Second World War bomb forces 13,000 people to evacuate in Germany

Unexploded device dropped by US military is found on Dusseldorf building site

A Dusseldorf resident brought her cat as she left her apartment while the wartime bomb was deactivated. Getty Images

An unexploded allied bomb from the Second World War forced 13,000 people to evacuate their homes overnight in Germany.

The 500kg US explosive was found on a building site in Dusseldorf in western Germany.

It was deactivated by a bomb disposal team in the early hours of Tuesday as residents took cover in school buildings.

Emergency workers cleared a 500-metre radius as they defused the device. A railway line was blocked and the wait was prolonged by people “refusing to leave the danger area”, authorities said.

Such finds are not unusual in Germany. A British bomb was destroyed in a controlled explosion in Hamburg in the north last month.

Allies forces heavily bombed German cities and industrial heartlands in the closing stages of the war.

The American bomb was found on a building site more than 78 years after the end of the war. Getty

Updated: August 08, 2023, 8:14 AM