Operation Big Bang
 Blasting of the bunkers of Heligoland, seen from the neighboring island Düne | |
| Date | 18 April 1947 |
|---|---|
| Time | 13:00 CET (12:00 UTC) |
| Location | Heligoland, Germany |
| Coordinates | 54°10′57″N 7°53′07″E / 54.1825°N 7.885278°ECoordinates: 54°10′57″N 7°53′07″E / 54.1825°N 7.885278°E |
| Also known as | Operation British Bang |
| Cause | detonation |
Operation Big Bang or British Bang was the explosive destruction of bunkers and other military installations on the island of Heligoland. The explosion utilized 7400 tons (6700 metric tons) of surplus World War II ammunition, which was placed in various locations around the island and detonated at 1 p.m. on April 18, 1947 by the Royal Navy. The energy released was 1.3×1013 J, or about 3.2 kilotons of TNT equivalent[1] making it the largest artificial non-nuclear explosion at that time. The objective of the blast was to destroy the bunkers and military installations on the North Sea island of Heligoland, but due to the enormous amount of explosives it was forseen that the entire island might be destroyed.[2] The porous sandstone that makes up the island allowed the blast wave to escape so only the southern tip of the island was destroyed; however, there was considerable damage to the northern tip.
Background[edit]
Because of its location in the center of the German Bight, near the mouths of the Weser, the Elbe, and the Kiel Canal, the waters around the island of Heligoland were the scene of four naval battles in 1849, 1864, 1914, and 1917. In 1807, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland occupied the island, which had previously belonged to Denmark. In 1890, in the so-called Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty, the German Empire exchanged German territorial claims in Africa for the island of Heligoland in order to develop it into a naval fortress and later a naval base. According to the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, Article 115, the fortress was to be destroyed after the First World War. The work lasted from 1920 to 1922, but was nevertheless not as thorough as originally envisaged; the basic structure was preserved.[3] During the Nazi period (1938), the never-completed "Project Lobster Claw" (Projekt Hummerschere) was started to make the island a military counterweight to the British naval base in Scapa Flow Bay. After the end of World War II, the island was again occupied by the British and served as a blasting and training ground between 1945 and 1952.
Blasting[edit]
In April 1945, after a large bombing raid, the approximately 2500 inhabitants were still evacuated by the German Wehrmacht.[4] On May 11, 1945 the island was occupied by British soldiers.[5] Despite many protests from the residents of Heligoland, the British began preparations to blow up the island in 1947. They filled the Nordsee III submarine bunker in the southern harbor and the tunnel labyrinths with leftover munitions from the world wars. Since the preparations took longer than planned, the original deadline of March 31 could not be met.[6]
On April 18, 1947, exactly two years after a major British attack on Heligoland with about 1,000 bombers, the Royal Navy detonated the bomb. Stacked were about 4,000 torpedo heads, nearly 9,000 depth charges and over 91,000 shells of various calibers. The blast was set off by British sappers aboard HMS Lasso from a distance of about 17 kilometers. The British staged this blast for the German public; there was a separate brochure about it. Almost 20 journalists watched directly from the sea steamer Danzig. A smaller explosion preceded to scare away the birds. The actual explosion occurred a few minutes later. A huge jet of fire and tons of rock shot into the sky. The tremors could still be felt in Cuxhaven, 70 kilometers away. The mushroom cloud rose about nine kilometers, according to other sources, one kilometer, into the air. The explosion shook the island base to a depth of several kilometers.
Results[edit]
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The island survived the blast, but the southern tip of the island, the rubble of which makes up today's Mittelland, was blown away.[7] Parts of the cliff also collapsed, and countless craters were created. However, the harbor facilities and coastal protection walls remained intact; the spared civil air raid shelters today attract up to 10,000 tourists annually. The only building to survive the blast was the Flakturm, today's Heligoland Lighthouse.[8] The detonation could be registered seismographically in Germany and used to study the earth's crust.[9] It was not until 1952, after protests by the residents, that the people of Heligoland were allowed to repopulate their island. Today, on the anniversary of the demolition, a memorial service is held in the civil defense bunker.
References[edit]
- ^ Willmore, PL (1949). "Seismic Experiments on the North German Explosions, 1946 to 1947". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. 242 (843): 123–151. Bibcode:1949RSPTA.242..123W. doi:10.1098/rsta.1949.0007. ISSN 0080-4614. JSTOR 91443.
- ^ Katja Iken (2017-04-18). "Inselsprengung in der Nordsee - Hell-Go-Land!" (in German). Spiegel-online. Archived from the original on 2017-04-18. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
- ^ Claude Fröhle, Hans-Jürgen Kühn: Hochseefestung Helgoland. Eine militärgeschichtliche Entdeckungsreise. Teil 1: 1891–1922, Herbolzheim 1998, S. 69.
- ^ NDR. April 1945: Helgoland im Bombenhagel Archived 2019-07-17 at the Wayback Machine, vom: 22. August 2012; abgerufen am: 19. Januar 2019.
- ^ Der Spiegel: Inselsprengung in der Nordsee Hell-Go-Land! Archived 2021-02-28 at the Wayback Machine, vom: 18. April 2017; abgerufen am: 19. Januar 2018.
- ^ Helgoland muß zerstört werden. Archived 2020-10-25 at the Wayback Machine In: Der Spiegel. 2/1947.
- ^ Regina Kusch, Andreas Beckmann: Festung, Seebad, Labor. Helgolands Entwicklung nach dem großen Knall. In: Deutschlandradio. 18. April 2007. (online auf: dradio.de) Archived 2013-10-29 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Leuchttürme auf den Nordseeinseln, nordwestwind.de "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) (German) - ^ G. A. Schulze: Anfänge der Krustenseismik "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) (German)
External links[edit]
- 'Heligoland Goes Up: Destroying Hitler's Sea Base' (1947), British Pathé, Video on YouTube
- 'Festung, Seebad, Labor', Regina Kusch and Andreas Beckmann, 18 April 2007, German radio transcript