Operation Big Bang

Last updated

Operation Big Bang
The Destruction of Heligoland Defenses. April 1947, Still Taken From An Admiralty Documentary Film Processed For Scientific Purposes. the Camera Was Set Up on the Island of Dune, Half a Mile Away From Heligolan A31319.jpg
Blasting of the bunkers of Heligoland, seen from the neighboring island Düne
Date18 April 1947
Time13:00 CET (12:00 UTC)
LocationHeligoland, Germany
Coordinates 54°10′57″N7°53′07″E / 54.1825°N 7.885278°E / 54.1825; 7.885278
Also known asOperation British Bang
CauseDetonation

Operation Big Bang or British Bang was the explosive destruction of bunkers and other military installations on the island of Heligoland. The explosion used 7400 tons (6700 metric tons) of surplus World War II ammunition, which was placed in various locations around the island and detonated at 1 p.m. on 18 April 1947 by the Royal Navy. The energy released was 1.3×1013 J, or about 3.2 kilotons of TNT equivalent [1] making it the largest artificial non-nuclear explosion at that time. The objective of the blast was to destroy the bunkers and military installations on the North Sea island of Heligoland, but due to the enormous amount of explosives it was foreseen that the entire island might be destroyed. [2] The porous sandstone that makes up the island allowed the blast wave to escape so only the southern tip of the island was destroyed, but there was considerable damage to the northern tip.

Contents

Background

View of Heligoland before the destruction (circa 1920) The German Navy in the Second World War HU104923.jpg
View of Heligoland before the destruction (circa 1920)

Because of its location in the centre of the German Bight, near the mouths of the Weser, the Elbe, and the Kiel Canal, the waters around the island of Heligoland were the scene of four naval battles in 1849, 1864, 1914, and 1917. In 1807, the United Kingdom occupied the island, which had previously belonged to Denmark. In 1890, in the so-called Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty, the German Empire exchanged German territorial claims in Africa for the island of Heligoland in order to develop it into a naval fortress and later a naval base. According to the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, Article 115, the fortress was to be destroyed after the First World War. The work lasted from 1920 to 1922, but was not as thorough as originally envisaged; the basic structure was preserved. [3] During the Nazi period (1938), the never-completed "Project Lobster Claw" (Projekt Hummerschere) was started to make the island a military counterweight to the British naval base in Scapa Flow. After the end of World War II, the island was in the British occupation zone in Germany and served as a blasting and training ground between 1945 and 1952.

Explosion

Huge blast crater on the south side of Heligoland, called Kringel (2020) Der Kringel auf Helgoland Nordsee (50644868967).jpg
Huge blast crater on the south side of Heligoland, called Kringel (2020)

In April 1945, after a Royal Air Force bombing raid on Heligoland with about 1,000 bombers occurred on 18 April, the approximately 2,500 inhabitants were evacuated by the Wehrmacht garrison. [4] On 11 May 1945 the island was occupied by British forces. [5] In order to deny the uninhabited islands to the Germans as a potential naval base, the British began preparations to blow up the bunkers and military installations on Heligoland in 1947. They filled the Nordsee III submarine bunker in the southern harbour and the tunnel labyrinths with leftover munitions from the world wars. Since the preparations took longer than planned, the original deadline of 31 March could not be met. [6]

On 18 April 1947, exactly two years after the bombing raid, the Royal Navy detonated the bomb. Stacked were about 4,000 torpedo heads, nearly 9,000 depth charges and over 91,000 shells of various calibres. The blast was set off by British engineers aboard HMS Lasso from a distance of about 17 kilometres. The British staged this blast for the German public; there was a separate brochure about it. Almost 20 journalists watched directly from the steamer Danzig. A smaller explosion was used to scare away the birds. The main explosion occurred a few minutes later. A huge jet of fire and tons of rock shot into the sky. The tremors could be felt in Cuxhaven, 70 kilometres away. The mushroom cloud rose about nine kilometres (according to other sources, one kilometre) into the air. The explosion shook the island base to a depth of several kilometres.

Results

The island survived the blast, but the southern tip of the island, the rubble of which makes up today's Mittelland, was blown away. [7] Parts of the cliff also collapsed, and many craters were created. The harbour facilities and coastal protection walls remained intact, and the surviving civil air raid shelters today attract up to 10,000 tourists annually. The only building to survive the blast was the flak tower, today's Heligoland Lighthouse. [8] The detonation could be registered seismographically in Germany and used to study the Earth's crust. [9] In 1952, after protests by the residents, the people of Heligoland were allowed to repopulate the island. Today, on the anniversary of the demolition, a memorial service is held in the civil defence bunker.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bunker</span> Defensive military storage fortification

A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. They were used extensively in World War I, World War II, and the Cold War for weapons facilities, command and control centers, and storage facilities. Bunkers can also be used as protection from tornadoes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heligoland</span> Two islands in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

Heligoland is a small archipelago in the North Sea. A part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein since 1890, the islands were historically possessions of Denmark, then became the possessions of the United Kingdom from 1807 to 1890, and briefly managed as a war prize from 1945 to 1952.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty</span> 1890 British-German treaty

The Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty was an agreement signed on 1 July 1890 between Germany and the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research</span>

The Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research is located in Bremerhaven, Germany, and a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres. It conducts research in the Arctic, the Antarctic, and the high and mid latitude oceans. Additional research topics are: North Sea research, marine biological monitoring, and technical marine developments. The institute was founded in 1980 and is named after meteorologist, climatologist, and geologist Alfred Wegener.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lager Sylt</span> Nazi concentration camp

Lager Sylt was a Nazi concentration camp on Alderney in the British Crown Dependency in the Channel Islands. Built in 1942, along with three other labour camps by the Organisation Todt, the control of Lager Sylt changed from March 1943 to June 1944 when it was run by the Schutzstaffel - SS-Baubrigade 1 and Lager Sylt became a subcamp of the Neuengamme concentration camp .

Lager Helgoland was a labour camp on Alderney in the Channel Islands, named after the Frisian Island of Heligoland, formerly a Danish and then British possession located 46 kilometres (29 mi) off the German North Sea coastline and belonging to Germany since 1890.

There have been many extremely large explosions, accidental and intentional, caused by modern high explosives, boiling liquid expanding vapour explosions (BLEVEs), older explosives such as gunpowder, volatile petroleum-based fuels such as gasoline, and other chemical reactions. This list contains the largest known examples, sorted by date. An unambiguous ranking in order of severity is not possible; a 1994 study by historian Jay White of 130 large explosions suggested that they need to be ranked by an overall effect of power, quantity, radius, loss of life and property destruction, but concluded that such rankings are difficult to assess.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valentin submarine pens</span> Architectural structure

The Valentin submarine factory is a protective shelter on the Weser River at the Bremen suburb of Rekum, built to protect German U-boats during World War II. The factory was under construction from 1943 to March 1945 using forced labour, but was damaged by air-raids and unfinished by the end of the war. The Valentin factory was the largest fortified U-boat facility in Germany, and was second only to those built at Brest in France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of the Gulf of Riga</span> World War I naval operation

The Battle of the Gulf of Riga was a World War I naval operation of the German High Seas Fleet against the Russian Baltic Fleet in the Gulf of Riga in the Baltic Sea in August 1915. The operation's objective was to destroy the Russian naval forces in the Gulf in preparation for landing German troops to facilitate the fall of Riga in the later stages of the Central Powers' offensive on the Eastern Front in 1915. The German fleet, however, failed to achieve its objective and was forced to return to its bases; Riga remained in Russian hands until it fell to the German Army on 1 September 1917.

SMS V45 was a 1913 Type large torpedo boat of the Imperial German Navy during World War I. V45 was built by AG Vulcan at their Stettin shipyard, being launched on 29 March 1915 and completed on 30 September that year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Heligoland (1849)</span> Naval battle of the First Schleswig War

The first Battle of Heligoland took place on 4 June 1849 during the First Schleswig War and pitted the fledgling Reichsflotte against the Royal Danish Navy, which had blocked German naval trade in North Sea and Baltic Sea since early 1848. The outcome was inconclusive, with no casualties, and the blockade went on. It remained the only battle of the German fleet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heligoland radio tower</span> Transmission tower in Germany

Heligoland radio tower is a 113-metre (371 ft) high transmission tower on the island of Heligoland in Germany. It is owned by the Deutsche Telekom. It was constructed in 2000, replacing an older, lower mast that was subsequently demolished, and has some unusual characteristics. It uses a triangular base and, despite being a free-standing tower, is supported by guy wires as well. A few months after its 2000 installation, local authorities sought the sale of municipal land on the Düne area of Heligoland island for private building and operational purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heligoland Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse on the island of Heligoland, Germany

Heligoland Lighthouse is located on Germany's only offshore island, Heligoland. Constructed during World War II as an anti-aircraft tower, it was turned into a lighthouse in 1952. It features the strongest light on the German North Sea coast with a range of 28 nautical miles (52 km) so that it can be seen as far as on the East Frisian or the North Frisian islands and Halligen. The lighthouse is operated by the Tönning water and shipping authority.

German submarine U-378 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.

SMS V6 was a V1-class torpedo boat of the Imperial German Navy. The ship was built by AG Vulcan, completing in 1913. She served in the First World War with the German High Seas Fleet, taking part in the Battle of Jutland. After the war, she served with the Weimar Republic's Reichsmarine until stricken in 1929 and was subsequently broken up.

SMS G10 was a V1-class large torpedo boat of the Imperial German Navy. She was built by the Germaniawerft shipyard at Kiel between 1911 and 1912, completing on 28 August 1912.

SMS G12 was a V1-class large torpedo boat of the Imperial German Navy. She was built by the Germaniawerft shipyard at Kiel between 1911 and 1912.

The Tiefwasserreede is an exclave of Germany's territorial waters in the German Bight, used as a roadstead for shipping waiting for access to the Port of Hamburg, Ports of Bremen and other North Sea ports. The exclave lies around 30 kilometres west of Heligoland, outside the 12 mile limit that usually defines territorial waters, but remains German territory under Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea which makes an exception for roadsteads. It legally forms part of the state of Lower Saxony and is completely surrounded by the German exclusive economic zone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2023 Heligoland ship collision</span> Fatal crash in the North Sea

On 24 October 2023, one person was killed and four others disappeared after two cargo ships, the Isle of Man-flagged Verity and the Bahamian-flagged Polesie, collided in the North Sea near Germany's Heligoland islands, with the Verity sinking.

References

  1. ↑ Willmore, PL (1949). "Seismic Experiments on the North German Explosions, 1946 to 1947". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society . 242 (843): 123–151. Bibcode:1949RSPTA.242..123W. doi: 10.1098/rsta.1949.0007 . ISSN   0080-4614. JSTOR   91443.
  2. ↑ Katja Iken (2017-04-18). "Inselsprengung in der Nordsee – Hell-Go-Land!" (in German). Spiegel-online. Archived from the original on 2017-04-18. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  3. ↑ Claude Fröhle, Hans-Jürgen Kühn: Hochseefestung Helgoland. Eine militärgeschichtliche Entdeckungsreise. Teil 1: 1891–1922, Herbolzheim 1998, S. 69.
  4. ↑ NDR. April 1945: Helgoland im Bombenhagel Archived 2019-07-17 at the Wayback Machine , 22 August 2012; retrieved am: 19 January 2019.
  5. ↑ Der Spiegel: Inselsprengung in der Nordsee Hell-Go-Land! Archived 2021-02-28 at the Wayback Machine , 18 April 2017; retrieved am: 19 January 2018.
  6. ↑ Helgoland muß zerstört werden. Archived 2020-10-25 at the Wayback Machine In: Der Spiegel. 2/1947.
  7. ↑ Regina Kusch, Andreas Beckmann: Festung, Seebad, Labor. Helgolands Entwicklung nach dem großen Knall. In: Deutschlandradio. 18 April 2007. (online auf: dradio.de) Archived 2013-10-29 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ Leuchttürme auf den Nordseeinseln, nordwestwind.de "Die Nordwest-Homepage – Leuchttürme auf den Nordseeinseln". Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2022.(in German)
  9. ↑ G. A. Schulze: Anfänge der Krustenseismik "Zur Geschichte der Geophysik (29.02.2008)". Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2022.(in German)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.