Nazi shipwrecks emerge from the depths as Europe’s Danube dries up

Unexploded ordnance and a military motorcycle also recovered following record heat and drought conditions 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 were partly submerged, some still believed to be laden with weapons. The ships were part of Adolf Hitler’s Black Sea fleet that the German military deliberately sank towards the end of the war to slow down the Soviet advance. Historians say up to 200 German warships were scuttled in this way in September 1944.

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