World War II bomb weighing 550 pounds defused in Germany after thousands evacuated

An unexploded bomb from World War II was successfully defused in the German city of Dresden on Wednesday, police said, after it sparked a huge evacuation operation.

The 550-pound British bomb was found Tuesday during work in the city center to rebuild a bridge over the Elbe River that collapsed in 2024.

The discovery prompted authorities to evacuate 18,000 people on Wednesday, the largest such operation ever carried out in the eastern German city, emergency services said.

More than 400 police and other emergency services were deployed, supported by a helicopter and a drone, to check that homes, businesses, schools, residences and offices were empty within a one kilometer radius of the device.

Later Wednesday afternoon, city police said the device had been disabled.

It said in a statement that bomb disposal specialists “removed the detonator from the bomb at 3:10 p.m. before detonating it,” while the bomb itself was also removed from the scene.

The evacuation zone will open again once a final security check is completed, police said.

The bomb was discovered during cleanup and construction work following the partial collapse of the Carola Bridge in September 2024.

The evacuation affected important historical sites, including the city’s Zwinger Palace and the Frauenkirche church, as well as residential buildings, hotels and government offices.

Dresden was heavily bombed by the Allies on February 13 and 14, 1945, killing up to 25,000 people and destroying much of the old town known for its baroque architecture.

Previously found bombs from World War II and deactivated at the bridge site in January and August 2025, with thousands of people affected each time.

On 20,000 people were evacuated from the center of Cologne in June 2025 after three unexploded American bombs from World War II were found, the largest such operation in the city since the end of the war.

World War II bombs have been discovered on battlefields and cities around the world where fighting took place, often decades after the war ended. In March 2025, a World War II bomb was found near the tracks of the Gare du Nord station in Paris. The previous month, more than 170 bombs were dropped. found near a children’s playground in the north of England. And in October 2024, a World War II bomb exploded in a Japanese airport.