Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Blast Kills One - World War II Bomb Explodes on German Motorway
Spiegel Online ^ | October 23, 2006 | cro/Reuters/AP

Posted on 10/23/2006 8:29:10 AM PDT by wolf78

BLAST KILLS ONE World War II Bomb Explodes on German Motorway

A highway construction worker in Germany accidentally struck an unexploded World War II bomb, causing an explosion which killed him and wrecked several passing cars.

A World War II bomb has exploded during construction work on a German highway, killing one worker and injuring several motorists who were driving past, police said.

The worker had been cutting through the road surface near the south-western town of Aschaffenburg when his machine struck the bomb and triggered it. Police said they weren't sure yet what type of bomb it was. "The explosion seems to have been too small for it to have been an aircraft bomb," a police spokesman said.

The A3 Autobahn linking the cities of Frankfurt and Würzburg has been blocked in both directions.

(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Germany; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: autobahn; bomb; germany; wwii
FYI
1 posted on 10/23/2006 8:29:11 AM PDT by wolf78
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: wolf78

perhaps it was an anti-vehicle mine, as opposed to a 'bomb'. I mean, since it was under a road surface and everything ...


2 posted on 10/23/2006 8:31:15 AM PDT by Blueflag (Res ipsa loquitor)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Blueflag

Nah, I'm guessing it's something that we dropped on a roadway that was in the very same place as it was 60-65 years ago.


3 posted on 10/23/2006 8:32:39 AM PDT by July 4th (A vacant lot cancelled out my vote for Bush.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: wolf78

Bush's fault.


4 posted on 10/23/2006 8:34:26 AM PDT by manic4organic
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

I think there was quite a few of these left. If I remember correctly another was found a few years back during another construction project but it didn't detonate and was removed safely.


5 posted on 10/23/2006 8:35:29 AM PDT by Domandred
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: July 4th

that Rove, he's got it all covered


6 posted on 10/23/2006 8:35:40 AM PDT by sure_fine (*not one to over kill the thought process*)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: manic4organic

Sounds like a quagmire. We need to pull our troops out.


7 posted on 10/23/2006 8:36:58 AM PDT by SIDENET (Is it too early for flapjacks?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: wolf78

So, we count this unfortunate fellow as the last casualty of WW2?


8 posted on 10/23/2006 8:38:16 AM PDT by Skooz (Chastity prays for me, piety sings...Modesty hides my thighs in her wings...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wolf78

OH MY!

[runs around in circles]

This is all Bush's fault....

[runs around in wider circles]

Bush Bush Bush Bush........

[runs headlong into a light pole ... falls down]

That damned Bush ....

[faints]


9 posted on 10/23/2006 8:39:53 AM PDT by Fighting Irish (Béagán agus a rá go maith)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Skooz
What makes you think he's the last?

These things are still all over the place.

10 posted on 10/23/2006 8:40:58 AM PDT by Taylor42
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Skooz

Using that criteria he won't be the last.


11 posted on 10/23/2006 8:42:02 AM PDT by gura
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Taylor42
Okay, okay, the latest.
12 posted on 10/23/2006 8:44:58 AM PDT by Skooz (Chastity prays for me, piety sings...Modesty hides my thighs in her wings...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: wolf78

UXO, the gift that keeps on giving!


13 posted on 10/23/2006 8:45:59 AM PDT by BeHoldAPaleHorse ( ~()):~)>)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sure_fine

14 posted on 10/23/2006 8:56:04 AM PDT by andy58-in-nh
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Skooz

Considering that *WW1* ordnance is still killing people in Europe, I'd say we have a century or two before you can say that.


15 posted on 10/23/2006 8:57:24 AM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: wolf78

"Police said they weren't sure yet what type of bomb it was. "

It was the kind that blows up.


16 posted on 10/23/2006 8:57:33 AM PDT by BadAndy (You want a magic bullet to fix your problem, but I only have hollowpoints.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cailleach

ping


17 posted on 10/23/2006 9:03:10 AM PDT by kalee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BadAndy

I think I just heard patton snicker from the grave...


18 posted on 10/23/2006 9:14:02 AM PDT by Crim (I may be a Mr "know it all"....but I'm also a Mr "forgot most of it"...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Crim

Harris, rather.


19 posted on 10/23/2006 9:23:46 AM PDT by Schweinhund
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Blueflag

It might've been "one of theirs". Roadways were mined to slow the advance of Allied armor, troop transports and supplies.


20 posted on 10/23/2006 9:26:42 AM PDT by Charles Martel (Liberals are the crab grass in the lawn of life.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: wolf78
Guy who retired from where I work was married to a German lass. She kept a souvenir of the War, a leaflet, in German, dropped by the Allies. It warned that some of the bombs they dropped had time delay fuses and "no one could know when they would explode". And "as long as the German people support Adolf Hitler, we will keep dropping bombs."

I suppose the chief intent of time delay fuses was twofold, one to discourage people from trying to defuse duds and two, time delay fuses could discourage rescue and fire fighting efforts. A dud could deny the enemy use of a facility for a longer period of time if there was fear that it actually was a time delay fuse.
21 posted on 10/23/2006 9:30:21 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (The hallmark of a crackpot conspiracy theory is that it expands to include countervailing evidence.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Domandred

Actually there are a lot left. Just the other day I was on the bike to pick up my son. I noticed a lot of police moving into the area and finally one stopped me and said I must go to the other side of the street to pass. I asked why and he explained that "We have found a bomb".

I guess they removed it in the night without incident as all our windows were still intact the next morning!


22 posted on 10/23/2006 9:41:48 AM PDT by lowbuck (The Blue Card (US Passport). . . Don't leave home without it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: manic4organic

The bomb had to be a Republican. The bomb had a job and did it. If it had been a Democrat it would not have done the job and cut and run.


23 posted on 10/23/2006 10:17:21 AM PDT by vetvetdoug
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: lowbuck

When I was at Normandy a couple of Augusts ago a large naval shell detonated down on the beach at Pointe-du-Hoc. Myself and my family were all up on the cliff-top exploring the German bunkers, the kids were playing in the craters, when BLAM! It was a total surprise. Even though it was several hundred yards away, everyone involuntarily ducked and my ears rang for hours afterward.


24 posted on 10/23/2006 10:26:58 AM PDT by Defend the Second (Let Me Get This Straight: Illegal Invasion is OK, but Legal Expulsion is Not?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: wolf78

When I was in Germany from 1959-1962 we used to find unexploded artillery shells from WWII frequently. We didn't touch them as per our orders and called ordinance personel to come and defuse them or explode them in place(depending on where they were). They were a constant hazard and something you were aware of and watched for.


25 posted on 10/23/2006 10:36:17 AM PDT by calex59 (Hillary Clinton is dumber than a one eyed monkey with a brain tumor(credit to Harley69))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Domandred
I think there was quite a few of these left. If I remember correctly another was found a few years back during another construction project but it didn't detonate and was removed safely.

A couple of years ago they uncovered a 900 kilogram (2000 lb.) anti-tank mine in the center of Warsaw while they were digging a new subway line.

Fortunately, it was removed safely.

26 posted on 10/23/2006 11:17:15 AM PDT by Bon mots
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: calex59

In the 1970s, San Diego allowed development in an area known as Tierrasanta, which used to be known as Camp Elliot. It was a training center for Marines during World War II, and the developers did a really bad job of clearing the site. So, about once a month, some kid would bring a grenade or bazooka round that he'd dug up in his backyard to school for show-and-tell, and things would get exciting.


27 posted on 10/23/2006 11:18:35 AM PDT by BeHoldAPaleHorse ( ~()):~)>)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson