World War II bomb in Cologne: evacuation successful, residents back!

World War II bomb in Cologne: evacuation successful, residents back!

On Tuesday morning, May 27, 2025, a five-hundred-pound American World War II bomb was successfully defused in downtown Cologne. The unexploded bomb was discovered during construction work in the Sachsenring/Hardefuststrasse area and required rapid action because it was moved by a tracked vehicle passing over it. The defusing took place at 7:10 a.m. and went without incident, informs erftkreis-news.de.

In advance of the defusing, around 5,200 residents had to evacuate their apartments and houses. These residents included numerous older people and people with limited mobility. To support this, two contact points were set up: the Humboldtstrasse vocational college and the European School on the Raderthal Belt. Around 700 people were there, while 51 people with health problems were evacuated by ambulance and brought back after the fire was defused.

Preparation and implementation of the evacuation

The construction site foreman discovered the suspicious metal body on Monday evening around 4 p.m. The explosive ordnance disposal service determined that it was a bomb, which required an evacuation. All buildings within a 400 meter radius of the site were evacuated. The evacuation operation was supported by 90 employees from the public order office, 230 employees from the fire department, rescue service and aid organizations as well as 22 police officers. The entire evacuation took about six hours, with clearance for defusing occurring around 6:30 a.m. The public order office ended the first round of ringing in the affected area at around 4 a.m., followed by a second round wdr.de.

After the bomb was defused, residents were allowed to return to their apartments. However, road closures remained in place until the defused bomb could be recovered and transported away with a crane. The city of Cologne provided information about potential traffic disruptions both online and via local radio stations. After the defusing, local public transport was able to resume without restrictions, and a shuttle service took those affected back to their homes.

Explosive ordnance disposal in Germany

Defusing the bomb is part of the comprehensive explosive ordnance disposal measures in Germany that have been carried out since the end of the Second World War. Civilian explosive ordnance disposal is regulated by specific regulations, including the “Explosive Ordnance Ordinance” applicable in each federal state. The measures to dispose of explosive ordnance are not only aimed at defusing bombs, but also require historical exploration and risk assessments. These include, among other things, soundings with geophysical detectors and the consideration of ground conditions wikipedia.org.

Overall, the operation in Cologne shows how important careful planning and commitment by the authorities and organizations involved are in order to ensure public safety and eliminate dangers from the past.