Island levelled by British to be whole again
An island used as a naval base by the Germans in both world wars and flattened by the British Army is to rise again from the sea as a German tourist paradise.
Heligoland, a tiny North Sea island 40 miles off the German coast, was the target of reputedly the largest single non-nuclear explosion in history, when Britain detonated 6,800 tons of left-over ordnance there in 1947.
The aim was to shatter its reinforced submarine base and tunnel network, and end a colourful military history that stretched back centuries.
Instead, the explosion flattened a huge swathe of the island on one side of a cliff face that has become a celebrated tourist spot.
Now, a German investor wants to expand the area levelled by the "British bang" and link it to a nearby sandy islet known as Dune. Arne Weber, a businessman from Hamburg, said that the reclamation project would see Heligoland made whole again for the first time in 300 years.
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)
Heligoland, a tiny North Sea island 40 miles off the German coast, was the target of reputedly the largest single non-nuclear explosion in history, when Britain detonated 6,800 tons of left-over ordnance there in 1947.
The aim was to shatter its reinforced submarine base and tunnel network, and end a colourful military history that stretched back centuries.
Instead, the explosion flattened a huge swathe of the island on one side of a cliff face that has become a celebrated tourist spot.
Now, a German investor wants to expand the area levelled by the "British bang" and link it to a nearby sandy islet known as Dune. Arne Weber, a businessman from Hamburg, said that the reclamation project would see Heligoland made whole again for the first time in 300 years.