National Geographic - WWII Bomb Hunters (2018)

Around 5000 bombs are defused every year. The documentary “Iron Harvest -WWII Bomb Hunters ” focuses on the work of the experts from the ordnance disposal service - whose daily routine is the danger. It has been almost 80 years since Hitler plunged the world into the greatest war of annihilation of mankind. To stop the German dictator, the Allies made a momentous decision The bombing war against Germany began. The British flew their attacks at night, the Americans during the day. So they put the Germans under pressure around the clock. They dropped a total of 1.4 million tons of bombs on Germany during their bombing - that's at least 5 million bombs. Out of every ten, one didn't explode. Around 100 duds are still found every week today. Since then, it has been the task of the courageous bomb defusers to render the sleeping bombs harmless and to ensure the protection of the population. Bomb disposal teams in Germany risk their lives every day to eliminate dangerous remnants of war. It is believed that there are still 100,000 duds underground in Germany. The documentary shows men and women of the ordnance disposal service in the risky defusing of duds, the “iron legacy” from the war. National Geographic accompanied ordnance clearance services throughout Germany for several months in their dangerous work. For the documentary, producer Frank Gensthaler's team filmed defuses up close. The program shows the defusing of a 50 kilo phosphor bomb on the Neisse, the border river between Germany and Poland, three depth charges off the coast of Kiel in the Baltic Sea, a so-called cookie or blockbuster bomb in Frankfurt and an American 250 kilo World War II bomb with a time delay detonator in Oranienburg. Tens of thousands of people are evacuated when unexploded ordnances are found. In addition to historical facts and background information about the World War II bombings, well-founded, technical expertise about the nature and function of the dud bombs is explained.

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