Dozens of Nazi Warships Emerge in Danube as 42C Heat Drives Record Drought
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 8
Dozens of Nazi Warships Emerge in Danube as 42C Heat Drives Record Drought
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 8
Summary
Dozens of second world war German warships have resurfaced along the Serbia-Romania stretch of the Danube, with some wrecks still believed to contain weapons.
Record-low river levels exposed the vessels, part of Hitler’s Black Sea fleet that German forces scuttled in September 1944 to slow the Soviet advance; historians say as many as 200 were sunk.
Serbia has tried to remove the wrecks before, but explosives aboard many ships have left most in place, and the hulks tend to vanish again when water levels recover.
Low water is also exposing other wartime remnants across the river basin, including a German military motorcycle in Budapest and a 700kg unexploded British bomb recovered and detonated in Slovakia.
The Danube’s shrinking depth is disrupting navigation and adding to Europe’s heat-driven water stress, with Slovakia this week setting a national temperature record of 42C.