Huge WW2 bomb to be defused close to German gold reserves

[webfact]

Huge WW2 bomb to be defused close to German gold reserves

 

FILE PHOTO: The skyline of Frankfurt, Germany, May 11, 2017. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File Photo

 

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Frankfurt's city centre, an area including police headquarters, two hospitals, transport systems and Germany's central bank storing $70 billion (£54.2 billion) in gold reserves will be evacuated on Sunday to allow the defusing of a 1.8 tonne World War Two bomb.

 

A spokesman for the German Bundesbank said, however, "the usual security arrangements" would remain in place while experts worked to disarm the bomb, dropped by the British air force and uncovered during excavation of a building site.

 

The Bundesbank headquarters, less than 600 metres from the location of the bomb, stores 1,710 tonnes of gold underground, around half the country's reserves.

 

"We have never defused a bomb of this size," bomb disposal expert Rene Bennert told Reuters, adding that it had been damaged on impact when it was dropped between 1943 and 1945.

 

Airspace for 1.5 kilometres around the bomb site will also be closed.

 

Frankfurt city officials said more than 60,000 residents would be evacuated for at least 12 hours. The evacuation area would also include 20 retirement homes, the Opera house and the diplomatic quarter.

 

Bomb disposal experts will make use of a "Rocket Wrench" to try and unscrew the fuses attached to the HC 4,000 bomb. If that fails, a water jet will be used to cut the fuses away from the bomb, Bennert told Reuters.

 

The most dangerous part of the exercise will be applying the wrench, Bennert said.

 

Roads and transport systems, including the underground, will be closed during the work and for at least two hours after the bomb is defused, to allow patients to be transported back to hospitals without traffic.

 

It is not unusual for unexploded bombs from World War Two air raids to be found in German cities, but rarely are they so large and in such a sensitive position.

 

(Reporting by Edward Taylor and Frank Siebelt; editing by Ralph Boulton)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-09-01

[overherebc]

Found a couple of WW2 images.

Big bit of gear.!!

[Crossy]

That's not a bomb, this is a bomb, all 10 tons of it! Slightly bigger than the MOAB but with a completely different target.

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Slam_(bomb)

 

[boomerangutang]

Might want to build a heavy wall around it to absorb some of the shock, if it goes kapbluuaeiiiy.  I suggest sandbags / plywood / sandbags / plywood ....like a sandwich, maybe 8 meters wide

 

[impulse]

Hope the bomb doesn't have a proximity fuse.

 

Because the huge brass 'nads on the guys brave enough to defuse it would surely set it off.

 

Godspeed to them.

 

[KhunBENQ]

A "rocket wrench".

Always learn something new at Thaivisa.

 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

It is not unusual for unexploded bombs from World War Two air raids to be found in German cities, but rarely are they so large and in such a sensitive position.

Some places are plagued with repeated bomb disposals, like "Oranienburg" north of Berlin, one the most dense bombarded areas during WWII.

 

BTW: just three days ago a bomb disposal led to a closure of the main airport in Berlin.

It was planned to start at 8 PM lasting one hour.

It took three hours and led to complete chaos in air traffic.

Passengers locked in planes on the second airport for hours.

 

[Basil B]

a rocket wrench

 

http://www.dseinternational.com/content/products/Product.aspx?Id=176

 

Reminds me of the method of getting a seized brass propel of using cordex...

[ExpatOilWorker]

They should have left the gold in New York a few more years.

 

In January 2013, the German central bank (Deutsche Bundesbank) announced plans to repatriate 300 tonnes of its 1,500 tons of gold from the US and 374 tonnes from France by 2020, in order to have half (1,695.3 tonnes) of its official gold reserves stored in Frankfurt.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]} The gold in the U.S. was earned by West Germany through trade surpluses in the 1950s and 1960s and was never moved out of the United States due to fear of invasion by the Soviet Union.^[11][12][13] In 2013, a mere 5 tonnes were shipped due to logistical difficulties. However, Germany repatriated 120 t in 2014 (35 tonnes from Paris, 85 t from New York),^{[14][15][16][17][18][19]} 210 t in 2015 (110.5 t from Paris and 99.5 t from New York)^[20]and 200 t in 2016.^[21] [22]

[BuaBS]

8 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

They should have left the gold in New York a few more years.

 

In January 2013, the German central bank (Deutsche Bundesbank) announced plans to repatriate 300 tonnes of its 1,500 tons of gold from the US and 374 tonnes from France by 2020, in order to have half (1,695.3 tonnes) of its official gold reserves stored in Frankfurt.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]} The gold in the U.S. was earned by West Germany through trade surpluses in the 1950s and 1960s and was never moved out of the United States due to fear of invasion by the Soviet Union.^[11][12][13] In 2013, a mere 5 tonnes were shipped due to logistical difficulties. However, Germany repatriated 120 t in 2014 (35 tonnes from Paris, 85 t from New York),^{[14][15][16][17][18][19]} 210 t in 2015 (110.5 t from Paris and 99.5 t from New York)^[20]and 200 t in 2016.^[21] [22]

No they should get ALL of their gold out of NY , not just a part ( that now has been completed) , and as fast as they can too.

 

A variation on the usual story how gold is bombed every end of the month , quarter & end of year , FOMC & FED meeting like on the comex.

[7by7]

6 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

A "rocket wrench".

Always learn something new at Thaivisa.

 

Some places are plagued with repeated bomb disposals, like "Oranienburg" north of Berlin, one the most dense bombarded areas during WWII.

 

BTW: just three days ago a bomb disposal led to a closure of the main airport in Berlin.

It was planned to start at 8 PM lasting one hour.

It took three hours and led to complete chaos in air traffic.

Passengers locked in planes on the second airport for hours.

 

 Not just in Germany, of course.

 

There are many such incidents each year in the UK; Just three examples of those so far in 2017:-

 

June: London Eye evacuated after reports of unexploded wartime era bomb.

Quote

The London Eye and Westminster Pier were evacuated on Sunday after reports of a unexploded wartime era bomb being found.

 

May: Army carry out controlled explosion of 'largest' WWII bomb found on British soil

Quote

The Army has described a Second World War bomb, found in Birmingham, as one of the largest unexploded bombs to have been found on British soil

 

March: Army defuses second world war bomb found in London

Quote

Bomb-disposal team worked through night to deal with device found in Brondesbury Park, which had prompted evacuations and school closures

 

Given the huge amount of bombs dropped by both sides, it is not surprising that unexploded ones are still being regularly found.

[nauseus]

7 hours ago, impulse said:

Hope the bomb doesn't have a proximity fuse.

 

Because the huge brass 'nads on the guys brave enough to defuse it would surely set it off.

 

Godspeed to them.

 

Brass is good  -  no sparks!

 

[YetAnother]

9 hours ago, impulse said:

Hope the bomb doesn't have a proximity fuse.

 

Because the huge brass 'nads on the guys brave enough to defuse it would surely set it off.

 

Godspeed to them.

 

yeah that is one CRAZY job

[Basil B]

1 hour ago, 7by7 said:

 Not just in Germany, of course.

 

There are many such incidents each year in the UK; Just three examples of those so far in 2017:-

 

June: London Eye evacuated after reports of unexploded wartime era bomb.

 

May: Army carry out controlled explosion of 'largest' WWII bomb found on British soil

 

March: Army defuses second world war bomb found in London

 

Given the huge amount of bombs dropped by both sides, it is not surprising that unexploded ones are still being regularly found.

But many more such incidents in Germany than the UK, whether we dropped more shells on Germany or the Germans made better fuses I do not know... 

[Lokie]

Think the RAF and USAAF may have dropped quite a bit more ordnance over Germany by wars end

[Get Real]

Good Luck! Remember Hitler.

Edited September 1, 2017 by Get Real

[Emster23]

Hence the term "blockbuster"

Decades ago was very good Brit series "Danger UXB" (unexploded bomb). Major characters would often not make it to the next show...

[BuaBS]

Looks more and more like DIE HARD 3 .

Vault Containing $70 Billion In German Gold To Be Evacuated As Frankfurt Defuses Massive Bomb

[KBsinter]

cannot understand the mentality of these chaps who do this, brave lads ..............

[pitrevie]

 

 

[lemonjelly]

Hence the term "blockbuster"
Decades ago was very good Brit series "Danger UXB" (unexploded bomb). Major characters would often not make it to the next show...

I think I have the complete series somewhere on my HDD


Sent from my padded cell using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[webfact]

Frankfurt defuses massive WWII bomb after evacuating 60,000

By Tom Sims

 

Police officers observe an area as 60,000 people in Germany's financial capital are about to evacuate the city while experts defuse an unexploded British World War Two bomb found during renovations on the university's campus in Frankfurt, Germany, September 3, 2017. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

 

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German explosives experts defused a massive World War Two bomb in the financial capital of Frankfurt on Sunday after tens of thousands of people were evacuated from their homes.

 

The compulsory evacuation of 60,000 people was Germany's biggest such manoeuvre since the war, with more than a thousand emergency service workers helping to clear the area around the bomb, which was discovered on a building site last week.

 

The evacuation area included two hospitals, care homes, the Opera House and Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, where $70 billion in gold reserves are stored underground. Police maintained security at the building.

 

The all-day effort took longer than planned but officials expressed relief that residents would start returning home before sundown and that the operation wouldn't disrupt business on Monday.

 

The work by bomb technicians started later than scheduled because some residents refused to leave the evacuation area despite fire chiefs warning that an uncontrolled explosion would be big enough to flatten a city block. Police said they took stragglers into custody to secure the area.

 

More than 2,000 tonnes of live bombs and munitions are discovered each year in Germany, more than 70 years after the end of the war.

 

British and American warplanes pummelled the country with 1.5 million tonnes of bombs that killed 600,000 people. Officials estimate that 15 percent of the bombs failed to explode, some burrowing six metres (20 feet) deep.

 

CORDONS

 

Residents were instructed to leave their homes by 8 a.m. local time [0600 GMT], and more than a thousand emergency service workers helped to clear the area. Police set up cordons at a 1.5 km (roughly a mile) radius around the device.

 

Many residents left town. Others spent time in cafes on the edge of the evacuation zone.

Museums were free, and many hotels offered discounts. The city set up a temporary shelter at Frankfurt’s trade fair site, serving bananas and beverages.

 

The device was found last week in the city's leafy Westend neighbourhood, home to many wealthy bankers.

 

Premature babies and intensive care patients had to be evacuated along with everyone else from two hospitals and rescue workers helped about 500 elderly people leave residences and care homes.

 

Bomb disposal experts used a special system to try and unscrew the fuses attached to the HC 4,000 bomb from a safe distance. If that had failed, a water jet would have been used to cut the fuses.

 

The bomb was dropped by Britain's Royal Air Force during the 1939-45 war, city officials said.

In July, a kindergarten was evacuated after teachers discovered an unexploded World War Two bomb on a shelf among some toys.

 

Three police explosives experts in Goettingen were killed in 2010 while preparing to defuse a 1,000 lb (450 kg) bomb.

 

(Reporting by Tom Sims; Writing by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Ralph Boulton)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-09-04

[Shaunduhpostman]

That the Bundesbank is there and 70 billion in gold is just a coincidence of course. Move along folks, nothing to see here...

[Sydebolle]

Glad to see that the Germans are so careful in dealing with left-overs of WW2. 

Laos, neutral and war-torn by North Vietnam and America (who fought the secret war which never took place) saw 2 million tons of which 30% did not explode. 40+ years after the Americans lost the war they are still dealing with UXO; albeit less professional and with much less financial support. 

This just to highlight that a war does not end with a surrender; in Germany in the third and in Laos in the second generation - still facing the dreadful music of war. 

[tryasimight]

Plenty of one legged Cambodians too

[JAG]

Might want to build a heavy wall around it to absorb some of the shock, if it goes kapbluuaeiiiy.  I suggest sandbags / plywood / sandbags / plywood ....like a sandwich, maybe 8 meters wide
 

No problem, just put a really big old tyre around it...