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Officials discovered a non-functional bomb from World War II in Klettenberg Park in Cologne and needed to deal with it right away. Approximately 8,400 residents were instructed to leave a zone within 500 meters of the location.

Officials from the western German city of Cologne took action to neutralize a live bomb discovered in a park located in the southern part of the city.

A ten-hundredweight bomb, manufactured in Britain (approximately 450 kilograms), equipped with a rear-acting detonator needed immediate neutralization, according to city authorities.

“For this purpose, the hazardous area must be cordoned off and cleared,” the city stated, noting that the state’s bomb disposal teams and municipal law enforcement were present.

The last danger area was established at a distance of 500 meters by the bomb disposal team. Approximately 8,400 individuals will be impacted by the evacuation. The precise time when the bomb will be neutralized remains uncertain,” officials stated on Thursday afternoon.

A temporary refuge was established close by in a local school located in the Lindenthal neighborhood.

Frequent occurrence in Cologne, one of the first major targets in Germany

Bomb disposal activities are frequent in Cologne, with the latest incident occurring precisely one week prior, on November 27.

The city served as a significant industrial, cultural, and central hub for Nazi Germany throughout the conflict. It also stood out as one of the more feasible targets for bombing missions initiated from the British mainland prior to the D-Day invasions of 1944, when Germany controlled France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

Situated in western Germany, and somewhat closer to the north than the south, it was among the bigger cities located further inland — excluding the most easily reached northern ports such as Hamburg — that fell within the reach of early World War II bombers and where pilots took relatively less risk when flying over anti-aircraft defenses.

Cologne became the focus of the first “thousand bomber raids” carried out by the Royal Air Force of Britain during the summer of 1942, on the night of May 30 and 31. The attack notably destroyed a significant part of Cologne’s downtown area, while largely avoiding its famous cathedral located along the Rhine.

Edited by: Sean Sinico

Author: Mark Hallam (with material from the open source)