World War II bomb disposal in Europe

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Technicians inspecting a British bomb unearthed in Koblenz, Germany in 2011 Fundort Luftmine 04 Koblenz 2011.jpg
Technicians inspecting a British bomb unearthed in Koblenz, Germany in 2011

The Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces dropped 2.7 million tonnes of bombs on Europe during World War II. [1] In the United Kingdom, the German Luftwaffe dropped more than 12,000 tonnes of bombs on London alone. [2] In 2018, the British Ministry of Defence reported that 450 World War II bombs were made safe or defused since 2010 by disposal teams. [3] Every year, an estimated 2,000 tons of World War II munitions are found in Germany, at times requiring the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents from their homes. [1] In Berlin alone, 1.8 million pieces of ordnance have been defused between 1947 and 2018. [4] Buried bombs, as well as mortars, land mines and grenades, are often found during construction work or other excavations, or by farmers tilling the land. [5]

Contents

Belgium

France

Germany

Great Britain

Italy

Poland

Slovenia

Areas with highest concentrations of unexploded ordinances from second world war are in Žužemberk and in Tezno, Maribor because of former airplane motor factory. According to research by the Geodetic Institute of Slovenia and colleagues using aerial photography done in 2024, there are still at least 30 unexploded bombs from the Second World War in the Maribor area. [68]

See also

References

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