Koblenz Evacuated To Defuse Monster WWII Bomb

Half the German city of Koblenz, about 45,000 people, will be evacuated this weekend to defuse a two ton bomb found in the Rhine River when its waters ran abnormally low. It was probably dropped by a British Lancaster during a bombing raid on the night of November 6, 1944. It was the fourth time in its long history that Koblenz had been destroyed.

Posted By Tantor • [December 03, 2011] on BLACKFIVE.NET

Koblenz traded in Rhine wines at the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle Rivers.  Its name means "merging of the rivers."  On a clear night, you can see the river intersection, which makes for a wonderful visual aiming point for night bombers.

The anti-bombing argument is that Koblenz contained no militarily significant targets but rather was bombed to test the new  Gee-H bombing system, where bombers dropped their bombs at the intersection of signals from two radio stations. It was far better than dropping bombs by dead reckoning, ie calculating your drop from heading and airspeed.  Europe has a lot of mediocre weather and often is covered by clouds, which prevents visual acquisition of targets.  However, the bottom line is that you don't win a war by sparing the enemy.  You bomb their brains out until you break their will to make war.  In the case of Germany, that required the British and Americans to drop 2,770,540 tons of bombs on Germany and all things associated with Germany.

The November 6 raid was led by a pathfinder group of twenty-four Avro Lancaster bombers of the RAF Number 3 Bomber Group, all equipped with Gee-H.  Only half the sets worked, but that was enough.  They laid down their flares and bombs on the city at 7:28 PM. One hundred four Lancasters followed. The fires and flares from the lead group lit the streets of Koblenz clearly for them.  They dropped their bombs at 7:50 PM.  In total, they dropped twenty-three high explosive bombs, 120 blockbusters, and 153,392 incendiary sticks.

This bomb they found in the Rhine is one of the blockbusters, so called by the press of the time because it could destroy a city block.  The Brits developed these giant bombs, which were too big to be carried by aircraft of any other air force, to damage buildings so that incendiary bombs dropped with them would be more effective.  If you break open the buildings, it's easier for the fire bombs to start fires.

A 4000 pound blockbuster was a thin-skinned bomb carrying 3000 pounds of Amatol explosive.  It was not aerodynamic.  It had no fins.  It was basically a big, long garbage can full of explosive that you sent tumbling off to the terra.  It was no smart bomb, but rather more like a big, dumb, brontosaurus bomb that smashed up everything within blocks of its impact.

Read more (with an aerial photo):

• Koblenz Evacuated To Defuse Monster WWII Bomb (blackfive.net)

Posted in: