50,000 people in Hannover, Germany, have been ordered to leave their homes while experts defuse five suspected World War Two bombs.
The city was extremely significant in WW2, being the home of seven concentration camps where many Jewish people were confined, as well as the target of bombing from allied planes which killed 1,245 people on October 9, 1943.
The operation is the second largest bomb excavation in Germany since warfare and will affect around a tenth of the city’s population.
Numerous buildings have been evacuated including seven care homes, a clinic, and a Continental tyre plant.
The city has set up a programme of museum tours, children’s films, and sporting events to make the day go as pleasantly as possible as well as providing soup portions for everyone.
Bomb disposal experts had initially checked as many as 13 suspicious objects around the city, but only five were considered to be possible bombs on a nearby building site.
The largest bomb evacuation took place on Christmas day last year in Augsburg when around 54,000 people had to be moved after a 1.8 tonne bomb was unearthed during some building work.
The number of left over ww2 bombs in Germany have caused many deaths of construction workers and bomb disposal experts.
Officials hope that citizens will be back in the homes safely by this evening.
