World War II is still affecting life in Europe: 45,000 people had to be evacuated after two extremely dangerous bombs were found in the Rhine River, 65 years after they were dropped by British and American bombers.
The biggest was a British 1.8-ton bomb that had the potential to destroy the entire city centre, according to the fire department of Koblenz, the German town were the bombs were located. The bombs had remained unperturbed in the Rhine River for decades. The metal beast was found completely intact and ready to go when the river levels dropped to an all-time low this year.
But the most dangerous was the American 125kg high-explosive device. While the British bomb was in good condition and its deactivation was relatively straightforward, the compact bomb was extremely difficult to deactivate. The impact had made the bomb unstable.
The bomb experts destroyed a third device too, but this one could have only been annoying: it was a fog generator, dropped by Allied planes to make hard for anti-aircraft battery operators to hit bombers. [CNN]
Quin
Monday, December 5, 2011 at 11:06 AMEven had this event never happened, WWII would still be affecting life in Europe. ;)
Dan
Monday, December 5, 2011 at 11:52 AMI was going to say, it must have been an air mine rather than a bomb for it to be that large, the CNN article confirmed.
eva
Monday, December 5, 2011 at 12:43 PMcookie?
Sean
Monday, December 5, 2011 at 1:12 PMYes, a 4000lb Cookie, aka Blockbuster. Although destroying the entire city centre from its position in the river bed is a gross exageration.
Scott
Monday, December 5, 2011 at 8:42 PM“gross exaggeration”. Didn’t you know? That’s Jesus’ middle name.
Alex
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 5:31 PMThat’s one big nasty hole in the ground and a lot of window repair call outs.