The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Experts Blow Up 550-pound World War II Bomb in Munich

From the August 28th NBC News.

Three thousand residents were evacuated from the heart of Munich after construction workers discovered this dangerous relic.  Efforts to diffuse it failed and experts decided to pack it with explosives and detonate it instead of risking an uncontrolled explosion.

Millions of tons of bombs were dropped on Germany during the war and tens of thousands of unexploded ones are still believed to be in the country.  This was one of an estimated 2,500 in Munich, alone.  A video was made of the explosion and I sure would not have wanted to be near it.  No one was killed, but window panes in the area were blown out and a giant crater formed.

Three people died in 2010 in Goettinggen with the same type of bomb. 

From the 8-29 Mail Online.  The Allies dropped 2.8 million tons of bombs on Germany during the war compared to 75,000 tons dropped by the Luftwaffe on Britain. british bombers flew 390,000 sorties.  By 1945, 543,000 German civilians had been killed as compared to 60,000 in Britain.

Just last week, a similar 550-pd bomb was found in Nurenburg.

Delayed action bombs, primed to explode at some time after being dropped, are considered to be an especially big problem.

Hey, Those Bombs Are Getting Old and Danger Is Increasing.  --GreGen

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