Sandbags frame a 1.8 ton WWII bomb in river Rhine near Koblenz Saturday Dec. 3, 2011. Officials in Germany's western city of Koblenz say some 45,000 residents have to be evacuated because of a World War II era bomb discovered in the Rhine river. City officials said Saturday the massive British 1.8 ton bomb will be defused early Sunday, requiring all residents within a radius of about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the bomb site to leave their homes for the day. The British bomb was found last week alongside a 275 pound bomb dropped there by U.S. forces during WWII. The bombs were discovered in the Rhine after its water level fell significantly amid a prolonged lack of rain. (AP Photo/dapd/ Harald Tittel)
Sandbags frame a 1.8 ton WWII bomb in river Rhine near Koblenz Saturday Dec. 3, 2011. Officials in Germany's western city of Koblenz say some 45,000 residents have to be evacuated because of a World War II era bomb discovered in the Rhine river. City officials said Saturday the massive British 1.8 ton bomb will be defused early Sunday, requiring all residents within a radius of about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the bomb site to leave their homes for the day. The British bomb was found last week alongside a 275 pound bomb dropped there by U.S. forces during WWII. The bombs were discovered in the Rhine after its water level fell significantly amid a prolonged lack of rain. (AP Photo/dapd/ Harald Tittel)
Old ladies wait to be evacuated from a residential home for the elderly in Koblenz, Germany Sunday Dec. 4, 2011. Officials in the western German city of Koblenz say tens of thousands of residents have left their homes as experts prepare to defuse a massive World War II-era bomb discovered in the Rhine river. City officials said Sunday that some 45,000 residents living within a radius of about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the bomb site had to evacuate for the day by 0800 GMT. It's one of Germany's biggest bomb-related evacuations since the war ended. The British 1.8 ton bomb could cause massive damage if it exploded. It was found last week alongside a 275-pound U.S. bomb after the Rhine's water level fell due to lack of rain. Both bombs are to be defused. (AP Photo/dapd/ Harald Tittel)
Gertrud Thurn (87) background, waits to be evacuated from a residential hom for the elderly in Koblenz, Germany Sunday Dec. 4, 2011. Officials in the western German city of Koblenz say tens of thousands of residents have left their homes as experts prepare to defuse a massive World War II-era bomb discovered in the Rhine river. City officials said Sunday that some 45,000 residents living within a radius of about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the bomb site had to evacuate for the day by 0800 GMT. It's one of Germany's biggest bomb-related evacuations since the war ended. The British 1.8 ton bomb could cause massive damage if it exploded. It was found last week alongside a 275-pound U.S. bomb after the Rhine's water level fell due to lack of rain. Both bombs are to be defused. (AP Photo/dapd/ Harald Tittel)
Police guard a blocked shopping street in downtown Koblenz, western Germany Sunday Dec. 4, 2011. Officials in the western German city of Koblenz say tens of thousands of residents have left their homes as experts prepare to defuse a massive World War II-era bomb discovered in the Rhine river. City officials said Sunday that some 45,000 residents living within a radius of about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the bomb site had to evacuate for the day by 0800 GMT. It's one of Germany's biggest bomb-related evacuations since the war ended. The British 1.8 ton bomb could cause massive damage if it exploded. It was found last week alongside a 275-pound U.S. bomb after the Rhine's water level fell due to lack of rain. Both bombs are to be defused. (AP Photo/dapd/Harald Tittel)
An army vehicle drives across the blocked Pfaffendorfer Bridge over Rhine river in Koblenz, western Germany Sunday Dec. 4, 2011. Officials in the western German city of Koblenz say tens of thousands of residents have left their homes as experts prepare to defuse a massive World War II-era bomb discovered in the Rhine river. City officials said Sunday that some 45,000 residents living within a radius of about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the bomb site had to evacuate for the day by 0800 GMT. It's one of Germany's biggest bomb-related evacuations since the war ended. The British 1.8 ton bomb could cause massive damage if it exploded. It was found last week alongside a 275-pound U.S. bomb after the Rhine's water level fell due to lack of rain. Both bombs are to be defused. (AP Photo/dapd/Harald Tittel)
BERLIN (AP) ? A massive British World War II-era bomb that triggered the evacuation of about half of the 107,000 residents of Germany's western city of Koblenz was successfully defused Sunday, authorities said.
It was one of Germany's biggest bomb-related evacuations since the war ended with some 2,500 police officers, firefighters and paramedics on duty across the city to secure the operation.
Experts successfully defused the British 1.8 ton bomb and a 275-pound U.S. bomb that had been discovered last month after the Rhine river's water level fell significantly due to a prolonged lack of rain, said Heiko Breitbarth, a spokesman for Koblenz's firefighters.
Some 45,000 residents, living within a radius of about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the bomb site had to leave their houses early Sunday before the evacuation order was lifted in the evening, the city said on its website. Among those ordered to evacuate were seven nursing homes, two hospitals and a prison with some 200 inmates.
The British bomb could have cause massive damage in case it exploded.
"I did my job, that was all," lead defusing expert Horst Lenz told local daily Rhein Zeitung.
Finding unexploded bombs dropped by the Allies over Germany during World War II is common over 65 years after the war's end. The explosives are usually defused or detonated by experts without causing injuries.
Authorities in Koblenz had set up shelters for the evacuees and used buses to carry them to safety.
Train and road traffic came to a halt in the area, some 130 kilometers northwest of Frankfurt during the operation.
The residents of Koblenz, which was heavily bombed during World War II, are used to bomb scares. City officials said 28 smaller war bombs had been found there since 1999, the German news agency dapd reported. Such bombs are often found during construction work or by farmers plowing their fields.
Separately, another 200 people had to be evacuated from the southern German city of Nuremberg as experts there defused another bomb left from the war. The 70 kilogram (155 pounds) of unknown origin was defused in 15 minures, the city said in a statement.
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