WWII Bomb Hunters (2018) Movie Script
1
Death lurks beneath the earth.
Dud bombs from the Second World War.
Fire will fall from the sky.
It was the deadliest bomb raid.
The Allies drop over five million bombs
on Nazi Germany.
One in ten does not explode.
It is a battle against time
when the time detonator
has started ticking again.
Then it is a very dangerous game.
Which some pay for with their lives.
We must always assume that it can
come to a self-detonation.
Here, you only make mistakes once.
You don't tend to survive them.
The men and women of
the explosive ordnance clearance service
are still struggling with
the consequences
of the Second World War today.
Every day, in the middle of Germany.
WWII BOMB HUNTERS
Scenes like these take place
every day in Germany.
Five thousand dud bombs
are found every year.
Tens of thousands of people
are evacuated.
On average,
explosive ordnance clearance services
recover hundreds of old world war bombs
every week in Germany.
Statistically, bomb disposal personnel
risk their lives twenty-five times a day
to clear the legacy
of the Second World War.
It is almost 80 years
since Hitler plunged the world into the
greatest war of annihilation in history.
To stop the German dictator,
the Allies made a momentous decision.
The bomb war against Germany began.
Until 1944, the allied forces
had no opportunity to fight Germany
directly via the Western Front.
So they started bombing
German territories in 1939.
A war against soldiers at the front
and industrial workers at home.
600,000 civilians fall victim
to the five-year bombing raids.
The British flew their attacks at night,
the Americans during the day.
This way, they put the Germans
under pressure around the clock.
they dropped a total
of over 1.4 million bombs
during their bombardment of Germany.
That's at least five million bombs.
We estimate that ten to 15 percent
of these bombs did not explode.
There is still quite a lot
of bomb material in German soil.
Enrico Schnick leads a team in Cottbus.
Today's mission begins
at seven o'clock in the morning.
The 36-year-old family man has been
defusing bombs full-time for five years.
That has to do with the Bundeswehr.
I came into contact with explosive
ordnance clearance in Afghanistan,
and this has been
my dream job ever since.
It's the suspense and the show.
Every man loves a good explosion.
Schnick's mission:
to destroy a 110 lb phosphorus bomb.
At the Neisse, the border river
between Germany and Poland,
it was discovered during a search.
The bomb is too heavily damaged,
so defusing it is impossible.
That's why we had to decide
to blow it up on site.
They cannot afford any mistakes.
A shock wave would immediately
kill anyone within a radius of 164 feet.
Splinters can fly up to 3,281 feet.
You really shouldn't let yourself
be disturbed.
You must not let yourself be stressed.
If I would arrive stressed at the bomb,
I would make mistakes.
And we absolutely can't use mistakes,
because...
In our jobs, you only make mistakes once
for the most part. No second chances.
The demolition expert defuses dud bombs
that have been underground
for over 70 years.
That makes them unpredictable
and dangerous.
Particularly deadly
are long-term fuses.
During the discharge, the impeller
crushes an ampule with acetone.
The acid then attacks the plastic ring
that holds the firing bolt.
After up to six days
it is so badly damaged
that it can no longer hold the bolt.
The bomb explodes.
I can't look inside.
I can't see
if the explosives are defective
or haven't worked,
or if the ignition needle is jammed,
or if the ampule is intact or destroyed
in long-term chemical detonators.
Then, we have to be on alert,
because we do not know whether the bomb
will start ticking again.
Again and again, tragic accidents occur.
Since the turn of the millennium,
eleven demolition experts have been
paying for their jobs with their lives.
Three experienced
explosive ordnance removers die
trying to defuse a long-term detonator
in Gttingen 2010.
It is a battle against time.
And battle against time means,
when the time fuse
has started ticking again,
then it is no longer reliable.
Then it's basically a very dangerous game.
MUNICH, AUGUST 28, 2012
It can also hit
uninvolved people at any time.
Every year,
there are several self-ignitions.
A construction worker dies in 2014.
His excavator hits a world war bomb
during earthworks.
Thirteen people are injured,
some of them seriously.
To prevent this from happening,
men like Enrico Schnick
risk their lives every day.
Arrival in Bahren an der Neisse.
The most important thing comes first.
Security for the population.
We have prepared this,
for the bomb detonation. We have set up
a 3,281 feet barrier circuit.
Here we have access roads,
which we secure with guards.
The Bahren district
has already been evacuated,
our colleagues are now carrying out
another check.
Where the bomb was found,
73 years ago,
the battle for the Reich's capital Berlin
began.
The last gasp of the Nazis.
With two and a half hours
of artillery fire,
three weeks before the war ends,
the red army launches
its pincer movement on Hitler's capital
on Oder and Neisse.
April 16, 1945 is finally
the beginning of the end
of the so-called Third Reich.
Of course,
the Germans knew what was to come.
The numerical superiority
of the Red Army was so immense.
Also the air support,
the artillery superiority.
It was an unequal fight.
In the early hours of the morning,
the Red Army crosses
the Neisse River in several places.
Already around nine o'clock,
Bahren has been taken.
Estimated 10,000 Red Army soldiers
against a few thousand Germans,
some of them old men
and children of the Volkssturm.
They are to defend the access to Berlin,
where Hitler hides in the Fhrer bunker.
More than 2,000 Germans die
in this hopeless endeavor.
The Soviets are supported by small,
single- and twin-engine aircraft.
The Soviet air forces
proceeded very tactically.
To support the ground attack,
they launched a mass attack
on the Oder-Neisse border.
One thousand Soviet planes dropped
many highly explosive bombs.
Fire bombs started fires
in the supply bases
and ammunition depots.
The men from the explosive
ordnance disposal service
found exactly such a bomb
here in Bahren.
Only a few minutes left
until the detonation.
Nobody should be
within 1,312 feet of the bomb.
Is that the Polish side?
That vehicle over there?
A vehicle just drove onto the dam there.
The deadly legacy of the Second World War
also lurks off German coasts.
Here, the German navy is ensuring safety.
At seven o'clock in the morning,
the minehunter Sulzbach-Rosenberg
with a crew of 44 man
starts its mission in Kiel.
Five.
Course zero-nine-zero.
In the Baltic Sea,
the ship goes on a mine and bomb hunt.
Captain Pierre Limburg has been in
the mine hunting business for eight years
and has destroyed
dozens of them since then.
The threat from aging aerial bombs
and mines is still immense.
Very frequently, fishermen find mines
or old bombs in their nets.
Or you have contacts
during other underwater work,
and then we are in demand as well.
The problem is, there are not only
dud bombs off the German coast,
but up to 1.3 tons
of dangerous world war ammunition.
After the end of the war, the Allies
sank tons of them into the sea.
Captured weapons of the Nazis
as well as own bombs and ammunition.
At the end of the war, the accumulated
ammunition was to be disposed of.
The Americans and British disposed of
them in the designated areas.
The Russians were not as prudent.
They just dropped them somewhere.
That is why the Baltic Sea
is full of ammunition.
Many boatmen dump the ammunition
on their way to the restricted areas
to save fuel.
Today, tides and currents
still wash bombs into shipping lanes.
Cruise ships and container ships
sailing into the Baltic Sea here
could trigger them at any time.
How does my family feel
about us going to this dangerous area?
Of course they are concerned about it,
but I am trying...
to convince them with several arguments
that we have the best possible protection.
To locate this dangerous legacy,
the crew scans the seabed
with highly sensitive sonar.
Message from the captain.
We arrived at the search area.
I suggest deploying the sonar
and becoming active.
Yes.
Command, sonar deployed, sonar active.
Command, sonar deployed, sonar active.
Message. Contact was measured
with a length of 4.6 feet,
a width of one foot
and a water depth of 83 feet.
Message. Contact was measured.
Length is 4.6 feet...
- Sonar operator.
- Operator.
Message. New contact in bearing.
Two-eight six, range 885 feet.
New contact in bearing.
Two-eight-six, range 885 feet.
We just got a position
where there may be water bombs.
At a depth of 66 feet,
a 70 year old danger lurks.
Is that on the Polish side?
The vehicle over there?
A vehicle just drove on the dam there.
It could be someone from the municipality,
we don't know. It could be in Poland.
I have also considered
that it might be on the Polish side.
The Neisse comes first.
If I were to see anyone over there,
I would have to interrupt immediately.
We'll try talking to the Poles again,
but other than that,
they should be informed.
The men hope
that it is an inspection vehicle.
The police and fire brigade are now
securing access roads and houses.
The explosive ordnance clearance service
is on its way to the bomb.
BOMB SITE
CHECK POINTS
POLICE
Detonation expert Schnick
has to prove his skills now.
The dud is where it hit 70 years ago.
A Russian 110 lb bomb with detonator.
Transportation is too dangerous.
Its goals goal is not to kill
the enemy soldiers through an explosion
and through splinter flight,
but by fire,
with a kind of thickened petroleum.
This bomb contains
an incendiary composition
that cannot be extinguished
with conventional extinguishing methods.
In other words, neither water nor sand
can help, nothing at all can.
You can only let the incendiary
composition burn in a controlled manner.
That's why we must try
to detonate the bomb
in a controlled way so the incendiary
composition doesn't spread uncontrollably.
That's the dangerous thing
about this detonation.
The police, too,
must now leave the barrier circuit.
The team begins its work.
Again and again, people in Germany
have to yield to the danger of bombs.
Frankfurt, September 2017.
The largest evacuation
since the Second World War.
Over 70,000 residents
have to leave their homes.
One of the largest bombs
was found during construction work.
The HC 4000,
nicknamed apartment block cracker,
has an explosive force of 1.4 tons.
Since 2010,
Dieter Schwetzler has been working
for the explosive ordnance
clearance service in Hessen.
He defuses around 40 dud bombs a year,
but he has never had to deal
with such a large bomb before.
We assume that buildings will be destroyed
in a radius of a few hundred feet.
Then, of course, there is splinter flight
and materials flying around.
Accordingly,
a radius of 4,921 feet was chosen
to ensure
that citizens will not be harmed.
Frankfurt is one of
the most frequently bombed German cities.
Allied air forces attacked the city
75 times.
Frankfurt was a main target
because a large part
of German traffic converged here.
The Americans also wanted to destroy
the German oil industry.
Almost 30,000 bombs almost completely
destroy the Main metropolis.
Particularly destructive
are air mines,
so-called apartment block crackers.
The purpose of these air mines is
to destroy buildings by the pressure wave.
Uncovering houses, destroying windows,
tearing down buildings.
It is exactly this kind
of apartment block cracker
which is responsible for the largest
evacuation in post-war Germany.
The evacuation of the residential areas
is in full swing.
Two hospitals are also affected.
Over 100 patients are transferred.
Due to the defusing of the air mine
in Bismarcker Strae
a restricted zone
was set up at 6 a.m. this morning.
12 p.m.
Everyone should have left
the danger zone four hours ago.
One thousand policemen now check whether
everybody has really left their houses.
Again and again, people refuse.
Then, the police have to take action.
Can you please open the door?
What is annoying
is that some people thought
they could negotiate with us
and have discussions at the front doors.
Some still remain in their homes.
Only at 2:30 p.m.
is the barrier circle cleared.
Two and a half hours later than planned.
The helicopter squadron reported
that there are no more people in the area.
Now we begin the defusing.
On our side everything went smoothly,
at the first attempt.
The demolition experts worked on the dud
for more than four hours.
From the moment you get down to it,
you're naturally quite focused on it.
That's pure adrenaline,
but you live with it
and you know how to deal with it.
With a C4-plastic explosive,
demolition expert Schnick
wants to crack the dud open
and destroy
the dangerous incendiary composition.
Every explosive
and every situation is different.
Every location is different.
There are so many factors
that it must not become a routine.
Routine, that's another point...
Routine is deadly.
Ready. The team withdraws.
The safety distance is 1148 feet.
The deadly incendiary composition
should not fly that far.
They detonate the explosive charge
by radio.
I'm counting down.
Three, two, one, ignition.
Two, one, ignition.
The bomb is destroyed.
The incendiary composition
is destroyed.
Schnick's first move
is towards his phone.
That was the text to my family,
because the family is worried.
That should reassure them.
Let them know that everything worked out.
One of the first things for me
is to inform my family.
They now bring the remains of the bomb
to their depot.
The iron is scrapped.
The work is done for today.
15 NAUTICAL MILES FROM KIEL
Captain Limburg,
with the minehunter Sulzbach-Rosenberg,
searches for old world war bombs
and mines in the Baltic Sea.
They have just located a possible
three deadly water bombs with the sonar.
The contact has just been measured.
Water depth 79 feet.
Dimensions five feet length,
0.7 feet width.
Yes. Prepare for drone deployment
on starboard.
Command, prepare for drone deployment.
With the underwater drone,
a small remote-controlled submarine
equipped with a camera,
Captain Limburg wants to search
the seabed for the three water bombs.
Sebastian observes the pictures
of the underwater camera attentively.
If they find the bombs, the 27-year-old
later has to disarm them
all by himself under water.
The mine clearance diver has been
with the Bundeswehr for six years.
Judging by the pictures,
it doesn't look very good at the moment.
The ground seems to be muddy
and there are many suspended particles.
That means a visibility
of maybe seven feet. That's not much.
In such cases you try to work
with your sense of touch.
But this is only works to a limited extent
because you don't know what's what
and you shouldn't touch everything.
Therefore...
Yes, that's good, we'll do it like that.
But first, the crew has to find
the unknown objects,
and to identify them.
- One-W-O?
- Yes?
Command to the divers,
the divers should equip themselves.
In the Second World War, water bombs
like these are the most effective weapon
against the dreaded German submarines.
German submarines
were the terror of the Allies.
Winston Churchill once said: "The only
thing we were scared of during the war
was the battle in the Atlantic.
For these sea connections are
the Achilles' heel of the British Empire."
Therefore, the Allies start
a merciless hunt for the submarines.
The hunters become the hunted.
The submarine war practically continues
until the end of the war.
From the German territory,
from the Baltic Sea,
submarines above all leave for Norway
until the end of the war.
In April 1945, the risk is immense.
Many of the routes the submarines take
are contaminated with mines.
The Allied Air Force
lurks to attack the submarines.
On the way to Norway,
numerous submarines were lost.
It's such a water bomb which mine diver
Sebastian must neutralize.
He wants to use the plastic explosive C-4
to detonate the old explosive charges
under water.
But first,
he has to find them in the murky waters.
The sonar has located three contacts.
However,
the drone has only identified one object.
It's pretty uncertain
what's waiting for me down there.
As you have seen on the drone's sonar,
there is almost no visibility.
That's why
I have to be careful when diving.
I have to be careful
and feel my way slowly.
And keep my eyes open.
Sebastian has already done
over 600 dives and countless explosions.
The dinghy takes him to the coordinates,
where he has to dive
for the suspicious objects.
Because visibility
is so poor at 66 feet,
mine diver Sebastian
has to feel them with his fingers.
Three, two, one, and down.
Underwater, Sebastian only communicates
with the dinghy via this signal buoy.
He simply pulls the rope.
Radio would disturb his concentration.
He always dives free,
without a fixed connection.
Like this, he is more flexible
and can react quickly.
If he pulls on the buoy three times,
he has found the bombs.
- Yes.
- Yes.
Up and down.
We have found all three bombs.
Before they are allowed to work on bombs,
all bomb disposal experts
undergo detailed training.
In the last seven years, Andr Kowalzik
has destroyed over 80 bombs.
Today, he trains Marc Neubauer.
In one year,
he wants to disarm his first dud bomb.
He was a mine diver in the Bundeswehr
for seven years.
There are many jobs
where you risk your life.
If these jobs aren't done,
everything would stop.
And then,
the population is also in danger.
For a year now, he has been training
to be a munitions clearance officer.
Today, the recovery of a phosphorus bomb
is on the training plan.
Mark has to wear a protective suit.
Bombs have relatively thin walls.
In case the phosphorous-benzene-rubber
mixture leaks,
we don't get it on our clothes.
We can take off our suits quickly.
That's their life insurance,
because it's impossible to extinguish
the incendiary composition.
The explosive ordnance clearance service
is practicing
recovering a 33 lb bomb
from the Second World War.
The Allies fly more than 213
attacks on Hamburg.
The worst takes place
in the night of July 27, 1943.
Operation Gomorrah is the codename
for this attack,
from the Old Testament.
The two cities Sodom and Gomorrah,
where fire falls from the sky.
That's a martial code name
for a bombing raid
and something that did not exist before
in this intensity.
739 Lancasters
of the Royal Airforce Bomber Command
launch a particularly devastating attack.
Hamburg with its port
is an important industrial location
and traffic junction.
Moreover, it is easy
for the bomber squadrons to reach.
A stream of bombers forms,
perhaps 62 miles long.
And they fly over the North Sea,
near Helgoland, into German territory,
and from there directly to Hamburg.
They ignite a brutal firestorm
that summer night.
With heavy bombs they uncover the roofs,
so that the fire bombs
can ignite the houses more easily.
Over 40,000 people die.
To this day,
such fire bombs are extremely dangerous.
Careful.
The fumes are toxic.
The phosphorus would ignite itself
if exposed to air.
It would be impossible to extinguish it.
That's why men train
for an emergency
as they do today
as realistically as possible.
So that nothing goes wrong
when it really comes to life and death.
Good. It all worked out really well.
Wonderful.
That concludes the training for today.
They recover small bombs
on a daily basis.
At least 20 times a year, they recover
bombs weighing over 440 lb.
In the city,
a detonation would be too dangerous.
The explosive ordnance clearance service
has therefore developed special machines
that make the defusing of lethal
long-term detonators somewhat safer.
This is a so-called high-pressure
water cutting system.
Let's put it here.
Here,
we work with water and a sand mixture.
This has about 2,400 bar.
I mean, precisely 2,400 bar.
With this, we can cut out the detonator.
High-tech against the deadly legacy.
They have been using
the machine for five years.
They use a magnet to attach the holder
for the water nozzle to the metal body.
In the danger area, near the bomb,
each movement must be precise.
Mistakes are fatal in this case.
With us the saying does not apply,
that one can learn from their mistakes.
Here, you make a mistake only once.
You normally don't survive a mistake.
From a supposedly safe distance
in a small mobile bunker,
they start the machine.
At 2,400 bar,
the thin jet of water
cuts through the steel shell of the bomb.
You can tell by the fact that the jet
is fanned that we are not yet through.
When the fan collapses,
we are inside the steel.
We are already through here.
With the remote controlled manipulator,
they pull the detonator out of the dud.
The old bomb can no longer explode.
In an emergency, however,
the ignition charge alone
with up to two lb of explosives
is still deadly.
With the robot, Andr Kowalzik
can detonate them at a safe distance
without putting people in danger.
But only ten of these high-tech devices
are in use throughout Germany.
Clean everything, pack everything up
and restore operational readiness.
Good.
15 NAUTICAL MILES FROM KIEL
Do you have all three?
When I go down,
I can take them with me, can't I?
We can combine it.
Then we have to attach two detonators.
We'll do that right on board.
Get in first.
The team prepares
the C-4 plastic explosive for ignition.
Their plan is to destroy all three bombs
with just one detonation.
We are now at the GPS position.
One diver is already in the water.
I want to let him dive down now.
- Do we have diving permission?
- Yes, here is the base.
Command to the dinghy.
Diving permission granted.
All right.
We are ready to go.
The soldier quickly dives back
to the bombs at a depth of 66 feet.
He's on the ground.
The diver is on the ground.
Sebastian attaches
the explosive charge to the bomb.
To all sea radio stations.
This is boat 1062, Sulzbach-Rosenberg.
The controlled water detonation
is carried out at 3:20 p.m.
on the following position.
54 degrees, 36.46 minutes north.
Ships are requested
to maintain a safety distance
of at least one nautical mile
around this position.
Frank Richter works
the aerial photo evaluation
for the explosive ordnance
clearance service.
In Oranienburg, there are many bombs
and ammunition remnants underground.
Therefore the area must be examined
before each building project.
We are investigating this site because
the city wants to build a new road there.
We already found the aerial photo.
Here is the complete
Louise-Henriette-Steg.
On the left, the right and in the middle,
you can see some issues.
For the analysis he uses aerial photos
of the Allies from the Second World War.
The previously secret archives
have only been accessible for 30 years.
Aerial photographs were taken before,
during and after the strategic bombing.
Before,
one looked at what one could destroy.
After,
one looked at what had been destroyed.
The evaluator compares these pictures.
If he discovers many craters,
statistically, a dud is to be assumed.
A small dot indicates
that a bomb has hit but not exploded.
This is what is known
as a presumption point.
At Louise-Henriette-Steg,
we expect to see
the effects of five bomb funnels
and one presumption point.
They'll find splinters and maybe a bomb.
Six weeks before the German surrender,
the US Air Force starts
a particularly important mission
with 612 B-17 bombers.
Their target lies
16 miles north of Berlin.
The Auer works in Oranienburg.
Here,
the Nazis are building the atomic bomb.
At the end of 1944, the secret services
came across information
that a German factory in Oranienburg
was processing the radioactive metals
uranium and thorium.
They immediately went
to the American Air Force and said:
"We need a bombing raid
to destroy this factory."
The chemical elements form the basis
for the construction of an atomic bomb.
With almost 6,000 bombs,
the Allies ended the nightmare
of a German nuclear weapon.
They dropped a lot of bombs
with long-term detonators
to make sure that the bombs
first penetrate the factory roof
and enter the factory
to later explode there.
They wanted to wipe out every trace
of this operation.
The fear of delayed denotations
prevents anyone
from entering the factory.
Often, after just one or two days,
the streetcars were intact again.
If there are have bombs that detonate,
it also undermines public morale.
It is a great danger,
often resulting in high human casualties.
But many of these insidious bombs
turn in the soft sandy soil.
The acid does not hit its target.
The ignition is delayed indefinitely.
No one can now say
when the bomb will explode.
From my point of view, this is one of
the most dangerous weapons found today.
A chemical time fuse is much riskier
than a mechanical fuse.
And it is known
that one can't even afford
the slightest shock to them.
The explosive ordnance clearance service
in Oranienburg suspects just such a bomb.
Andr Mller
has already defused 173 bombs.
Fifty-five of them
had long-term detonators.
It is a little nerve-wrecking,
because we do not know
whether it is a bomb.
We just assume it is.
We also don't know
what condition the bomb is in.
We must always assume
that a self-detonation can occur.
In the location the aerial evaluation
suspects a dud bomb,
they have located a suspicious object,
an anomaly.
If it's a bomb with a long-term
detonator, it could explode at any time.
A certain death sentence for anyone
who is not at least 295 feet away.
Carefully they dig into the ground
to identify the object.
We are now 13 feet in the ground.
The anomaly
is believed to be at 14.8 feet,
which means we are about 1.6 feet
above the object.
From now on, neither excavators
nor shovels may be used.
We must avoid any movement at the bomb.
We must avoid temperature fluctuations.
Our worst case scenario is
the bomb going off.
That would not be good.
Special caution is therefore required
for the last few inches.
Only a thin layer of sand separates
demolition expert and the deadly bomb.
Come on.
We have to wait.
What's the distance between the bombs?
Two lie directly next to each other.
One is about 66 feet away.
- Are you ready to detonate?
- Yes, Sir.
Detonation in ten,
nine, eight,
seven, six,
five, four,
three,
two,
one, now.
Very nice.
Nicely done.
We blew up
everything we wanted to blow up.
The guys did a good job.
So I am satisfied.
You can be proud of that.
Something that has been lying around
for years has been removed again.
So, it's a good job.
Their mission is over for today.
In a year at the latest,
the Navy will have to search
for dangerous sites again.
The explosive ordnance disposal service
Oranienburg begins its mission.
Yesterday, they identified the object
as an American world war bomb.
The bomb weighs 551 lb
and has a dangerous long-term fuse.
Investigations of long-term detonators
have shown
that they are become
more and more sensitive over time.
With over 40 percent detonators, one must
assume that they are highly sensitive
and tend to self-detonate.
The disposal experts must not lose time
and are on their way.
At the same time, the evacuation begins.
Open up!
12,000 people must leave the barrier
circuit 3,117 feet around the bomb.
Metal splinters could fly that far.
Three hours later,
the decisive signal arrives.
The evacuation is complete.
Now the 66-year-old
is alone with the bomb.
The defusing can begin.
- Now the news.
- Good morning, Sara.
The 551 lb bomb
still has a live long-term detonator,
and that still has to be defused.
12,000 people have to leave
their houses and apartments.
Many day care centers, schools
and administrative offices in Oranienburg
will remain closed until at least
during the defusing.
Rail traffic is also disrupted.
All clear. The bomb is defused.
People can go back to their homes.
The demolition expert faces the press.
I don't see myself as a hero,
we just do our job.
I am just satisfied
that we defused this bomb today
and averted the danger
in this area for the time being.
We still suspect about 300 bombs
in the ground of Oranienburg.
This means that for today's crew,
the bomb search will not end here,
it will drag on for decades to come.
In Brandenburg, there exists a proverb
among the explosive ordnance removers:
"After the bomb is before the bomb."
An estimated 100,000 dud bombs
still lie underground.
In order to recover them
and make Germany safer,
several hundred explosive ordnance
removers risk their lives every day.
I don't see myself as a hero.
But I am proud of my work.
I am proud of the cooperation
with my colleagues.
And I'm proud of the responsibility
we have in our work.
Germany bears a heavy legacy.
It will probably never be possible
to recover all bombs off German coasts.
A seemingly hopeless fight,
which the men nevertheless face.
We can all be satisfied.
We can pat ourselves on the back.
We have made the sea
a little safer again.
Many generations to come
will struggle with the iron legacy
of the Second World War.
Until they finally stop posing a threat.
Death lurks beneath the earth.
Dud bombs from the Second World War.
Fire will fall from the sky.
It was the deadliest bomb raid.
The Allies drop over five million bombs
on Nazi Germany.
One in ten does not explode.
It is a battle against time
when the time detonator
has started ticking again.
Then it is a very dangerous game.
Which some pay for with their lives.
We must always assume that it can
come to a self-detonation.
Here, you only make mistakes once.
You don't tend to survive them.
The men and women of
the explosive ordnance clearance service
are still struggling with
the consequences
of the Second World War today.
Every day, in the middle of Germany.
WWII BOMB HUNTERS
Scenes like these take place
every day in Germany.
Five thousand dud bombs
are found every year.
Tens of thousands of people
are evacuated.
On average,
explosive ordnance clearance services
recover hundreds of old world war bombs
every week in Germany.
Statistically, bomb disposal personnel
risk their lives twenty-five times a day
to clear the legacy
of the Second World War.
It is almost 80 years
since Hitler plunged the world into the
greatest war of annihilation in history.
To stop the German dictator,
the Allies made a momentous decision.
The bomb war against Germany began.
Until 1944, the allied forces
had no opportunity to fight Germany
directly via the Western Front.
So they started bombing
German territories in 1939.
A war against soldiers at the front
and industrial workers at home.
600,000 civilians fall victim
to the five-year bombing raids.
The British flew their attacks at night,
the Americans during the day.
This way, they put the Germans
under pressure around the clock.
they dropped a total
of over 1.4 million bombs
during their bombardment of Germany.
That's at least five million bombs.
We estimate that ten to 15 percent
of these bombs did not explode.
There is still quite a lot
of bomb material in German soil.
Enrico Schnick leads a team in Cottbus.
Today's mission begins
at seven o'clock in the morning.
The 36-year-old family man has been
defusing bombs full-time for five years.
That has to do with the Bundeswehr.
I came into contact with explosive
ordnance clearance in Afghanistan,
and this has been
my dream job ever since.
It's the suspense and the show.
Every man loves a good explosion.
Schnick's mission:
to destroy a 110 lb phosphorus bomb.
At the Neisse, the border river
between Germany and Poland,
it was discovered during a search.
The bomb is too heavily damaged,
so defusing it is impossible.
That's why we had to decide
to blow it up on site.
They cannot afford any mistakes.
A shock wave would immediately
kill anyone within a radius of 164 feet.
Splinters can fly up to 3,281 feet.
You really shouldn't let yourself
be disturbed.
You must not let yourself be stressed.
If I would arrive stressed at the bomb,
I would make mistakes.
And we absolutely can't use mistakes,
because...
In our jobs, you only make mistakes once
for the most part. No second chances.
The demolition expert defuses dud bombs
that have been underground
for over 70 years.
That makes them unpredictable
and dangerous.
Particularly deadly
are long-term fuses.
During the discharge, the impeller
crushes an ampule with acetone.
The acid then attacks the plastic ring
that holds the firing bolt.
After up to six days
it is so badly damaged
that it can no longer hold the bolt.
The bomb explodes.
I can't look inside.
I can't see
if the explosives are defective
or haven't worked,
or if the ignition needle is jammed,
or if the ampule is intact or destroyed
in long-term chemical detonators.
Then, we have to be on alert,
because we do not know whether the bomb
will start ticking again.
Again and again, tragic accidents occur.
Since the turn of the millennium,
eleven demolition experts have been
paying for their jobs with their lives.
Three experienced
explosive ordnance removers die
trying to defuse a long-term detonator
in Gttingen 2010.
It is a battle against time.
And battle against time means,
when the time fuse
has started ticking again,
then it is no longer reliable.
Then it's basically a very dangerous game.
MUNICH, AUGUST 28, 2012
It can also hit
uninvolved people at any time.
Every year,
there are several self-ignitions.
A construction worker dies in 2014.
His excavator hits a world war bomb
during earthworks.
Thirteen people are injured,
some of them seriously.
To prevent this from happening,
men like Enrico Schnick
risk their lives every day.
Arrival in Bahren an der Neisse.
The most important thing comes first.
Security for the population.
We have prepared this,
for the bomb detonation. We have set up
a 3,281 feet barrier circuit.
Here we have access roads,
which we secure with guards.
The Bahren district
has already been evacuated,
our colleagues are now carrying out
another check.
Where the bomb was found,
73 years ago,
the battle for the Reich's capital Berlin
began.
The last gasp of the Nazis.
With two and a half hours
of artillery fire,
three weeks before the war ends,
the red army launches
its pincer movement on Hitler's capital
on Oder and Neisse.
April 16, 1945 is finally
the beginning of the end
of the so-called Third Reich.
Of course,
the Germans knew what was to come.
The numerical superiority
of the Red Army was so immense.
Also the air support,
the artillery superiority.
It was an unequal fight.
In the early hours of the morning,
the Red Army crosses
the Neisse River in several places.
Already around nine o'clock,
Bahren has been taken.
Estimated 10,000 Red Army soldiers
against a few thousand Germans,
some of them old men
and children of the Volkssturm.
They are to defend the access to Berlin,
where Hitler hides in the Fhrer bunker.
More than 2,000 Germans die
in this hopeless endeavor.
The Soviets are supported by small,
single- and twin-engine aircraft.
The Soviet air forces
proceeded very tactically.
To support the ground attack,
they launched a mass attack
on the Oder-Neisse border.
One thousand Soviet planes dropped
many highly explosive bombs.
Fire bombs started fires
in the supply bases
and ammunition depots.
The men from the explosive
ordnance disposal service
found exactly such a bomb
here in Bahren.
Only a few minutes left
until the detonation.
Nobody should be
within 1,312 feet of the bomb.
Is that the Polish side?
That vehicle over there?
A vehicle just drove onto the dam there.
The deadly legacy of the Second World War
also lurks off German coasts.
Here, the German navy is ensuring safety.
At seven o'clock in the morning,
the minehunter Sulzbach-Rosenberg
with a crew of 44 man
starts its mission in Kiel.
Five.
Course zero-nine-zero.
In the Baltic Sea,
the ship goes on a mine and bomb hunt.
Captain Pierre Limburg has been in
the mine hunting business for eight years
and has destroyed
dozens of them since then.
The threat from aging aerial bombs
and mines is still immense.
Very frequently, fishermen find mines
or old bombs in their nets.
Or you have contacts
during other underwater work,
and then we are in demand as well.
The problem is, there are not only
dud bombs off the German coast,
but up to 1.3 tons
of dangerous world war ammunition.
After the end of the war, the Allies
sank tons of them into the sea.
Captured weapons of the Nazis
as well as own bombs and ammunition.
At the end of the war, the accumulated
ammunition was to be disposed of.
The Americans and British disposed of
them in the designated areas.
The Russians were not as prudent.
They just dropped them somewhere.
That is why the Baltic Sea
is full of ammunition.
Many boatmen dump the ammunition
on their way to the restricted areas
to save fuel.
Today, tides and currents
still wash bombs into shipping lanes.
Cruise ships and container ships
sailing into the Baltic Sea here
could trigger them at any time.
How does my family feel
about us going to this dangerous area?
Of course they are concerned about it,
but I am trying...
to convince them with several arguments
that we have the best possible protection.
To locate this dangerous legacy,
the crew scans the seabed
with highly sensitive sonar.
Message from the captain.
We arrived at the search area.
I suggest deploying the sonar
and becoming active.
Yes.
Command, sonar deployed, sonar active.
Command, sonar deployed, sonar active.
Message. Contact was measured
with a length of 4.6 feet,
a width of one foot
and a water depth of 83 feet.
Message. Contact was measured.
Length is 4.6 feet...
- Sonar operator.
- Operator.
Message. New contact in bearing.
Two-eight six, range 885 feet.
New contact in bearing.
Two-eight-six, range 885 feet.
We just got a position
where there may be water bombs.
At a depth of 66 feet,
a 70 year old danger lurks.
Is that on the Polish side?
The vehicle over there?
A vehicle just drove on the dam there.
It could be someone from the municipality,
we don't know. It could be in Poland.
I have also considered
that it might be on the Polish side.
The Neisse comes first.
If I were to see anyone over there,
I would have to interrupt immediately.
We'll try talking to the Poles again,
but other than that,
they should be informed.
The men hope
that it is an inspection vehicle.
The police and fire brigade are now
securing access roads and houses.
The explosive ordnance clearance service
is on its way to the bomb.
BOMB SITE
CHECK POINTS
POLICE
Detonation expert Schnick
has to prove his skills now.
The dud is where it hit 70 years ago.
A Russian 110 lb bomb with detonator.
Transportation is too dangerous.
Its goals goal is not to kill
the enemy soldiers through an explosion
and through splinter flight,
but by fire,
with a kind of thickened petroleum.
This bomb contains
an incendiary composition
that cannot be extinguished
with conventional extinguishing methods.
In other words, neither water nor sand
can help, nothing at all can.
You can only let the incendiary
composition burn in a controlled manner.
That's why we must try
to detonate the bomb
in a controlled way so the incendiary
composition doesn't spread uncontrollably.
That's the dangerous thing
about this detonation.
The police, too,
must now leave the barrier circuit.
The team begins its work.
Again and again, people in Germany
have to yield to the danger of bombs.
Frankfurt, September 2017.
The largest evacuation
since the Second World War.
Over 70,000 residents
have to leave their homes.
One of the largest bombs
was found during construction work.
The HC 4000,
nicknamed apartment block cracker,
has an explosive force of 1.4 tons.
Since 2010,
Dieter Schwetzler has been working
for the explosive ordnance
clearance service in Hessen.
He defuses around 40 dud bombs a year,
but he has never had to deal
with such a large bomb before.
We assume that buildings will be destroyed
in a radius of a few hundred feet.
Then, of course, there is splinter flight
and materials flying around.
Accordingly,
a radius of 4,921 feet was chosen
to ensure
that citizens will not be harmed.
Frankfurt is one of
the most frequently bombed German cities.
Allied air forces attacked the city
75 times.
Frankfurt was a main target
because a large part
of German traffic converged here.
The Americans also wanted to destroy
the German oil industry.
Almost 30,000 bombs almost completely
destroy the Main metropolis.
Particularly destructive
are air mines,
so-called apartment block crackers.
The purpose of these air mines is
to destroy buildings by the pressure wave.
Uncovering houses, destroying windows,
tearing down buildings.
It is exactly this kind
of apartment block cracker
which is responsible for the largest
evacuation in post-war Germany.
The evacuation of the residential areas
is in full swing.
Two hospitals are also affected.
Over 100 patients are transferred.
Due to the defusing of the air mine
in Bismarcker Strae
a restricted zone
was set up at 6 a.m. this morning.
12 p.m.
Everyone should have left
the danger zone four hours ago.
One thousand policemen now check whether
everybody has really left their houses.
Again and again, people refuse.
Then, the police have to take action.
Can you please open the door?
What is annoying
is that some people thought
they could negotiate with us
and have discussions at the front doors.
Some still remain in their homes.
Only at 2:30 p.m.
is the barrier circle cleared.
Two and a half hours later than planned.
The helicopter squadron reported
that there are no more people in the area.
Now we begin the defusing.
On our side everything went smoothly,
at the first attempt.
The demolition experts worked on the dud
for more than four hours.
From the moment you get down to it,
you're naturally quite focused on it.
That's pure adrenaline,
but you live with it
and you know how to deal with it.
With a C4-plastic explosive,
demolition expert Schnick
wants to crack the dud open
and destroy
the dangerous incendiary composition.
Every explosive
and every situation is different.
Every location is different.
There are so many factors
that it must not become a routine.
Routine, that's another point...
Routine is deadly.
Ready. The team withdraws.
The safety distance is 1148 feet.
The deadly incendiary composition
should not fly that far.
They detonate the explosive charge
by radio.
I'm counting down.
Three, two, one, ignition.
Two, one, ignition.
The bomb is destroyed.
The incendiary composition
is destroyed.
Schnick's first move
is towards his phone.
That was the text to my family,
because the family is worried.
That should reassure them.
Let them know that everything worked out.
One of the first things for me
is to inform my family.
They now bring the remains of the bomb
to their depot.
The iron is scrapped.
The work is done for today.
15 NAUTICAL MILES FROM KIEL
Captain Limburg,
with the minehunter Sulzbach-Rosenberg,
searches for old world war bombs
and mines in the Baltic Sea.
They have just located a possible
three deadly water bombs with the sonar.
The contact has just been measured.
Water depth 79 feet.
Dimensions five feet length,
0.7 feet width.
Yes. Prepare for drone deployment
on starboard.
Command, prepare for drone deployment.
With the underwater drone,
a small remote-controlled submarine
equipped with a camera,
Captain Limburg wants to search
the seabed for the three water bombs.
Sebastian observes the pictures
of the underwater camera attentively.
If they find the bombs, the 27-year-old
later has to disarm them
all by himself under water.
The mine clearance diver has been
with the Bundeswehr for six years.
Judging by the pictures,
it doesn't look very good at the moment.
The ground seems to be muddy
and there are many suspended particles.
That means a visibility
of maybe seven feet. That's not much.
In such cases you try to work
with your sense of touch.
But this is only works to a limited extent
because you don't know what's what
and you shouldn't touch everything.
Therefore...
Yes, that's good, we'll do it like that.
But first, the crew has to find
the unknown objects,
and to identify them.
- One-W-O?
- Yes?
Command to the divers,
the divers should equip themselves.
In the Second World War, water bombs
like these are the most effective weapon
against the dreaded German submarines.
German submarines
were the terror of the Allies.
Winston Churchill once said: "The only
thing we were scared of during the war
was the battle in the Atlantic.
For these sea connections are
the Achilles' heel of the British Empire."
Therefore, the Allies start
a merciless hunt for the submarines.
The hunters become the hunted.
The submarine war practically continues
until the end of the war.
From the German territory,
from the Baltic Sea,
submarines above all leave for Norway
until the end of the war.
In April 1945, the risk is immense.
Many of the routes the submarines take
are contaminated with mines.
The Allied Air Force
lurks to attack the submarines.
On the way to Norway,
numerous submarines were lost.
It's such a water bomb which mine diver
Sebastian must neutralize.
He wants to use the plastic explosive C-4
to detonate the old explosive charges
under water.
But first,
he has to find them in the murky waters.
The sonar has located three contacts.
However,
the drone has only identified one object.
It's pretty uncertain
what's waiting for me down there.
As you have seen on the drone's sonar,
there is almost no visibility.
That's why
I have to be careful when diving.
I have to be careful
and feel my way slowly.
And keep my eyes open.
Sebastian has already done
over 600 dives and countless explosions.
The dinghy takes him to the coordinates,
where he has to dive
for the suspicious objects.
Because visibility
is so poor at 66 feet,
mine diver Sebastian
has to feel them with his fingers.
Three, two, one, and down.
Underwater, Sebastian only communicates
with the dinghy via this signal buoy.
He simply pulls the rope.
Radio would disturb his concentration.
He always dives free,
without a fixed connection.
Like this, he is more flexible
and can react quickly.
If he pulls on the buoy three times,
he has found the bombs.
- Yes.
- Yes.
Up and down.
We have found all three bombs.
Before they are allowed to work on bombs,
all bomb disposal experts
undergo detailed training.
In the last seven years, Andr Kowalzik
has destroyed over 80 bombs.
Today, he trains Marc Neubauer.
In one year,
he wants to disarm his first dud bomb.
He was a mine diver in the Bundeswehr
for seven years.
There are many jobs
where you risk your life.
If these jobs aren't done,
everything would stop.
And then,
the population is also in danger.
For a year now, he has been training
to be a munitions clearance officer.
Today, the recovery of a phosphorus bomb
is on the training plan.
Mark has to wear a protective suit.
Bombs have relatively thin walls.
In case the phosphorous-benzene-rubber
mixture leaks,
we don't get it on our clothes.
We can take off our suits quickly.
That's their life insurance,
because it's impossible to extinguish
the incendiary composition.
The explosive ordnance clearance service
is practicing
recovering a 33 lb bomb
from the Second World War.
The Allies fly more than 213
attacks on Hamburg.
The worst takes place
in the night of July 27, 1943.
Operation Gomorrah is the codename
for this attack,
from the Old Testament.
The two cities Sodom and Gomorrah,
where fire falls from the sky.
That's a martial code name
for a bombing raid
and something that did not exist before
in this intensity.
739 Lancasters
of the Royal Airforce Bomber Command
launch a particularly devastating attack.
Hamburg with its port
is an important industrial location
and traffic junction.
Moreover, it is easy
for the bomber squadrons to reach.
A stream of bombers forms,
perhaps 62 miles long.
And they fly over the North Sea,
near Helgoland, into German territory,
and from there directly to Hamburg.
They ignite a brutal firestorm
that summer night.
With heavy bombs they uncover the roofs,
so that the fire bombs
can ignite the houses more easily.
Over 40,000 people die.
To this day,
such fire bombs are extremely dangerous.
Careful.
The fumes are toxic.
The phosphorus would ignite itself
if exposed to air.
It would be impossible to extinguish it.
That's why men train
for an emergency
as they do today
as realistically as possible.
So that nothing goes wrong
when it really comes to life and death.
Good. It all worked out really well.
Wonderful.
That concludes the training for today.
They recover small bombs
on a daily basis.
At least 20 times a year, they recover
bombs weighing over 440 lb.
In the city,
a detonation would be too dangerous.
The explosive ordnance clearance service
has therefore developed special machines
that make the defusing of lethal
long-term detonators somewhat safer.
This is a so-called high-pressure
water cutting system.
Let's put it here.
Here,
we work with water and a sand mixture.
This has about 2,400 bar.
I mean, precisely 2,400 bar.
With this, we can cut out the detonator.
High-tech against the deadly legacy.
They have been using
the machine for five years.
They use a magnet to attach the holder
for the water nozzle to the metal body.
In the danger area, near the bomb,
each movement must be precise.
Mistakes are fatal in this case.
With us the saying does not apply,
that one can learn from their mistakes.
Here, you make a mistake only once.
You normally don't survive a mistake.
From a supposedly safe distance
in a small mobile bunker,
they start the machine.
At 2,400 bar,
the thin jet of water
cuts through the steel shell of the bomb.
You can tell by the fact that the jet
is fanned that we are not yet through.
When the fan collapses,
we are inside the steel.
We are already through here.
With the remote controlled manipulator,
they pull the detonator out of the dud.
The old bomb can no longer explode.
In an emergency, however,
the ignition charge alone
with up to two lb of explosives
is still deadly.
With the robot, Andr Kowalzik
can detonate them at a safe distance
without putting people in danger.
But only ten of these high-tech devices
are in use throughout Germany.
Clean everything, pack everything up
and restore operational readiness.
Good.
15 NAUTICAL MILES FROM KIEL
Do you have all three?
When I go down,
I can take them with me, can't I?
We can combine it.
Then we have to attach two detonators.
We'll do that right on board.
Get in first.
The team prepares
the C-4 plastic explosive for ignition.
Their plan is to destroy all three bombs
with just one detonation.
We are now at the GPS position.
One diver is already in the water.
I want to let him dive down now.
- Do we have diving permission?
- Yes, here is the base.
Command to the dinghy.
Diving permission granted.
All right.
We are ready to go.
The soldier quickly dives back
to the bombs at a depth of 66 feet.
He's on the ground.
The diver is on the ground.
Sebastian attaches
the explosive charge to the bomb.
To all sea radio stations.
This is boat 1062, Sulzbach-Rosenberg.
The controlled water detonation
is carried out at 3:20 p.m.
on the following position.
54 degrees, 36.46 minutes north.
Ships are requested
to maintain a safety distance
of at least one nautical mile
around this position.
Frank Richter works
the aerial photo evaluation
for the explosive ordnance
clearance service.
In Oranienburg, there are many bombs
and ammunition remnants underground.
Therefore the area must be examined
before each building project.
We are investigating this site because
the city wants to build a new road there.
We already found the aerial photo.
Here is the complete
Louise-Henriette-Steg.
On the left, the right and in the middle,
you can see some issues.
For the analysis he uses aerial photos
of the Allies from the Second World War.
The previously secret archives
have only been accessible for 30 years.
Aerial photographs were taken before,
during and after the strategic bombing.
Before,
one looked at what one could destroy.
After,
one looked at what had been destroyed.
The evaluator compares these pictures.
If he discovers many craters,
statistically, a dud is to be assumed.
A small dot indicates
that a bomb has hit but not exploded.
This is what is known
as a presumption point.
At Louise-Henriette-Steg,
we expect to see
the effects of five bomb funnels
and one presumption point.
They'll find splinters and maybe a bomb.
Six weeks before the German surrender,
the US Air Force starts
a particularly important mission
with 612 B-17 bombers.
Their target lies
16 miles north of Berlin.
The Auer works in Oranienburg.
Here,
the Nazis are building the atomic bomb.
At the end of 1944, the secret services
came across information
that a German factory in Oranienburg
was processing the radioactive metals
uranium and thorium.
They immediately went
to the American Air Force and said:
"We need a bombing raid
to destroy this factory."
The chemical elements form the basis
for the construction of an atomic bomb.
With almost 6,000 bombs,
the Allies ended the nightmare
of a German nuclear weapon.
They dropped a lot of bombs
with long-term detonators
to make sure that the bombs
first penetrate the factory roof
and enter the factory
to later explode there.
They wanted to wipe out every trace
of this operation.
The fear of delayed denotations
prevents anyone
from entering the factory.
Often, after just one or two days,
the streetcars were intact again.
If there are have bombs that detonate,
it also undermines public morale.
It is a great danger,
often resulting in high human casualties.
But many of these insidious bombs
turn in the soft sandy soil.
The acid does not hit its target.
The ignition is delayed indefinitely.
No one can now say
when the bomb will explode.
From my point of view, this is one of
the most dangerous weapons found today.
A chemical time fuse is much riskier
than a mechanical fuse.
And it is known
that one can't even afford
the slightest shock to them.
The explosive ordnance clearance service
in Oranienburg suspects just such a bomb.
Andr Mller
has already defused 173 bombs.
Fifty-five of them
had long-term detonators.
It is a little nerve-wrecking,
because we do not know
whether it is a bomb.
We just assume it is.
We also don't know
what condition the bomb is in.
We must always assume
that a self-detonation can occur.
In the location the aerial evaluation
suspects a dud bomb,
they have located a suspicious object,
an anomaly.
If it's a bomb with a long-term
detonator, it could explode at any time.
A certain death sentence for anyone
who is not at least 295 feet away.
Carefully they dig into the ground
to identify the object.
We are now 13 feet in the ground.
The anomaly
is believed to be at 14.8 feet,
which means we are about 1.6 feet
above the object.
From now on, neither excavators
nor shovels may be used.
We must avoid any movement at the bomb.
We must avoid temperature fluctuations.
Our worst case scenario is
the bomb going off.
That would not be good.
Special caution is therefore required
for the last few inches.
Only a thin layer of sand separates
demolition expert and the deadly bomb.
Come on.
We have to wait.
What's the distance between the bombs?
Two lie directly next to each other.
One is about 66 feet away.
- Are you ready to detonate?
- Yes, Sir.
Detonation in ten,
nine, eight,
seven, six,
five, four,
three,
two,
one, now.
Very nice.
Nicely done.
We blew up
everything we wanted to blow up.
The guys did a good job.
So I am satisfied.
You can be proud of that.
Something that has been lying around
for years has been removed again.
So, it's a good job.
Their mission is over for today.
In a year at the latest,
the Navy will have to search
for dangerous sites again.
The explosive ordnance disposal service
Oranienburg begins its mission.
Yesterday, they identified the object
as an American world war bomb.
The bomb weighs 551 lb
and has a dangerous long-term fuse.
Investigations of long-term detonators
have shown
that they are become
more and more sensitive over time.
With over 40 percent detonators, one must
assume that they are highly sensitive
and tend to self-detonate.
The disposal experts must not lose time
and are on their way.
At the same time, the evacuation begins.
Open up!
12,000 people must leave the barrier
circuit 3,117 feet around the bomb.
Metal splinters could fly that far.
Three hours later,
the decisive signal arrives.
The evacuation is complete.
Now the 66-year-old
is alone with the bomb.
The defusing can begin.
- Now the news.
- Good morning, Sara.
The 551 lb bomb
still has a live long-term detonator,
and that still has to be defused.
12,000 people have to leave
their houses and apartments.
Many day care centers, schools
and administrative offices in Oranienburg
will remain closed until at least
during the defusing.
Rail traffic is also disrupted.
All clear. The bomb is defused.
People can go back to their homes.
The demolition expert faces the press.
I don't see myself as a hero,
we just do our job.
I am just satisfied
that we defused this bomb today
and averted the danger
in this area for the time being.
We still suspect about 300 bombs
in the ground of Oranienburg.
This means that for today's crew,
the bomb search will not end here,
it will drag on for decades to come.
In Brandenburg, there exists a proverb
among the explosive ordnance removers:
"After the bomb is before the bomb."
An estimated 100,000 dud bombs
still lie underground.
In order to recover them
and make Germany safer,
several hundred explosive ordnance
removers risk their lives every day.
I don't see myself as a hero.
But I am proud of my work.
I am proud of the cooperation
with my colleagues.
And I'm proud of the responsibility
we have in our work.
Germany bears a heavy legacy.
It will probably never be possible
to recover all bombs off German coasts.
A seemingly hopeless fight,
which the men nevertheless face.
We can all be satisfied.
We can pat ourselves on the back.
We have made the sea
a little safer again.
Many generations to come
will struggle with the iron legacy
of the Second World War.
Until they finally stop posing a threat.