Aging 1,100-pound WWII bomb leads to town’s evacuation (PHOTOS)

By Chris Eger

The thing in the middle? Not a nipple. (Photo: Ludwigshafen am Rhein)
Residents in a city in southwestern Germany last weekend had their plans interrupted by a historical reminder that still packed a lot of punch.
Some 18,000 were evacuated from Ludwigshafen on Sunday after a WWII-era unexploded bomb was discovered. The industrial city in the Rhineland, known today as the home of chemical giant BASF, was a ripe target for Allied bombers in 1943-44 due to its key wartime production facilities.
A remnant from one of at least 121 air raids focusing on the region’s IG Farben chemical plant, vital to the German war machine, the 1,100-pound bomb had gone some 70 years without being discovered.

#FliegerbombeLu: Hier ist das Evakuierungsgebiet für Sonntag auf der Karte zu sehen. Die #FeuerwehrLu hat außerdem ein Informationstelefon für Bürgerinnen und Bürger geschaltet. Mehr dazu gibt’s auf der https://t.co/5L5kMbK4oW pic.twitter.com/DAreT00CGy
— Stadt Ludwigshafen (@ludwigshafen_de) August 24, 2018

“Good news: The bomb is defused! Citizens can return to their homes,” Ludwigshafen officials said on social media after a military EOD team was able to safely recover the ordnance.

#FliegerbombeLu: Hier ist die entschärfte Bombe. pic.twitter.com/fP3Sqn7MHH
— Stadt Ludwigshafen (@ludwigshafen_de) August 26, 2018

A nearby U.S. military base at Mannheim, about 10 miles away,

Source: Guns.com