VOLGOGRAD, October 14 (Itar-Tass) — A German high explosive 100-kilogram bomb of the World War Two times has been found in Volgograd, the Southern Regional Centre (SRC) of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry (EMERCOM) told Itar-Tass on Friday.
The ammunition was found in Metallurgov Street in the city’s Krasnooktyabrsky district during construction work. The site where the dangerous object was found has been cordoned off. On Saturday, the bomb will be rendered harmless by a pyrotechnic team of the 495th Rescue Centre of the EMERCOM.
The EMERCOM main department for the Volgograd region noted that it is the 20th bomb of the WW2 times that has been found in the city and region since the beginning of the year.
During the Battle of Stalingrad (July 1942-February 1943) the city on the Volga River was subjected to massive bombing by enemy aircraft. Hitler ordered to raze Stalingrad to the ground. The most tragic day was August 23, 1942. Then the bombings killed nearly 40 thousand civilians, more than 70 thousand people were injured. The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War Two in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in south-western Russia. It was among the largest on the Eastern Front and was marked by its brutality and disregard for military and civilian casualties. It was amongst the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare with the higher estimates of combined casualties amounting to nearly two million. In its defeat, the crippling losses suffered by Germany’s military proved to be insurmountable for the war. The battle was a turning point in the war, after which the German forces attained no further strategic victories in the East. The German offensive to capture Stalingrad commenced in late summer 1942, supported by intensive Luftwaffe bombing which reduced much of the city to rubble. The German offensive eventually became bogged down in house-to-house fighting; and despite controlling over 90 percent of the city at times, the Wehrmacht was unable to dislodge the last Soviet defenders clinging tenaciously to the west bank of the Volga River
Almost 70 years later, unexploded German bombs, shells, mines and other munitions are found here every year.