A ‘Tallboy’ bomb that was dropped in Nazi-occupied Poland by the British Royal Air Force (RAF) exploded in Piast Canal near Świnoujście on Tuesday, Oct. 13. The 12,000 lb device was found in the shipping canal while a road to the port of Szczecin was being dredged. The bomb was one of twelve Tallboys dropped in April 1945, towards the end of the Second World War. It was the only one among the 12 that did not initially explode; experts are unsure why.
After the bomb was discovered, efforts to evacuate residents of the area were met with resistance on Oct. 12: some considered the ‘main risk’ to be that of getting COVID-19 in the sports hall where the rescued were being housed while the bomb was being neutralized. Nevertheless, 750 people were evacuated from their residences, as divers from the Polish Navy’s Eight Coast Defense Flotilla worked on defusing the bomb.
The divers were reportedly working to prevent the explosion from a distance, outside the danger zone. They used the “deflagration” method, wherein “special explosive charges” are used to make holes in the bomb’s case, so its inside ignites, burning the bomb underwater before it explodes. Had the method worked, the explosion that carried 5200 lb worth of energetic material would have been avoided.
A spokesperson for the Polish Ministry of Defense confirmed that no one was hurt, and no damages were incurred from the incident. Given that this was the first time there had been an attempt to defuse a Tallboy bomb underwater, a spokesperson for the 8th Coastal Defense Flotilla Second-Lieutenant Grzegorz Lewandowski called the operation a “world-first,” stating that the incident was “without risk for those directly involved in the operation.”
The 6-meter-long bomb is the largest one found in Poland so far and is said to be the second-largest used by the British during the war. It can reportedly cause a small earthquake and is therefore sometimes referred to as the “earthquake bomb.” Between 1944 and 2003, 96 million pieces of explosive material were discovered in Poland; safely disposing of the munition cost the country approximately $866 million. This particular bomb had been under 33ft of water for 75 years before it exploded on Tuesday.
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