1,000-Pound Bomb From World War II Unearthed in London
1,000-Pound Bomb From World War II Unearthed in London
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An unexploded 1,000-pound bomb discovered at a building site in south London, on March 23, 2015.Sergeant Rupert Frere—Britain's Ministry of Defence/AFP/Getty Images
Experts safely defused a 1,000-lb. bomb from World War II on Tuesday after it was unearthed in southeast London.
The 5 ft.-long bomb, which was 6-9 ft. below ground, had prompted an evacuation of 1,200 homes in Southwark after a construction vehicle discovered the device on Monday, officials said in a statement. As of Tuesday evening, affected residents were allowed to return home, with the bomb defused and removed.
The Southwark area, once the commercial hub of London, had been heavily bombed during World War II. Bombs continue to be discovered decades after the war ended in 1945: between 2009 and 2014, the London Fire Brigade was notified of seven unexploded bombs from World War II.
Before and After D-Day: Color Photos From England and France
American troops in England before D-Day, May 1944.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesAmerican combat engineers eat a meal atop boxes of ammunition stockpiled for the impending D-Day invasion, May 1944.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesTroops and civilians pass the time on Henley Bridge, Henley-on-Thames, in the spring of 1944.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesAn American corporal stacks cans of gasoline in preparation for the upcoming invasion of France, Stratford-upon-Avon, England, May 1944.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesA small town in England in the spring of 1944, shortly before D-Day.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesAn American Army chaplain kneels next to a wounded soldier in order to administer the Eucharist and Last Rites, France, 1944.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesAn abandoned German machine gun, France, June 1944.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesMagazines scattered among the rubble of the heavily bombed town of Saint-L, Normandy, France, summer 1944.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesAn American tank crew takes a breather on the way through the town of Avranches, Normandy, summer 1944.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images"We thought it was going to be murder but it wasn't. To show you how easy it was, I ate my bar of chocolate. In every other operational trip, I sweated so much the chocolate they gave us melted in my breast pocket." - Frank Scherschel describing his experiences photographing the Normandy invasion from the air, before he joined Allied troops heading inland. Above: GIs search ruined homes in western France after D-Day.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesView of the ruins of the Palais de Justice in the town of St. Lo, France, summer 1944. The red metal frame in the foreground is what's left of an obliterated fire engine.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images"All the civilized world loves France and Paris. Americans share this love with a special intimacy born in the kinship of our revolutions, our ideas and our alliances in two great wars." - LIFE on the relationship between the U.S. and its longtime European allyFrank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesAlong the coast of France, June 1944.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesFrom D-Day until Christmas 1944, German prisoners of war were shipped off to American detention facilities at a rate of 30,000 per month. Above: Captured German troops, June 1944.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesMaintenance work on an American P-47 Thunderbolt in a makeshift airfield in the French countryside, summer 1944.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesA French couple shares cognac with an American tank crew, northern France, summer 1944.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesA P-38 fighter plane sits in the background as the pilot arrives in a captured German vehicle, France, 1944.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesChurch services in dappled sunlight, France, 1944.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesAmerican Army trucks (note cyclist hitching a ride) parade down the Champs-Elyses the day after the liberation of Paris by French and Allied troops, August 1944.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesFrenchmen transport painted British and American flags for use in a parade, summer 1944.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesTanks under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris during liberation celebrations, August 1944.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images"Paris is like a magic sword in a fairy tale - a shining power in those hands to which it rightly belongs, in other hands tinsel and lead. Whenever the City of Light changes hands, Western Civilization shifts its political balance. So it has been for seven centuries; so it was in 1940; so it was last week." - LIFE after the French capital was liberated in August 1944.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesFree French General and military governor of the French capital Pierre Koenig, left, pictured during ceremonies held the day after the liberation of Paris, August 1944.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesCelebrations in Paris after the liberation of the city, August 1944.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesAmerican troops stand beside a World War 1 monument bedecked with French flags after the town (exact location unknown) was liberated from German occupying forces, summer 1944.Frank Scherschel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
