Half a German city evacuated after two-ton 'Blockbuster' RAF bomb is found at the bottom of the Rhine

Almost half the German city of Koblenz is under evacuation orders as experts prepare to defuse a two-ton ‘Blockbuster’ RAF bomb in the Rhine. The 10ft bomb, one of the biggest in the wartime arsenal of Bomber Command, was discovered after 65 years when the river level dropped during the driest November on record.

The fuse is badly corroded, and the authorities are evacuating 45,000 of Koblenz’s 120,000 population to leave a security zone of a mile around the bomb - which is capable of destroying an entire city block. The evacuation - the biggest in German postwar history - will involve fleets of buses and 1,000 volunteers helping police and firemen. It is due to take place on Sunday so as not to disrupt Saturday Christmas shopping.

Some 700 patients at two hospitals will have to be moved, as well as the residents of seven old people’s homes and prisoners in a local jail. The city’s main train station will also have to be emptied as well as several hotels. Authorities this week built a temporary dam of some 350 sandbags around the bomb which is covered by just 16 inches of water.


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