Sep 20, 2024 09:17 PM
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-new...180985097/
INTRO: As Soviet forces advanced in Eastern Europe in 1944, Nazi troops began deliberately sinking their ships in the Danube River. For much of the past 80 years, the scuttled German vessels—including torpedo boats, tugboats, transport ferries and barges—remained hidden beneath the surface.
Earlier this month, however, some of the vessels reemerged from the water, per Reuters’ Krisztina Fenyo and Fedja Grulovic.
A summer drought caused the river’s water levels to drop, revealing the World War II wreckage near Prahovo, a river port town in Serbia. Some of the ships were almost completely buried under sand, while parts of others were more visible, including their command bridges, hulls, masts and turrets, according to Reuters.
The sunken vessels make it difficult for modern boats to navigate parts of the Danube, which travels 365 miles through Serbia. In Djerdap Gorge near Prahovo, the sunken ships have narrowed the waterway to roughly 330 feet.
However, removing them presents another set of challenges, as the wreckage still holds unexploded munitions.
“The ships are full of mines, shells and unexploded [ordnances], which could cause major, catastrophic problems if they were to explode,” Velimir Miki Trailovic, a local historian, tells Ognjen Zoric of Agence France-Presse (AFP)... (MORE - details)
Nazi ships emerge from the Danube as water levels drop ... https://youtu.be/pPjyluU6b8E
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/pPjyluU6b8E
INTRO: As Soviet forces advanced in Eastern Europe in 1944, Nazi troops began deliberately sinking their ships in the Danube River. For much of the past 80 years, the scuttled German vessels—including torpedo boats, tugboats, transport ferries and barges—remained hidden beneath the surface.
Earlier this month, however, some of the vessels reemerged from the water, per Reuters’ Krisztina Fenyo and Fedja Grulovic.
A summer drought caused the river’s water levels to drop, revealing the World War II wreckage near Prahovo, a river port town in Serbia. Some of the ships were almost completely buried under sand, while parts of others were more visible, including their command bridges, hulls, masts and turrets, according to Reuters.
The sunken vessels make it difficult for modern boats to navigate parts of the Danube, which travels 365 miles through Serbia. In Djerdap Gorge near Prahovo, the sunken ships have narrowed the waterway to roughly 330 feet.
However, removing them presents another set of challenges, as the wreckage still holds unexploded munitions.
“The ships are full of mines, shells and unexploded [ordnances], which could cause major, catastrophic problems if they were to explode,” Velimir Miki Trailovic, a local historian, tells Ognjen Zoric of Agence France-Presse (AFP)... (MORE - details)
Nazi ships emerge from the Danube as water levels drop ... https://youtu.be/pPjyluU6b8E