WWII grenade that halted trains safely destroyed, army says

A World War II explosive grenade which forced the closure of the railway line between Kautenbach and Wiltz on Monday “has been safely destroyed”, the army has confirmed.

Train services were interrupted for several hours in both directions after the grenade was found near Merkholtz. Bomb disposal experts from the army were called in to defuse the device.

No trains travelled from Wiltz on Monday during the disruption. © Photo credit: Marc Wilwert/LW-Archiv

The find was later confirmed as a “German army explosive grenade”, as RTL first reported, with the Luxembourg army later confirming the discovery to the Luxemburger Wort.

The small device was just 7.5cm long and was “safely destroyed” about 50 metres from where it was discovered, an army spokesperson said.

The grenade was safely destroyed around 50 metres from where it was found. © Photo credit: Private

The all-clear for train traffic was given at 13:26 on Monday afternoon, and train services between Kautenbach and Wiltz were set to resume gradually from 14:00, although the CFL warned that delays and cancellations were still possible throughout the afternoon.

Wartime bombs are still a fairly regular find in Luxembourg, and around Europe, even eight decades later. And the danger has often grown with time rather than diminishing. Corrosion can make fuses more temperamental and device safety measures less reliable, while the explosives inside remain almost as dangerous as they ever were.

In March this year, a large British WWII bomb was discovered in Paris, closing Gare du Nord train station and causing major disruption. And in June, three unexploded American bombs were discovered in Cologne, triggering the city’s biggest evacuation of civilians since the war.

(This article was originally published by the Luxemburger Wort. Machine translated, with editing and adaptation by Alex Stevensson.)