World War II Bomb Causes Mass Evacuation In France

[Aperonia]

http://gizmodo.com/a-500-pound-bomb-fro ... 1662563136

A weapon from seven decades ago created a crisis in France this week. A team digging out a new metro line in Rennes, France found an enormous 550-lb. bomb from World War II lodged in the ground near City Hall. Over 3,000 people had to evacuate their homes.

According to mayor Nathalie Appere, a bomb squad successfully defused the device, which had over 150 pounds of explosives still inside. The people ordered to evacuate a perimeter of nearly 300 yards are now able to go home, safe from this particular munition but now aware of one of the scariest legacies of WWII: An untold number of bombs lie dormant and scattered throughout the continent.

Germany is basically a terrifying graveyard for Allied bombs; just last August Frankfurt Airport had to delay flights after someone discovered an undetonated explosive. And in 2011, over 45,000 people had to evacuate after a 1.8-ton bomb was found in the Rhine River. All in all, over 2,000 tons of old bombs are discovered in Germany every year.

To make matters worse, the bombs get harder to defuse as they degrade with age. While deaths from these relics of warfare are rare, they're not unheard of-an excavator died in Germany earlier this year. If nothing else, it's a grim reminder that violence can linger in unintended ways.

Well this is a bit of a surprise right here. A 500 Ib. bomb from World War II causes a mass evacuation of 3,000 in a French town. Maybe this isn't surprising to everyone else since stuff like this happens on occasions, but for me, I am surprised on how the hell the French Government didn't discover the bomb until now. I thought they would've discovered the bomb way back then, but apparently, I am wrong. Maybe they should do better on finding bombs from World War II and make sure that they're diffused before they further age and become harder to diffuse.

[SuperFruitland]

But what if Germany secretly planted the bomb there to cause a destabilization of the area and allow an invasion???

*super plot twist*


But seriously, France and Germany should plant a small area of focus on removing bombs from metropolitan areas...

[Soviet Haaregrad]

Considering how much UXO they're still finding from World War 1, it shouldn't be surprising that they're still finding it from WWII too.

[Baltenstein]

This happens so often in Germany that specialising on defusing hidden WW2 bombs is an actual job profession.

[Saiwania]

I think the risk of unexploded ordinance detonating is exaggerated, I wouldn't be too afraid if it is rusted out or hasn't aged well.

[California Prime]

A couple of things
1--A bomb can get buried in the ground at any time during the war, and then get covered with debris from other bombings before the war is over with (or maybe even the same night). By the time cleanup and rebuilding started after the war, the bomb may have had several feet of dirt and debris covering it.
2--The Marshal plan required the extremely rapid rebuilding of a decimated western Europe in a very short amount of time, this was to ensure that the public did not start having bitter feelings about the western democracies and start siding with communist revolutionaries. When that kind of construction happens that quickly, things will be missed.
3--I've heard that in fields around France and Germany it is still somewhat common to find unexploded hand grenades and artillery shells from the first world war, and in at least one case a potato pulled from one of these fields had a live, decades old grenade inside of it.
4--Then you have to wonder about former mine fields, a few in Europe but many in Afganistan, north africa, Burma, and other former war sites that were never fully cleared afterwards.

[The Arctic Kingdom]

This is actually quite a terrifying issue, I remember back when I lived near Frankfurt am Main, we had to evacuate the area for a day or two because an un-detonated bomb was found near my school. I would propose spending a significant amount of resources on finding and diffusing still-intact un-detonated bombs in Franc and Germany left over from WWII

[Olerand]

There was one that was discovered not too long ago in Munich, I believe.

It could not be defused, and thus had to be detonated.

[NERVUN]

This pops up in Japan all the time as well.

[Aperonia]

This pops up in Japan all the time as well.

I suppose it isn't surprising at all.

Never really payed attention to all the remnants from the World Wars.

[Anollasia]

Didn't see that coming.

[NERVUN]

This pops up in Japan all the time as well.

I suppose it isn't surprising at all.

Never really payed attention to all the remnants from the World Wars.

Admittedly, Japan gets it coming AND going. Not only does it constantly find unexploded US bombs, it keeps running into stockpiles of Imperial Japanese Military bombs that were buried at the end of the war.

[Aperonia]

I suppose it isn't surprising at all.

Never really payed attention to all the remnants from the World Wars.

Admittedly, Japan gets it coming AND going. Not only does it constantly find unexploded US bombs, it keeps running into stockpiles of Imperial Japanese Military bombs that were buried at the end of the war.

Yeah, definitely not a surprise there.

[Dakran]

A couple of things
1--A bomb can get buried in the ground at any time during the war, and then get covered with debris from other bombings before the war is over with (or maybe even the same night). By the time cleanup and rebuilding started after the war, the bomb may have had several feet of dirt and debris covering it.
2--The Marshal plan required the extremely rapid rebuilding of a decimated western Europe in a very short amount of time, this was to ensure that the public did not start having bitter feelings about the western democracies and start siding with communist revolutionaries. When that kind of construction happens that quickly, things will be missed.
3--I've heard that in fields around France and Germany it is still somewhat common to find unexploded hand grenades and artillery shells from the first world war, and in at least one case a potato pulled from one of these fields had a live, decades old potato inside of it.
4--Then you have to wonder about former mine fields, a few in Europe but many in Afganistan, north africa, Burma, and other former war sites that were never fully cleared afterwards.

Uhh...

[Mad hatters in jeans]

A couple of things
1--A bomb can get buried in the ground at any time during the war, and then get covered with debris from other bombings before the war is over with (or maybe even the same night). By the time cleanup and rebuilding started after the war, the bomb may have had several feet of dirt and debris covering it.
2--The Marshal plan required the extremely rapid rebuilding of a decimated western Europe in a very short amount of time, this was to ensure that the public did not start having bitter feelings about the western democracies and start siding with communist revolutionaries. When that kind of construction happens that quickly, things will be missed.
3--I've heard that in fields around France and Germany it is still somewhat common to find unexploded hand grenades and artillery shells from the first world war, and in at least one case a potato pulled from one of these fields had a live, decades old potato inside of it.
4--Then you have to wonder about former mine fields, a few in Europe but many in Afganistan, north africa, Burma, and other former war sites that were never fully cleared afterwards.

Mother of god.

[Laerod]

http://gizmodo.com/a-500-pound-bomb-from-world-war-ii-caused-a-mass-evacua-1662563136

A weapon from seven decades ago created a crisis in France this week. A team digging out a new metro line in Rennes, France found an enormous 550-lb. bomb from World War II lodged in the ground near City Hall. Over 3,000 people had to evacuate their homes.

According to mayor Nathalie Appere, a bomb squad successfully defused the device, which had over 150 pounds of explosives still inside. The people ordered to evacuate a perimeter of nearly 300 yards are now able to go home, safe from this particular munition but now aware of one of the scariest legacies of WWII: An untold number of bombs lie dormant and scattered throughout the continent.

Germany is basically a terrifying graveyard for Allied bombs; just last August Frankfurt Airport had to delay flights after someone discovered an undetonated explosive. And in 2011, over 45,000 people had to evacuate after a 1.8-ton bomb was found in the Rhine River. All in all, over 2,000 tons of old bombs are discovered in Germany every year.

To make matters worse, the bombs get harder to defuse as they degrade with age. While deaths from these relics of warfare are rare, they're not unheard of-an excavator died in Germany earlier this year. If nothing else, it's a grim reminder that violence can linger in unintended ways.

Well this is a bit of a surprise right here. A 500 Ib. bomb from World War II causes a mass evacuation of 3,000 in a French town. Maybe this isn't surprising to everyone else since stuff like this happens on occasions, but for me, I am surprised on how the hell the French Government didn't discover the bomb until now. I thought they would've discovered the bomb way back then, but apparently, I am wrong. Maybe they should do better on finding bombs from World War II and make sure that they're diffused before they further age and become harder to diffuse. :P

Yeah, this isn't the least bit special, to be honest. Cataloguing where every bomb fell during war is not feasible, so obviously there's still tons of ordinance around.

[The Nihilistic view]

This happens all the time around Europe, and other places besides. We are talking multiple occurrences per day in many countries of UXO being found, from hand grenades to thousand pound bombs and above.

[Risottia]

Well this is a bit of a surprise right here. A 500 Ib. bomb from World War II causes a mass evacuation of 3,000 in a French town. Maybe this isn't surprising to everyone else since stuff like this happens on occasions, but for me, I am surprised on how the hell the French Government didn't discover the bomb until now.

Eh? A surprise?
Here in Italy - especially the northern regions, which were bombed more heavily - it is quite standard. In Lombardy alone we have an average of 2-3 evacuations for bomb defusing per year.
Also, discovering unexploded airplane bombs, especially the bigger ones, isn't that easy. They tend to end up some metres underground and then to be covered by the ground. If they dropped in what were rural areas at the time, they wouldn't be discovered. Now that our cities are expanding further, when we dig to lay the foundations for new buildings we find them. Sometimes even inside the cities.

[Dumb Ideologies]

Whup, time to surrender all over again~!

someone had to say it

[The Huskar Social Union]

Huh interesting, heard about this kind of stuff happening all the time across the mainland, thankfully it did not go off and no one was hurt, would be a tragedy if it did.

Whup, time to surrender all over again~!

someone had to say it

Boo Dumb Ideologies boo.

It was a bit funny

[Laerod]

Well this is a bit of a surprise right here. A 500 Ib. bomb from World War II causes a mass evacuation of 3,000 in a French town. Maybe this isn't surprising to everyone else since stuff like this happens on occasions, but for me, I am surprised on how the hell the French Government didn't discover the bomb until now.

Eh? A surprise?
Here in Italy - especially the northern regions, which were bombed more heavily - it is quite standard. In Lombardy alone we have an average of 2-3 evacuations for bomb defusing per year.
Also, discovering unexploded airplane bombs, especially the bigger ones, isn't that easy. They tend to end up some metres underground and then to be covered by the ground. If they dropped in what were rural areas at the time, they wouldn't be discovered. Now that our cities are expanding further, when we dig to lay the foundations for new buildings we find them. Sometimes even inside the cities.

There was one in my general neighborhood a couple months ago. Construction workers dug up a bomb and when the disposal crew showed up, they were utterly shocked that the fools had completely uncovered it =O

[Risottia]

I wonder how many unexploded bombs one could still find in Vietnam, considering the sheer amount of ordnance used there.

[Ainin]

While deaths from these relics of warfare are rare, they're not unheard of-an excavator died in Germany earlier this year.

Isn't an excavator a mechanical plow?

[Risottia]

While deaths from these relics of warfare are rare, they're not unheard of-an excavator died in Germany earlier this year.

Isn't an excavator a mechanical plow?

Not just that.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/excavator

[Ainin]

Isn't an excavator a mechanical plow?

Not just that.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/excavator

Right, that makes more sense. Danke.