Cold war ends: Swiss army finally finishes demining hundreds of bridges, tunnels, roads and airfields
To surprise of many, much infrastructure was still ready to blow if the enemy invaded
The cold war has finally come to an end in Switzerland and without a bang.
A quarter century after the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, the Swiss army has finally finished demining hundreds of bridges, tunnels, roads and airfields. And much to the surprise of many residents.
"We all knew about the explosives, but not that they were still there until recently!" said Hans Ulrich Buehler, mayor of a northern village on the German border whose ancient covered bridge - a big tourist draw - was secretly packed with TNT.
The peaceful Alpine nation has not been invaded for more than two centuries but was long laced with demolition charges that could be detonated in case of a foreign invasion.
At the end of December 2014, however, "the dismantling process was completed", Swiss army spokesman Daniel Reift said.
The 13th-century wooden bridge in Mayor Buehler's village of Stein, a locality proud of its picturesque medieval centre, was one of the last structures stripped of its explosives.
The Bad Saeckingen covered bridge is on the national registry of historic monuments and straddles the Rhine to connect a German city of the same name. The fact not in the guidebook was that its foundation hid hundreds of kilos of TNT until last October.