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, an American five-center World War II bomb was successfully defused in Cologne city center. The unexploded party had been discovered during construction work in the Sachsenring/Hardefuststrasse area and required quick action because it was moved by crossing a chain vehicle. The defusing took place at 07:10 a.m. and went without incident, informed Erftkreis-news.de.

In the run -up to the defusing, around 5,200 residents had to evacuate their apartments and houses inside. One of these residents: Numerous older and reduced mobility included. To support this, two contact points have been set up: the Humboldtstraße vocational college and the European School on the Raderthal belt. There were about 700 people there, while 51 people with health restrictions were evacuated by medical transport and brought back after the defusing.

preparation and implementation of the evacuation

The polishing of the construction site discovered the suspicious metal body on Monday evening at around 4 p.m. The ordnance disposal service found that it was a bomb that required evacuation. All buildings were cleared within a radius of 400 meters around the site. The evacuation campaign was supported by 90 employees: inside of the regulatory office, 230 forces from the fire brigade, emergency services and aid organizations as well as 22 police officers. The entire evacuation took about six hours, with the release for the defusing at around 6.30 a.m. The regulatory office ended the first round of the bell in the affected area around 4 a.m.

After the bomb was defused, the residents were allowed to return to their apartments inside. However, road closures remained until the defused bomb could be recovered and removed with a crane. The city of Cologne informed about potential traffic disruptions both online and about local radio stations. Public transport could be resumed without restrictions after defusing, and a shuttle service brought those affected back to their residence.

ordnance disposal in Germany

The defusing of the bomb is part of the comprehensive measures to remedy ordnance in Germany, which have been carried out since the end of the Second World War. Civilian ordnance disposal is regulated by specific regulations, including the "ordnance ordinance" applicable in each federal state. The measures to remedy fighting funds are not only geared towards the defusing of bombs, but also require historical exploration and risk assessments. These include explorations with geophysical detectors and the consideration of soil conditions [wikipedia.org] (https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/kampf removal).

Overall, the use in Cologne shows how important careful planning and commitment of the authorities and organizations involved are to ensure public security and to eliminate dangers from the past.