DW: Who disarms Germany's WWII bombs?
Defusing bombs dropped over Germany during World War II is Horst Lenz's calling. He is summoned around 1,000 times a year to clear explosive devices. Lenz is guided by Murphy's Law: Anything that can go wrong, will.
Between 1940 and 1945, some 2.7 million tons of bombs were dropped on Europe by US and British forces, half of which landed in Germany. Of the roughly quarter million bombs that did not explode, thousands are still hidden underground all over the country.
Horst Lenz has been defusing bombs since 1984. The 63-year-old director of the Explosive Ordnance Clearance Service in Rhineland-Palatinate and his team of 15 is called in when bombs are found around the state. Last year they found around 35 tons of munitions and munition parts, including 63 unexploded bombs, 319 incendiary devices, 11 anti-tank mines, 444 grenades and 5,045 kilos of bullets.
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WNU Editor: Another country that is littered with unexplored ordinances is Russia. My mother's home town (and now city) is 50 km west of Moscow, and I know the person who is responsible for disarming and disposing World War II ordinances in that area. He is just as busy as Horst Lenz is in Germany, if not more so.
