Record-low water levels in the Danube have exposed remnants of Europe’s Nazi past, with dozens of second world war ships emerging from the riverbed during an intense drought. In the middle of the river on the Serbian and Romanian border, a broken-up hull was visible on a sandbank that is normally underwater. Other vessels remain partly submerged, with many still believed to be laden with dangerous weapons and explosives.
These ships were part of Adolf Hitler’s Black Sea fleet, which the German military deliberately sank in September 1944 to slow the Soviet advance. Historians estimate that up to 200 German warships were scuttled during this operation, months before Nazi Germany’s official surrender in May 1945. While the Serbian government has attempted to remove the wrecks in the past, most remain in place due to the high risk posed by their volatile cargo.
The receding river has revealed other wartime remnants, including a German military motorcycle discovered in Budapest, Hungary. In Slovakia, authorities successfully recovered an unexploded British 1,543lb (700kg) bomb. Police reported that the ordnance was loaded onto a “specially modified firefighter vehicle with a sand bed, which ensured its safe transport” before being moved to a 5-metre deep pit for a controlled detonation. These items are remnants of a 1944 campaign where Britain’s Royal Air Force mined the river to disrupt enemy troop movements.
The Danube, which flows through 10 countries, has become increasingly difficult to navigate as low water levels create dangerous conditions. Prolonged droughts have left major European rivers at significantly lower levels than is typical for this time of year, creating an energy crisis as many power plants rely on these waterways for cooling.
Intense summer heat and continuing drought conditions are being supercharged by the escalating human-caused climate crisis. Temperature records have been broken across central and eastern Europe, with Slovakia, Austria, and Hungary all registering record highs this week. On Thursday, the Slovakian hydrometeorological agency confirmed a new national record of 42C (108F) was reached in the village of Dolné Plachtince.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. The report also notes that but Nazi Germany did not surrender until the following year in May 1945.
