Evacuation in Rastatt: 3,000 people affected by aerial bomb!

Evacuation in Rastatt: 3,000 people affected by aerial bomb!

On Sunday, October 25, 2025, the citizens of Rastatt will face a very special event: an American aerial bomb from the Second World War is to be defused here. This bomb weighs an impressive 500 kilograms and cannot simply be ignored due to its danger. The explosive ordnance disposal service has already taken all the necessary measures to guarantee the safety of the approximately 3,000 people affected by the evacuation. This number alone shows how large the extent of the evacuation is that is being carried out around the construction site for the Rastatt combined pool. Tagesschau reports that ...

To secure the bomb, an impressive protective wall was built. This is two and a half meters high and consists of a stable mix of concrete, sand and gravel. If this wall were not there, the evacuation radius would have doubled from 500 to 1,000 meters! Fortunately, the residents were spared this, although the weather conditions for the preparations were anything but ideal. Thorsten Dossow from the Technical Relief Agency (THW) in Rastatt mentioned that wet weather made the work more difficult.

Defusing and its challenges

The aerial bomb itself lies five meters deep in the ground and is covered with earth and a tarpaulin. As the experts report, it is not necessary to detonate the bomb and the detonators can be safely removed. The process can take between 20 minutes and four hours. Mathias Peterle from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Service emphasizes how crucial precautionary measures are in such situations, as he has already carried out around 50 similar missions. It is also important that there were no reports of damage to the detonators, which makes defusing safer.

However, the challenges of such operations should not be underestimated. It is estimated that there are between 100,000 and 300,000 tons of unexploded bombs in the ground in Germany, which have been considered a dangerous legacy of our past since the Second World War. Around 5,000 of these properties have to be cleared every year. As ARD Alpha explains, defusing requires extensive preparation and technology to ensure that nothing goes wrong during recovery.

Residents and safety precautions

The security precautions for defusing are enormous. If a bomb is found, a safety radius is always set to ensure the long-term safety of the population. Reports of bombs being found, such as one recently in Stuttgart Weilimdorf on October 19, 2025, show that 3,200 people were also affected by an evacuation there. Press portal informs about… The ignition fuse was successfully defused there and people were able to quickly return to their homes. Such operations clearly show how important good preparation and information are in order to offer the residents the best possible experience. Dozens of emergency services are working tirelessly to ensure safety.

Today, Rastatt is facing a challenge that is unfortunately not uncommon in urban areas. But with the right measures and the commitment of the numerous experts on site, everything should go smoothly. The residents of the city can only be called upon to follow the instructions of the authorities and leave the area in order to defuse the situation safely.