weapons and ammunition, a few hand grenades and a Panzerfaust. Quite a sobering experience ...