Three bombs from the Second World War in Deutz successfully defused!

Three bombs from the Second World War in Deutz successfully defused!

Deutz, Köln, Deutschland - in the city center of Cologne, more precisely in the Deutz district, there was recently a explosive discovery: On Monday, June 2, 2025, three bombing flies from the Second World War were found. The Düsseldorf district government's ordnance disposal service (KBD) was in action on Wednesday evening, June 4, to defuse the situation. The experts have found that there were two American 20-centers bombs and a ten-century bomb, all equipped with service tilts. According to Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, this find was special, since it does not occur often that two 20-tentner bombs are found in one place.

The defusing was released at 6:20 p.m. and ran over an hour. Dirk Putzer, the technical operations manager of the KBD, expressed that the defusing of the smaller bomb caused some difficulties because the detonator was in a "desolate state". Nevertheless, the experts managed to successfully remove him. The terrain on the banks of the Rhine represented a challenge due to the prevailing stones in the soil that did not make the search easy.

evacuation of the city center

Before the defusing, an evacuation radius of 1,000 meters was determined, regarding around 20,500 residents: inside and working. In addition to the 58 hotels and numerous restaurants, schools, a hospital and nursing homes were also affected. The Eduardus Hospital, two retirement homes and parts of the city administration also had to be cleared. Even television channels like RTL were included in the evacuation, which started on Wednesday morning at 8 a.m. This led to the fact that the city center acted like a ghost town, while all those affected brought themselves to safety, the City of Cologne.

For those who had no private accommodation, two contact points were set up: the exhibition hall 10.1 for residents: inside from the right bank of the Rhine and the Humboldtstrasse vocational college, Perlengraben branch 101, for those from left bank of the Rhine. Commutery has been set up to facilitate the evacuation. The measure was the most extensive one that has been in Cologne since the end of World War II.

a historical problem

The die-off problem in North Rhine-Westphalia should not be underestimated. Around 5,000 of these bombs are found annually, between 1,500 and 2,000 in NRW. This is the result of targeted attacks on industry in the Ruhr area and the easier accessibility by the Allies in the course of the war. In Cologne, it is estimated that around 300,000 duds remained in the ground after the Second World War, which corresponds to a rate of 20 %. This shows that there is still a latent danger from the old explosive bodies, which can be uncovered not only during construction work, but also by aerial photo evaluations from the war, such as the Süddeutsche Zeitung explained.

Thanks to a precise analysis of the aerial photos from the time, the condition of the dudders is determined and the necessary measures are taken. The decision as to whether a bomb is mitigated or blown up always depends on the condition of the detonator and beyond the overall situation on site.

At the end of the day, cleaner was satisfied with the successful course of the missions and gave a thank you to the city of Cologne for the restoration of security in the area of ​​Deutzer shipyard.