2014 and the allied WW2 bomber offensive is still claiming victims

Out of interest, can anyone recognise the device on the end of the diggers arm? looks more like a concrete breaking claw used in demolition than an digging bucket to me?

Yes it is a concrete breaking claw. I am surprised at the relative lack of damage to the digger for the size of the bomb, considering it is right next to the blast crater even if as others have said the force of the explosion seems to have gone straight up.

First thoughts are condolences to the family of the plant operator killed and hope those injured make a full recovery. I agree with Moggy’s comments on speculation, but something does seem a bit odd about this incident, though of course we only have the “facts” so far published in the press. Travelling through Germany last year and the year before I did note quite a few very large “recycling” centers on the outskirts of several towns, where every form of waste and demolition rubble go for processing and wonder if this is such a site? As others have said you would think German authorities and building/demolition companies would be a little more clued up than most and therefore pretty sensitive to anything large rusty and cylindrical – if indeed this item of ordnance was? But there is a heck of a lot of construction work going on in Germany at the moment – seems the whole of the autobahn network is being rebuilt and upgraded! Out of interest, can anyone recognise the device on the end of the diggers arm? looks more like a concrete breaking claw used in demolition than an digging bucket to me?

Firebird, In reference to you comments regarding the US 4,000 lb bombs.

They were stored in piles on the roadsides near our village in Bedfordshire, I never ever saw any of them moved so I asked one of the armourers about them and he told me that they were not able to fit them in the bomb bays of either the B-24 or the B-17.

Sure, they could be hung on the under-wing mounts, but throughout the war years I never saw a B-17 with a 4,000 lb mounted that way. They did carry the ‘winged’ bombs that way but they were probably only 2,000 lb.

What was I doing in a bomb dump? Delivering English newspapers to the Americans!

I don’t think that the damage is indicative of 4000lb of explosive, I’ve demmed a few thousand pounders at similar depths in my time and that’s what I believe it was. The detonation waves and sound waves will bounce off any low cloud base and travel for many miles. If we were to carry out a High order technique or there was a possibility of a High order from a low order technique then we had to check the cloud level base and if it was to low, no dem.

Indeed, wasn’t it something similar, regarding low cloud and atmosphere, that created the extent of blast damage/noise etc when the Buncefield Oil terminal went bang….?

found somewhere else, maybe Cologne… misleadingly identified as
“hot water boiler”… and then put on a truck for disposal and transported

With respect,I would have thought that any cylindrical object found in the ground amongst soil or spoil destined for a construction site Germany would be subject to scrutiny. Long before being consigned to the back of a tipper truck.

In the course of my day to day business activities, working frequently in London on excavations we always carry out a detailed ground scan before excavations commence. Any suspected ordnance immediately halts work and the area sectioned until confirmation of the suspect is confirmed. One assumes a similar practice takes place in Germany?

Yes, indeed… here`s a quote from an other article:

Experts say the problem will get worse before it gets better. For decades, bombs turned up during postwar building projects, sometimes with deadly results. That’s why construction projects in Germany today often require a Kampfmittelfreiheitsbescheinigung, or a permit certifying that the area is bomb-free, before work begins. Consultants pore over aerial photos from U.S. and British army archives for signs of unexploded ordnance.

Here, in the western Rhine/Ruhr area, it`s really awful.
Last year, a guy here in Wesel planned to build a garage in his garden. Bomb.
2010 – 2013, constructing a bypass road. Bomb, bomb, bomb…

And that`s only our small city.. I`m working in Essen! Just ask me how often I`m
stuck in a traffic jam because someone dug a hole in the ground, followed by the
usual bomb alarm, 1000 meter exclusion zones… etc.

But we are used to it…

A sad reminder of that dreadful conflict, are thoughts must go out to all those affected especially the poor digger driver and the others hurt. In the course of my day to day business activities, working frequently in London on excavations we always carry out a detailed ground scan before excavations commence. Any suspected ordnance immediately halts work and the area sectioned until confirmation of the suspect is confirmed. One assumes a similar practice takes place in Germany? I know there are UK maps detailing UXB sites, they are not complete by any stretch of the imagination and scenarios like this will doubtless be repeated for decades to come.

The speculation about it possibly being a cookie makes me wonder. They were very thin-cased and unlikely to penetrate deeply into the ground.

That`s right, Moggy.

It also makes me wonder… but it has happened before. That`s the Cookie they found in Dortmund, exactly 2 months
ago:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]224195[/ATTACH]

Could it have been dropped or dumped enroute to another target by flak or fighter damaged aircraft, if it was a cookie….?

Of course… just take a look:

http://goo.gl/maps/y0AgL

Cologne, the Ruhr in the north, or enroute to Frankfurt, Nürnberg, etc. All usual RAF targets.

I once did a war cemetery research for a member of this forum. His uncle was on a mission
to Nürnberg and shot down near Bonn, just 20 km away from Euskirchen. Therefore, it would be
possible.

In a way it seems a little disrespectful when the poor guy has just lost his life during the course of his everyday work. But nothing we can do will bring him back.

The speculation about it possibly being a cookie makes me wonder. They were very thin-cased and unlikely to penetrate deeply into the ground.

Doubtless we’ll find out eventually.

Moggy

English language video:
http://www.euronews.com/2014/01/03/wwii-bomb-kills-german-worker-in-euskirchen/

Judging on this pic, the blast was enormous, but predominantly went upwards. All blast,
“only” damaging windows and roofs within a 1 ml radius. Newest reports say it could be
heard as far as 30 km away.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]224188[/ATTACH]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25594000

I`d tend to agree that it indeed was a cookie. 1.8 tons… my *ss!
Question is how it got there, as the RAF didn`t attack Euskirchen, at least
not on such a large scale.

Could it have been dropped or dumped enroute to another target by flak or fighter damaged aircraft, if it was a cookie….??

Unless, it was a USAAF M56 4,000lb blockbuster, that was supposedly never used operationally by the USAAF in the ETO, despite photographic evidence a plenty of them in bomb dumps at UK/USAAF airfields from 1943 onwards…..:confused:

Different frequencies of sound can be felt/ heard for miles.We had a jet fighter break the sound barrier over our way last year and that was heard in an audio corridor for many miles http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sonic-boom-heard-in-three-counties-broke-windows-and-prompted-deluge-of-emergency-calls-8660951.html

You can`t compare a stationary explosion with a sonic boom…

It is a common misconception that only one boom is generated during the subsonic to supersonic transition, rather, the boom is continuous along the boom carpet for the entire supersonic flight.

Different frequencies of sound can be felt/ heard for miles.We had a jet fighter break the sound barrier over our way last year and that was heard in an audio corridor for many miles http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sonic-boom-heard-in-three-counties-broke-windows-and-prompted-deluge-of-emergency-calls-8660951.html

My condolences to those that have lost a loved one and property.

English language video:
http://www.euronews.com/2014/01/03/wwii-bomb-kills-german-worker-in-euskirchen/

Judging on this pic, the blast was enormous, but predominantly went upwards. All blast,
“only” damaging windows and roofs within a 1 ml radius. Newest reports say it could be
heard as far as 30 km away.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]224188[/ATTACH]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25594000

I`d tend to agree that it indeed was a cookie. 1.8 tons… my *ss!
Question is how it got there, as the RAF didn`t attack Euskirchen, at least
not on such a large scale. It`s somewhat frightening to imagine that it was
really found somewhere else, maybe Cologne… misleadingly identified as
“hot water boiler”… and then put on a truck for disposal and transported
through cities, villages, over bridges… My god. After all, we`ve been very lucky.

Condolences to the families affected

The third ‘cookie’ to turn up in the past year if it was such a device.

Firstly – what a terrible way to start the new year. The scale of the problem in Germany is shocking, if not all that surprising.

I think Blockbusters were used on specific missions, rather than being a general use bomb. That might tend to exclude it. 4000lb cookie seems more likely.

Bruce

Terrible news, but the loss of life and the injuring could have been so much worse.

Looks like a low order detonation given that the digger is still there.

A low order detonation which could be heard & felt 20 km away? Hmm…

Addendum:
Explosive Ordnance Disposal experts (Kampfmittelräumdienst) now think it was indeed a “Luftmine”,
an Aerial Mine, aka Blockbuster:

http://www.rp-online.de/nrw/panorama/explosion-in-nrw-war-es-wirklich-eine-weltkriegsbombe-aid-1.3921603

The USAAF didn`t use them, am I right?
As far as I know, their biggest one was 2000 lbs, used for submarine bunkers and such.

Must of been a big bomb to do that much damage!

Looks like a low order detonation given that the digger is still there.