More than 20,000 people have been forced from their homes as German authorities prepare to defuse a massive bomb dating back to World War Two. Thousands of properties within a radius of 1.5km of the bomb were evacuated in the west German city of Dortmund. The 4,000-pound bomb was discovered after experts analysed old aerial photographs while searching for unexploded ordnance dropped on Germany's industrial Ruhr region by Allied aircraft. The 4,000-pound World War Two bomb was removed after being successfully defused today Thousands of people have been offered shelter in the Westfalen Hall, in Dortmund after being forced from their homes
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More than 20,000 have been forced from their homes
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Explosive found by experts scouring old aerial photos for ordnance
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Bomb dropped during Battle of the Ruhr, a five-month campaign aimed at crippling Adolf Hitler's war effort
While unexploded WWII-era bombs are regularly discovered in @placeholder, they are rarely as big as the one uncovered in Dortmund.