Defusing an aerial bomb in Augsburg at Christmas 2016

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Reason for the large-scale evacuation in Augsburg: a 1.8 ton air mine, similar to the one shown here from Koblenz
Size comparison of the British 500, 1000, 2000, 4000 and 12,000 pound bombs. The one found in Augsburg in 2016 had 4000 pounds.

When a bomb was defused in Augsburg at Christmas 2016 , around 54,000 residents of the Bavarian city ​​of Augsburg were brought to safety. It was the largest evacuation in Germany to date after the Second World War .

The bomb

The British air mine was found in the city center on December 20, 2016. It was found during construction work for an underground car park on Jakoberwall. The site was on the edge of the Jakobervorstadt district near the Jakobertor , not far from the historic Fuggerei in the densely built-up district east of the city center.

It came from the air raids on Augsburg from August 17, 1940 to 1945; the largest of these on the night of February 25th to 26th, 1944, when 336 bombs of this type were dropped by the Royal Air Force, among others .

The 1.8 tonne type HC 4000 high- explosive bomb was 2.80 m long with a diameter of 76 cm and filled with 1.5 t of explosives ( Amatol ). It had three detonators . Bombs of this type were used to cause damage to buildings with their detonation waves , in particular to cover roofs so that the subsequently dropped incendiary bombs could better penetrate the interior of the building.

The evacuation and defusing

The air mine was successfully defused in a period of almost four hours on December 25, 2016. The defusing was deliberately placed on the holiday on which companies and offices were closed. In addition, many residents were already away on Christmas Eve.

A similarly complex evacuation took place in Koblenz on December 4, 2011 , during which 45,000 residents had to leave their homes to defuse a British air mine and other ordnance.

The bomb is to be documented in the future Museum of Bavarian History in Regensburg and possibly exhibited there.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ dpa: 1.8-ton aircraft bomb successfully defused in Augsburg. In: welt.de . December 25, 2016, accessed December 26, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Air bomb discovery: evacuation on December 25th, December 21st, 2016, City of Augsburg
  3. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from September 4, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.br.de
  4. ↑ http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/augsburg/Warum-zuendet-die-Bombe-nicht-id40041162.html
  5. ↑ mkl / ler / AFP / dpa: Air bomb in Augsburg defused: 1.8 tons of relief. In: Spiegel Online . December 25, 2016, accessed December 26, 2016 .
  6. ↑ Augsburg air mine is documented in the Museum of Bavarian History , December 27, 2016, wochenblatt.de

Coordinates: 48 ° 22 ′ 11 "  N , 10 ° 54 ′ 35"  E