Seven unexploded American bombs have been found in the ground at the site where Tesla is going to build its latest gigafactory in Germany. The bombs date from the Second World War (1939-1945).
Each of the bombs weighs 110 lb. A spokesperson for the Interior Minister of the government of Brandenburg state, where the plant will be located, said that experts wil lbe defusing the bombs in the very near-future.
This is not actually an uncommon occurrence in Europe, the battleground for much of the conflict. Those who have visited Vimy Ridge in France can attest to that, as they come face to face with signs indicating which fields have not yet been cleared. In that area, the fighting took place in the First World War (1914-1918).
Another 500-kg bomb from WWII was found this week in the city of Cologne, while a similar bomb was discovered near Berlin. In 2016, in-depth searches of the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg were carried out to ferret out unexploded bombs.
The 20th century’s two major conflagrations are many decades behind us now, but their effects continue to be felt today, in the political realm but also, evidently, in the automotive one.