Drei 1000 kg schwere Bomben aus dem Zweiten Weltkrieg, die bei einer kontrollierten Explosion in Göttingen gezündet wurden, ließen Container hoch in die Luft fliegen

**Edit: Each bomb weighed 500kg and not 1000kg as I mistakenly noted in the title.**

On October 12th three WW2 bombs were detonated in Göttingen (Germany). All three bombs weighed 500kg each and couldn’t be defused, so the explosive ordnance disposal service made the decision to blast the bombs in a controlled explosion. To minimize damage for surrounding buildings multiple cargo containers filled with water were stacked around and on top of the bombs to catch the blast wave, some of these containers were sent flying high into the air as seen on the image. 11.000 people were evacuated from their homes for around 12 hours, 33 people that refused to leave were issued fines and 2 people were taken into custody. No injuries were reported, the roof of one building was slightly damaged.

[https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/niedersachsen/braunschweig_harz_goettingen/Drei-Blindgaenger-in-Goettingen-kontrolliert-gesprengt,bombensondierung108.html](https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/niedersachsen/braunschweig_harz_goettingen/Drei-Blindgaenger-in-Goettingen-kontrolliert-gesprengt,bombensondierung108.html)

Edit: Video source from the day before the detonation showing the safety precautions that were taken to contain the blast energy (provided by u/FuF_vlagun ) in an answer to my post: [https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/hallo-niedersachsen/goettingen-letzte-vorbereitungen-fuer-bombenentschaerfung/ndr/Y3JpZDovL25kci5kZS8xMTk5ZWQyNi1iNWZiLTQ5MjQtYTQ1MC0zODQ5M2QwYmQ5NTU](https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/hallo-niedersachsen/goettingen-letzte-vorbereitungen-fuer-bombenentschaerfung/ndr/Y3JpZDovL25kci5kZS8xMTk5ZWQyNi1iNWZiLTQ5MjQtYTQ1MC0zODQ5M2QwYmQ5NTU)

A Zentner is 50 kg so the bombs were 500 kg each

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So many undetonated bombs. They really sucked at making them work 100%?

I remember, when they tried to detonate a bomb like that in Göttingen. The bomb just exploded and the bomb squad didnt make it. must be 10-15 years ago

Do it again Bomber Harris

These were three 500kg bombs, each with a chemical longtime detonator which can’t be disarmed. The bombs were remains of the attack on Göttingen at 1/1/1945, carried out by some B17s, aiming for the freight depot of the city. Unfortunately they missed most of it and instead hit the area of the Schützenplatz, destroying a camp for forced laborers and killing ca. 40 persons there.

The disarming works by the Kampfmittelräumdienst have been ongoing now for a couple of years already and since most of the bombs are in an area between a sports arena, regular houses, a church and a bus station, they developed the so called ‘Göttinger Modell’ to decrease the risks of the explosions as much as possible. Usually they will put a massive lid on top of the bombs, in this case after flooding the craters with water. Weeks before this, they will put literally a small mountain of freight containers over the bombs, each containing 24.000-27.000 liters of water to block the shock wave.

They will also evacuate a radius of 1000m around the place, each time forcing ca. 11.000 people to leave their homes. The police controlls the ways into the area with drones, helicopters and ground units, checking each building with infrared cameras for remaining people. There’s evacuation busses, centers where you can stay until it’s done and the THW and red cross take care of the people.

Should anyone enter the area, the police escorts them back out immidiately and the work will be stopped until the area is clear again.

Yesterday, only the roof of a near by house was slightly damaged and it will be repaired in one day’s work. Last year the bombs were even closer to some buildings and the only relevant thing damaged was a window or two.

But go on guys, tell the Kampfmittelräumdienst how all you 14year olds know better how to blow up 1.500kg of explosives in the middle of a city without destroying the whole place.

And no, this kind of bombs can’t be ‘brought out of the city’. The detonator inside is usually blocked only by corrosion or a wrong position of the bomb in the ground. Even vibrations can be enough to make them explode. This happened at very same place in the early 90ies, when a bus was approaching the station. The vibrations of the engine made a bomb explode right under it in 7m depth, resulting in several severly injured people.
In 2010 one of the bombs to be disarmed in that year exploded by itself before the workers were ready, tearing three of them into pieces. That’s why you can’t move these shit things around.
In 2022 they found a bomb with a regular impact detonator literally in the middle of Göttingen directly next to the Altes Auditorium. It was found during construction works and already put onto a truck, because it wasn’t visible under all the surrounding earth and bricks. They had to perform an emergency disarming and evacuate the whole area within an hour and even then, everything went fine.