By Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief
COLOGNE/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – The biggest evacuation in the German city of Cologne since the Second World War is underway after the discovery of three unexploded bombs dropped by Allied forces 80 years ago.
Officials said about 20,000 people have to leave their homes and businesses, while hotels, a care home for elderly people, and a hospital are being evacuated. Three bridges over the Rhine have been closed, and rail traffic has been halted or diverted.
Broadcaster RTL had to switch its news programming to studios in Berlin as it is located within the evacuation area, officials said.
The bombs were due to be defused on Wednesday morning.
They are U.S.-produced bombs, two of 20 tons and one of 10 tons, authorities announced.
The explosives were reportedly discovered Monday on the right bank of the Rhine during building works near the Deutz shipworks. According to experts, all three are equipped with impact fuzes intended to cause detonation on contact with a hard surface.
The local Cologne Bonn Airport warned that the operation would have a significant impact. Cologne “is planning to defuse a bomb in the Deutz district on Wednesday, 4 June 2025 at 8 a.m. The danger zone will be cordoned off and evacuated within a radius of 1,000 m² [10763,91 square feet],” the Airport added.
“According to the city of Cologne, this is the largest operation of its kind since the end of the Second World War.
No disruption to flight operations is expected. However, traveling to the airport by public transport via Cologne’s main railway stations or Deutz/Messe may be difficult.”
It noted that numerous roads in the Cologne city area “will be closed for the duration of the defusing of the three unexploded bombs by the Düsseldorf district government’s explosive ordnance disposal service.”
The discovery did not come as a surprise for the elderly in the city: During World War II, Cologne was hit in 262 air raids carried out by Britain’s Royal Air Force, sometimes using U.S.-produced bombs, especially towards the end of the armed conflict. About 20,000 people were killed in the bombing raids, according to historians.
On the night of May 30, 1942, the city was the target of the RAF’s first “thousand-bomber raid” on a German town.
More than 1,000 aircraft were dispatched, flying in a narrow “bomber stream” formation, the density of which overwhelmed German radar and defenses.
On this single night, 868 bombers attacked the city with 1,455 tons of bombs in what was known as Operation Millennium.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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