Major Evacuation Ordered

Large parts of central Dresden are set to be evacuated after workers discovered an unexploded 250kg World War Two bomb.

The device, believed to be a British aerial bomb, was found near the site of the former Carola Bridge, which collapsed into the Elbe River in 2024.

Authorities say around 18,000 people — including residents, tourists and commuters — will need to leave the area while bomb disposal teams work to neutralise the device.

The Dresden Fire Brigade said the evacuation will be the largest carried out in the city for an unexploded wartime bomb.

Historic Landmarks Inside Evacuation Zone

Officials plan to cordon off much of the city’s historic centre from 09:00 local time.

Several well-known landmarks fall within the evacuation zone, including the rebuilt Frauenkirche, the Dresden Residenzschloss palace complex and the Semperoper opera house.

Government offices and public institutions are also located within the restricted area, including police headquarters and the regional parliament for Saxony.

Retirement homes, childcare facilities and other social institutions are expected to be affected.

Emergency accommodation has been arranged at the Dresden Exhibition Centre, which will open early in the morning for displaced residents.

Additional bus and tram services will run to the centre to help transport people from the evacuation zone.

Authorities have not yet said how long the bomb disposal operation could take.

Legacy of Wartime Bombing

Unexploded bombs are still regularly discovered across Germany decades after the end of World War II.

Dresden was heavily bombed by Allied forces in February 1945, when British and American aircraft dropped thousands of tons of explosives over several days.

The attacks devastated the city centre and killed an estimated 25,000 people.

The bombing remains one of the most controversial episodes of the war, with historians continuing to debate whether it was strategically justified or excessive.

Many of Dresden’s historic buildings, including the Frauenkirche and Semperoper, were reconstructed years later after being destroyed in the air raids.

British tenor Stephen Chaundy, who is currently working at the Semperoper, said rehearsals at the opera house had been cancelled due to the evacuation.

Reflecting on the wartime bombing of the city, he said: “The past casts a long shadow.”

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  Adapted by ASEAN Now · Source · 10.03 2026

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The issue of old bombs being found to this day is not limited to world war 2 bombs. The borders of Thailand are still full of them. A pity they exist but I guess finding them is costly.

Back in 1963, two 500 pound WWII American bombs were found in the sand box of a play ground by a 5 year old. They didn't evacuate any where near that many people, perhaps a couple of hundred at most. But the MP's did block the route walked to high school. My dad told the family a few days later that EOD removed the bombs from the sand box, transported them to a bomb range, set them up to be detonated remotely from a bunker several hundred yards away from the bombs, and the bombs exploded just as the EOD crew reached the door to the bunker.

The 5 year old boy asked his mom for a big spoon. Why do you want a big spoon mom asked? To dig up the pipes in the sand box. OK, here is a big spoon son. A few minutes later mom goes downstairs after wondering what pipes were in the sand box, saw a big black thing in the sand box, called the Military Police (MP), they called EOD.

3 hours ago, Purdey said:

The issue of old bombs being found to this day is not limited to world war 2 bombs. The borders of Thailand are still full of them. A pity they exist but I guess finding them is costly.

More bombs were dropped on Laos alone than the total number of bombs dropped during the entire WWII. I imagine quite a few of those were duds. On top of that, large parts of the jungle in Laos, along the Vietnamese and Cambodian border were mined, as was also the case in Cambodia itself during the Pol Pot regime. The vast majority of those mines was never cleared, so they’re still out there, millions of them, making victims (almost) every single day. And the sad thing is, that for every mine that is cleared, another ten go into the ground somewhere else in the world.

5 hours ago, Purdey said:

The issue of old bombs being found to this day is not limited to world war 2 bombs. The borders of Thailand are still full of them. A pity they exist but I guess finding them is costly.

Does anyone know? Have they finally cleared Cambodia of land mines?

It used to be a huge issue with whole tracts of the country cordoned off, warning UXO signs everywhere, and kids constantly being mutilated while out playing. We used to step in dog poo, poor Cambodian kids got their feet ripped off. I seem to recall artificial limbs were a major industry 20 years ago.

I got evacuated once in Germany as well. Police wouldn't let me enter the potential blast zone when I got back from work at 1 in the morning. They put us up in a local school just outside the zone and gave us goulash with spuds. Yummy. All pretty well organized and even got a camp bed to kip down on. They'd defused it by 8.

The past does indeed cast a long shadow. And people and countries that should know better continue to cast their murderous pitch black palls across the world. And seriously believe they're the good guys.

43 minutes ago, BusyB said:

Does anyone know? Have they finally cleared Cambodia of land mines?

I went to an education centre about this when I was in Cambodia a few years ago. The answer to your question is "no". The guide said the number of mines and other unexploded items are in the millions. A couple of links:

https://www.halotrust.org/where-we-work/asia/cambodia/

https://the-monitor.org/country-profile/cambodia/impact

A search on Google "cambodia land mines" gets a lot more info. Hope this helps to answer your question.

For years I went to Ypres in Belgium, rallying, every year they have an "Iron Harvest" where 150 to 200 tons of unexploded ordinance is removed from the fields around the area, 100+ years from when it was fired/laid.

You would see piles of shells and bombs on the edges of fields for collection/disposal, a few fatalities every year.

Likely one of these.

1 hour ago, Watawattana said:

I went to an education centre about this when I was in Cambodia a few years ago. The answer to your question is "no". The guide said the number of mines and other unexploded items are in the millions. A couple of links:

https://www.halotrust.org/where-we-work/asia/cambodia/

https://the-monitor.org/country-profile/cambodia/impact

A search on Google "cambodia land mines" gets a lot more info. Hope this helps to answer your question.

Yes thanks. It's a subject that's gone dead in recent years and I was just wondering if anyone had any first hand experience from traveling.

14 hours ago, ASEAN NOW News said:

Legacy of Wartime Bombing

Unexploded bombs are still regularly discovered across Germany decades after the end of World War II.

And in the interests of fairness German bombs are regularly discovered across Britain.

6 hours ago, Jeff the Chef said:

For years I went to Ypres in Belgium, rallying, every year they have an "Iron Harvest" where 150 to 200 tons of unexploded ordinance is removed from the fields around the area, 100+ years from when it was fired/laid.

You would see piles of shells and bombs on the edges of fields for collection/disposal, a few fatalities every year.

Gas shells as well.

A 1000 kg German bomb in Exeter. They buried it under 400 tons of sand before detonation.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-56236381

17 hours ago, BusyB said:

Yes thanks. It's a subject that's gone dead in recent years and I was just wondering if anyone had any first hand experience from traveling.

This is the place I went to - https://www.cambodialandminemuseum.org/