Explosive ordnance disposal workers stand at the site of a bomb found at the demolished Carola Bridge on the banks of the Elbe on March 11, 2026, in Saxony, Dresden, Germany. Robert Michael/picture alliance via Getty Images

An unexploded World War II bomb was successfully defused in the German city of Dresden on Wednesday, police said, after it caused a huge evacuation operation.

The 550-pound British bomb was found on Tuesday during work in the city center to rebuild a bridge over the river Elbe that collapsed in 2024.

The discovery caused officials to evacuate 18,000 people on Wednesday, the largest such operation ever in the eastern German city, emergency services said.

More than 400 police along with other emergency services were deployed, backed up by a helicopter and a drone, to check that homes, shops, schools, care homes and offices were empty inside a one-kilometre radius of the device.

Later on Wednesday afternoon, police in the city said the device had been defused.

It said in a statement that bomb disposal specialists "removed the detonator of the bomb at 3:10 pm before exploding it", while the bomb itself was also removed from the site.

The evacuation zone will be opened again once a final safety check is completed, police said.

The bomb was discovered during clearance and construction work following the partial collapse of the Carola Bridge in September 2024.

The evacuation affected major historic sites including the city's Zwinger Palace and the Frauenkirche church, as well as residential buildings, hotels and government offices.

Dresden was heavily bombed by the Allies on February 13 and 14, 1945, killing up to 25,000 people and destroying large parts of the old town known for its Baroque architecture.

World War II bombs were previously found and defused at the bridge site in January and August 2025, with thousands of people affected each time.

Over 20,000 people were evacuated from central Cologne in June 2025 after three unexploded U.S. bombs from World War II were found, the biggest such operation in the city since the end of the war.

Bombs from World War II have been discovered on battlefields and cities around the world where fighting took place, often decades after the war ended. In March 2025, a World War II bomb was found near the tracks of Paris' Gare du Nord station. The month before that, more than 170 bombs were found near a children's playground in northern England. And in October 2024, a World War II bomb exploded at a Japanese airport.

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