by Bob Walsh
The city in Poland with the unpronouncable name was a major seaport when the Nazis were there. Consequently it got bombed a lot. They just found a 5.4 ton Tallboy bomb left over from WW II in the river there. Actually such things are not wildly uncommon in Europe though most of the bombs now, like this one, are found in the silt at the bottom of water or in really remote areas.
In any case the Polish demolition team attempted to neutralize the bomb by a process known as deflagration. In this process the interior of the bomb is accessed and the explosive is set on fire. It burns really nice, but doesn't explode. Theoretically.
Didn't quite work. Bomb went bang. Nobody was hurt as this is a remote control operation but the explosion was impressive.
They speculate this bomb was dropped in an attempt to sink the Nazi warship Luetzow, which is in the port in April of 1945.
This was the largest bomb ever discovered more or less intact in Poland. They find things like smaller bombs, mortar shells and hand grenades with great regularity.
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