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From Times Online
June 6, 2008

German bomb brings Blitz spirit back to the East End

An unexploded German bomb, from World War Two dredged from a canal near Bromley-by-Bow in east London

Philippe Naughton

Frustrated London commuters were forced to summon up a bit of the old Blitz spirit when their journey to work was disrupted by a massive German bomb uncovered in the East End during construction work for the 2012 Olympics.

Bomb disposal experts from the Royal Engineers were called in yesterday afternoon to defuse the 2,200-lb (1,000-kg) Second World War bomb dredged up in the River Lea near the future Olympic Village on Monday.

They worked late into the night to make it safe – stopping only when it unexpectedly started ticking – but were unable to prevent a bit of rush hour chaos this morning. Transport for London closed down Tube services between Whitechapel and Plaistow, as well as some bus services past the site, at 9.30pm and were not expected to restore them until 1pm today. The closures meant that tens of thousands of people living in East London and Essex had to find alternative routes into central London.

Speaking at the scene yesterday, Borough Commander Simon O’Brien said: “This is the largest World War Two bomb to be discovered in the past three decades. It measures approximately the size and length of a man, and weighs around 1,000kg.

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“Royal Engineers and partner agencies have been incredibly heroic and have worked extremely hard to defuse the bomb. We are all working to resolve this issue with minimum disruption to Londoners as soon as possible.”

A 200-metre exclusion zone has been declared around the bomb, which is at Sugar House Lane in Bromley-by-Bow. The device has been encased in a sand and wood "igloo" to absorb any blast if it goes off.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said that the Army had hoped to have the bomb made safe by 9am today but "for technical reasons it's taking longer than originally thought".

He added: "They will defuse it safely. It's just a question of how long its going to take."

East end blitz spirit. I think not! The East end residents from ww2 have all been forced out of their area with the place resembling Bombay nowadays.

Mike Jones, Farnborough, Hampshire

A story like this makes you realise how short a time its been since we had to fight for our freedom and self determination against a callous evil.

My Great Uncle Joe died last night. He made 24 bombing missions over Nazi territoy, surviving each one.

We as a nation should honour their memory

Lewis, Windsor,

as if a hard hat will protect those guys if that explodes!

Mark, London,

"Unexpectedly started ticking" - after 64 years!!! - that's German Engineering for you! - Vorsprung Durch BOOM!!!

Simon Humber, Nottingham,

What a fantastic endorsement of German engineering - still ticking after 60yrs in a muddy river!

Johnny, London, UK

If ticking then the internal mechanisms must be in mint condition?. quite an acomplishment if there was no water egress into the shell itself. Sounds like a potential museum piece, all very evocative. In Coventry we simply closed down the entire centre!! great Fun.

Alan Noorkoiv, coventry, ENGLAND

Very strange. The Amsterdam Times today (Friday 6th) has an almost identical photo on the front showing two Dutch Military men stood next to an unexploded WWII bomb. It also says that Schipol airport was closed this week. These aren't stock photographs by any chance are they?

Paul, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Builders Hard Hat (£5.99 ?)
- - versus - -
British Army standard Kevlar helmet (£70.00 ?).

Perhaps we really do need to give the army more equipment funding ;-)

Steve, Kent, UK

After all these decades buried in mud, and it STILL ticks? By gum, that's German workmanship for you.

C. Alexander Brown, Rockcliffe Park, Canada

"Sticking", eh?

Sticky bombs, the worst sort. Take it from me.

Steve Rudd, Huddersfield , West Riding of Yorkshire

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