Late last Saturday afternoon in Exeter, Devon, the British Military in a controlled detonation blew up a 1942 Nazi high explosive bomb. 

There really is no other way to put it. They blew this 79-year-old bomb sky high. But… what is it like to find out that you are living next to a very, very, large explosive. 

‘It started out as rumours’ says a student at Exeter University who’s flat was a mere 103 metres away from the location of the bomb. She, along with 1,400 others were moved across the city to safety on Friday 26th. 

When builders discovered the bomb at around 9:30 am that morning they called the police who declared a ‘major incident’, however the original cordon was small, whilst they worked out the size of the device. But by midday experts understood that it was a ‘1000kg Nazi Blitz device’ 

Straight off the mark 100 homes were evacuated and those residing there were told to stay with friends and family. In due course the cordon was extended to 400m circumference of the device. 

When asked what they were told to do when their block was evacuated the Exeter Uni student said ‘ we were told to pack for two nights and bring essentials’. 

After many hours of waiting the bomb was detonated. ‘You could hear it on the other side of the city’. Another student, who was still on the university campus at the time of the explosion said it was ‘like a wall of air hitting you’ 

On Sunday 28th of February the students were allowed to go back to their homes/dorms. Sadly, due to the force of the blast, some windows and doors in the 100m radius were blown in and many buildings suffered severe structural damaged.

It was lucky that it was discovered when it was, but who knows, the bomb may have never gone off. I would rather have it gone than not, we wouldn’t want an accident waiting to happen.