Hanover evacuates 50,000 after three giant WW2 bombs found on building site

Some 50,000 people were evacuated from their homes after three WW2 bombs were discovered on a building site in Germany.

Residents from houses, flats, clinics and care homes in the city of Hanover were forced out at 9am on Sunday morning while bomb disposal experts defused the devices.

Officials initially suspected there were five bombs but investigations later concluded there were only three.

Around 1,000 people among those forced from their homes had used shelters provided by officials during the nine-hour evacuation.

City museums dropped their admission charges and community centres organised events for children and the elderly so people were not forced to wander the streets.

The 50,000 people – amounting to around 10% of Hanover’s entire population – were allowed back into their homes by the end of the day, after initial estimates suggested it would be 24 hours before they were allowed to return.

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Such finds are not unusual in Germany, which was bombed a staggering 125 times by Allied forces during the war.

On Christmas Day, 54,000 people had to leave their homes in Augsburg as a large bomb was defused.

It is believed the latest find were from a raid in October 1943 that saw 260,000 high explosive and incendiary devices dropped onto the city.

Top pic: AP