Europe for Newbies - Impact on trip from WWII bomb findings possible

In my hometown Nuremberg such bombs are found about every week (the most recent was discovered 12 days ago). In most cases, you don't hear anything about it until it's defused. A few times a year the bomb is actually so big that a few thousand people have to be evacuated for a few hours or a day. Then they go to relatives and friends; those who don't have any stay overnight in a mass accommodation set up by the Red Cross. No big deal, you're used to it. And I cannot remember that there was ever torn apart an hyperanxious tourist;)

but it is a shame that 75 years on the local citizenry are still living the war, to one degree or another.

In England they find a big bomb every few months, usually in or around the Thames and it makes the paper and TV when it is blown up, and then forgotten about.

My father's family was bombed out 3 times during the war - a consequence of living near the railway and the gasworks I suppose, and leftover bombs from raids on Bristol and Cardiff had to be dropped somewhere - but you wouldn't expect raids on Cheltenham... my parents never spoke about it but my uncle did, and he was near the house for two of the three. (all survived)

In some areas, it's WWI bombs that are the problem.

In FRY (Former Republic Yugoslavia), it's land mines. There, the idea of a carefree walk in the woods requires checking - was this an area with minefields?

In the USA, we don't live with the detritus from former conflicts. Our civil war left some reminders behind, but few bombs.

Mark, thanks for the interesting post.

On the Rick Steves Belgium and Holland tour last April the farmer where we had lunch during the WWI cemetery/battlefield day had just plowed up 5 unexploded shells from WWI that week. He had them set aside and said the Belgium Army ordnance disposal team was expected to come out the next week to dispose of them.

Plenty of WWI ordnance near Ypres. The farmers just set it on the side of the road until it gets picked up. I saw something on tv on the SS Montgomery and would stay well clear of that body of water. Cala, assuming you’re referring to the civil war, I doubt you literally remember it and nobody today is in danger of unexploded ordnance or stepping on a land mine. No idea what rebuilding has to do with the dangers of unexploded ordnance. Maybe I’m missing something.

If one goes to Vimy today, you'll see part of it is "off limits" due to the possibility of unexplored shells from WW1.

Very true about the South, and acute suffering it went through due to a wanton policy of scorched earth carried out by Sherman.

No idea what rebuilding has to do with the dangers of unexploded ordnance. Maybe I’m missing something.

@ jaimeelsabio,
Unexploded bombs buried themselves in the mud, then were possibly covered up from the mud thrown up by other bombs exploding. In the immediate post war years rebuilding was done, now those buildings are being replaced with new buildings with deeper foundations. You can guess the rest.

They found one here in Basel (Switzerland) a few years ago. 1950's houses near the station being replaced by an office block. Apparently some US planes got lost, saw a rail yard that looked unbombed and never put 2 and 2 together.

In London they find them when dredging the Thames, into which they fell.

Chris F, I was referring to there being little to no danger of unexploded ordnance from the U.S. civil war. I should have been clearer. The danger in Europe and many other places around the world is all too real and is frequently in the news.

And I think the Swiss city of Schaffhausen did get bombed, by mistake.

They find bombs in Frankfurt and the surrounding area on almost a monthly basis. Last year, it was 2 of them in the Main near the Alte Brücke, which they decided to explode on Palm Sunday. Check out the youtube videos. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/14/europe/world-war-ii-bomb-detonated-frankfurt-trnd/index.html
Last year ago, it was a bomb with 500kg of TNT in it near the ECB. 16,000 had to evacuate.
2 years ago, it was a bomb weighing 1.4 tons. They made 65,000 people evacuate their homes on a Sun. morning by 8 and they weren't allowed to return until 21:00 that night. The area evacuated included a hospital and a retirement home. Museums and restaurants were either free or heavily discounted for the residents. The now-empty bomb is sitting in the Historic Museum. When they find them near the airport, they have to stop air traffic. When they find them near hotels, they make the hotel evacuate for the defusing. The Radisson in Frankfurt had to evacuate 3 times in 3 weeks a few years ago. One of my friends has had to leave her apt. 3 times in the past 2 years for small bombs to be defused at night. Near Limburg last year, a bomb did explode in the middle of the night, thankfully out in a farmers field. When the Rhein was very low about 8 years ago, they found exposed bombs by Koblenz and about half the city had to evacuate for the day for the defusing. This was 35,000 people and included hospitals and retirement homes. In Munich a few years ago, they decided to blow it up rather than defuse it and it ended up shattering quite a few windows.

This is an interesting topic, not a great concern while traveling, but a bit of history worth discussing.

From a risk standpoint, rivers these days are where the worst ones are found, very large bombs could bury themselves in the mud relatively intact.

There was an interesting article in the Smithsonian that talked about another variation on the problem, chemical time delay fuses that required the bomb to be nose down to work. Problem was that in some soil types near water, the bomb would penetrate the soil, then deflect up so it was nose up, leaving both unexploded main charge and an active fuse. Link to article here for some Sunday reading.... https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/seventy-years-world-war-two-thousands-tons-unexploded-bombs-germany-180957680/

And latest news, they've just discovered another one, in Turin: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50622518
10,000 evacuated on Sunday as a precautionary measure while they defused it.

Years ago, BBC ran a serial called "unexploded bombs". It was about a special group during WWII in England whose job it was to defuse unexploded bombs, the efforts by the German's to bobbytrap such bombs so that they would explode when anyone tried to defuse them, and the invention of devices by the British to get around those traps.

Over the summer, in my hometown of Barcelona, a 150 pound bomb from the Spanish Civil War was discovered just off shore of the Barceloneta Beach, prompting evacuations of the popular tourist area. The Guardia Civil were able to recover the bomb and later detonate it further out at sea:
https://www.euronews.com/2019/08/26/watch-tourists-evacuated-after-civil-war-bomb-found-at-barcelona-beach

They just found a bomb in Turin, Italy. Just post it here because BBC is easier to read for English speaking persons.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50622518

And one in Leipzig today. 9.000 people need to leave their home temporarily.