Huge evacuation in Cologne-Deutz: World War II bombs must be defused!

Huge evacuation in Cologne-Deutz: World War II bombs must be defused!

A major evacuation operation is scheduled to take place in Cologne-Deutz on Wednesday, June 4, 2025. The reason is the defusing of three World War II bombs that were found in the region. The city of Cologne has already pointed out in advance that the measure will not only have a significant impact on the immediate surrounding area, but will also result in far-reaching disruptions to local public transport and the infrastructure. As lindweiler.de reports, two American 20-quintal bombs and a ten-quintal bomb need to be defused in the danger area.

The evacuation affects an area with a radius of 1,000 meters and includes around 20,000 reported people. The first roadblocks will be set up from 8 a.m. Several main roads are affected: including the Severins Bridge and the Deutzer Bridge, as well as the basic transport routes on the Rhine, various KVB lines and train traffic to the main station. The closures will significantly affect local public transport. The KVB lines 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 14, 17 as well as bus lines such as 106, 132, 133, 153, 171 and 196 will also be affected, as the city of Cologne stated in a report stadt-koeln.de has announced.

Evacuation measures and contact points

Two contact points have been set up for residents: from the area on the right bank of the Rhine, exhibition hall 10.1 will serve as a refuge, while the Humboldtstrasse vocational college is open to those from the area on the left bank of the Rhine. A shuttle service for those affected also begins at 8 a.m. The customer centers downtown I and II as well as several cultural institutions within the evacuation radius, including the Lanxess Arena and the Philharmonic, will remain closed on June 4th.

The campaign is not the first of its kind in recent months. Already on March 14, 2025, an American five hundredweight bomb had to be defused in Cologne-Gremberghoven. There, too, a danger zone of 300 meters had to be cordoned off and around 85 people were affected by the evacuation. This shows how present and serious the topic of explosive ordnance disposal still is today, as summarized by Wikipedia. This includes the disposal of all types of explosive ordnance and is considered one of the important steps to ensure public safety.

The aspects of explosive ordnance disposal

Explosive ordnance disposal has a long history. After the Second World War, the removal of such things was initially a task for the Allied occupying powers. Today it is in the hands of the federal states and the respective explosive ordnance disposal services. In Germany there are special units for civil and military explosive ordnance disposal. As international practice shows, explosive ordnance disposal on different continents is carried out under similar auspices, often abbreviated as EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal).

On June 4, 2025, the people of Cologne will have no choice but to show patience and accept the temporary inconveniences while explosive ordnance disposal experts deal with the dangerous legacies of the war.