Today, the bomb technicians of the Army of the Railway Engineer Regiment of Castel Maggiore (BO) have defused two weapons of war of the Second World War found in two separate points within a construction site of the Italian Railway Network, allowing the return to the homes of over 2600 people evacuated, for the occasion, within 1,8 km from the place of the discovery.
For this operation, from the 08.20 to the 11.35, there was the interruption of the Bologna - Florence high speed railway line and the ordinary Bologna - Prato railway line in both directions. The air interdiction at the safety distance on the vertical plane of 1292 meters and some municipal roads near the area where the bombs were found were the additional safety measures taken.
The bombs, two airplane bombs equipped with a double spool weighing 250 pounds (equal to 105 kg) of American manufacture, were found in very poor condition but still active and functioning. The Army bomb squad, provided for the very delicate operation of removing the fuses on site to then transport the bombs, for the final operations of destruction, at the "I Laghi" quarry, in the Osteriola area, identified as a suitable and safe area.
The employment of the Army bomb squads was ordered by the North Interregional Defense Forces Command of Padua, the body responsible for coordinating armed forces in this type of intervention in the central-northern area of the peninsula (ten administrative regions).
The experience of the specialists of the Castel Maggiore Army is well demonstrated by the over 50 interventions already carried out, during the 2016, in its own area of competence (Marche Region, provinces of Bologna, Prato, Florence and Arezzo).
