World War II bomb at the Marbach State Stud, State Riding School evacuated

Horses and staff at the State Riding School, which is part of the Marbach Main and State Stud Farm in Baden-Württemberg, had to leave their workplace today and found temporary shelter at the nearby stud farm. The reason: an unexploded American bomb was found in a meadow next to the State Riding School, which is normally used for cross-country training.

Found thanks to building regulations

State Chief Stable Master Dr. Astrid von Velsen-Zerweck reports: “A multi-purpose field is to be built on the meadow as part of the ‘Marbach 2018’ construction program. The building regulations stipulate that the area must first be examined for explosive ordnance. We know that the Americans tried to bomb the nearby train station during the Second World War, but missed. Aerial photographs showed bomb craters in the meadow, which have of course since been filled in. But this made it clear that at least one bomb must have exploded here. At first it didn’t look as if any more would be found. But the head of operations from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Service in Stuttgart had a gut feeling and was right. They found a one-meter-long, 250-kilogram bomb with two detonators. Fortunately, they were able to defuse it. In the end, the whole operation only took an hour and a half.”

Short-term accommodation at the stud farm

If it had not been possible to defuse the bomb, it would have had to be detonated. Then the valley within a radius of one kilometer would have had to be evacuated. As it was, only the State Riding School, the stud farm inn and a state building used as a temporary refugee home, the so-called “Alte Post”, were affected. The thoroughfares were also closed to traffic. People were able to stay in the stud’s information center. Some of the 33 horses at the State Riding School were housed in boxes (the stallions) and some in the pastures at the stud farm before they were able to return to their own meadows.