Three heavy American bombs from the Second World War, discovered during excavation work for construction work, caused the largest evacuation operation in Cologne: one bomb weighed ten tons, the other two - twenty tons each. Since they had preserved detonators, it was decided not to move them, but to defuse them on site. This is exactly what necessitated the large-scale evacuation of entire neighborhoods.
The day life in Cologne came to a standstill
Around 20,500 people had to leave their homes on Wednesday (4.6). Hospitals and nursing homes were evacuated, and patients and residents were moved to collective shelters. Fifty-eight hotels also had to close their doors and distribute their guests to other accommodations. Disposing of bombs in large cities is a huge logistical task, but one with which Germany has extensive experience.
In North Rhine-Westphalia alone, more than 1,600 bombs were defused last year. One reason for the increasing number of war remnants being discovered is the increased construction activity - laying new fiber-optic cables, repairing bridges and the road network. Wherever excavation work is carried out, old heritage is often discovered.
Urban centers such as the Ruhr area, Hamburg and Berlin, which were important targets for Allied bombers in the past, were particularly affected. North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg were also among the most affected. In 2024 Ordnance disposal specialists there have secured 90 mines, 48,000 grenades, 500 incendiary bombs and 450 high-explosive bombs weighing over five kilograms, as well as around 330,000 rounds of ammunition.
Many neighboring countries also have this problem. In France and Belgium, ammunition from wars is regularly found, especially from the First World War, for example in the Verdun area or along the Somme River. In Italy, the drought in the Po Valley three years ago exposed old explosive devices. In the United Kingdom, in 2021, a German air bomb (1,000 kg) was to be detonated in a controlled manner in Exeter, damaging more than 250 buildings.
A global problem
The situation in Poland and the Czech Republic is also critical. Tons of unexploded ordnance from the world wars lie in the ground. In 2020, a five-ton British bomb, the Tallboy, was defused in Świnoujście. Fatal incidents have also increased in the Czech Republic recently. In the Balkans, remnants of the wars of the 1990s continue to threaten human life. People there often have to be temporarily evacuated due to such a danger.
The situation is even worse on other continents. In Vietnam, people are still dying from American cluster bombs from the war. According to the UN, there are currently over 80 million explosive devices in Laos, left over from a little-known air war, during which over 500,000 American attacks were carried out between 1964 and 1973. Mines and explosive devices are also present in Syria, Iraq and the Gaza Strip, often in areas without functioning munitions disposal structures.
Remote disposal
In Germany, munitions disposal cost the budget of North Rhine-Westphalia alone around 20 million euros last year. While the costs of disposing of unexploded munitions are rising, the technologies used to dispose of them are also developing. While in the 1990s, explosives disposal experts still did this by hand - with hammers, chisels and pliers - today so-called waterjet technology is used. In this case, the detonator is cut out of the bomb body by machine using an extremely powerful water jet, while the machine is operated from a safe distance.
In a race against time
Sappers are unlikely to be out of work anytime soon. Experts estimate that up to 100,000 tons of bombs and unexploded ordnance are still lying around in Germany alone. Although the digitization of old aerial photographs and modern drilling techniques are helping to minimize the danger, any detonation operation remains a race against time. The older the bombs, the greater the risk of corrosion and explosion. Furthermore, detonating a bomb becomes increasingly difficult, as chemical changes occur between the detonator body and the explosive over time.
Ukraine is a special case
The situation in Ukraine is particularly dramatic. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the country has been strewn with mines, cluster bombs and other explosive devices. Up to a quarter of the country's entire territory is affected. Over half a million explosive devices have already been defused, but millions more remain. The humanitarian and economic consequences are enormous: there have already been hundreds of civilian casualties, vast areas of agricultural land are unusable, and the missing harvests from them are deepening the economic crisis. Demining after the war will probably be the task of the century.
Author: Andreas Noll