The scorching heat that is affecting half the world and that we have been experiencing for months in Europe is having devastating consequences not only on our health (physical and mental), but on the environment in which we live.
From so much concern, however, there is also some good news, especially for us who, like Howard Carter, the discoverer of Tutankhamun’s tomb, are passionate about historical and archaeological finds.
What is happening on the mythical Danube, the second-longest river in Europe (2,858 km), which crosses as many as ten countries and where we love to advise our users to go on a cruise (it is one of the most beautiful trips one can take), is incredible.
Discoveries along the Danube bed
Findings in Serbia
Among the ten countries the long blue river traverses is Serbia, and it is precisely here, near the town of Prahovo, that, due to the drought, the first discoveries have emerged. The shallows have indeed brought to light the remains of Europe’s Nazi past, with dozens of World War II ships resurfacing from the riverbed during the intense drought. It would be the Black Sea fleet belonging to Adolf Hitler himself, sunk deliberately by the same German army toward the end of the war to slow the Soviet advance.
The Guardian first reported the news, noting that, in the middle of the river, on the border between Serbia and Romania, “a broken hull is visible on a sandbank normally submerged.” Other vessels are partially submerged, some of which are believed to still be dangerously armed.
According to historians, in September 1944, up to 200 German warships were sunk. However, Nazi Germany did not surrender until the following year, in May 1945. There would be about 20 vessels of different sizes resting on the river bed, which are now plainly visible to passersby from the banks of the Danube.
The ships had already surfaced during earlier droughts, but then disappeared again with the rising water levels. In the past, the Serbian government also attempted to remove the wrecks, but most remain where they are because of the explosives they might carry.
War relics in Croatia
Also in Croatia, another country crossed by the long river, with the Danube in drought, war relics have emerged. In Batina, a village in the Baranja region, on the border with Serbia and Hungary, the historically low water level has brought to light the remains of old cars, ships, and weapons. Here the Battle of Batina in 1944 took place, a strategically significant clash on the World War II front between the Red Army, the Yugoslav partisans, and German forces.
The find in the center of Budapest
But the Danube’s level is so low in so many other spots that some World War II relics have also emerged in Budapest, Hungary. Indeed, in the city, war remains have surfaced, including human remains: in addition to a motorcycle, the DKW NZ 350-1 model which, at the time, was considered particularly robust and reliable, two soldiers have even been exhumed, as reported by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge. Alongside the soldiers’ remains, preserved by the mud, numerous German Tellermine 35 anti-tank mines were also found, which were used against tanks.
Because the mud at the port on the bottom of the Danube, at Batthyány tér, a famous square in Budapest on the Buda side, is mixed with diesel, ideal conditions were created to preserve the wrecks and the human remains. This petroleum derivative would have made the mud preserve the dog tags so well that the letters and numbers remain legible, explained the exhumation specialist cited by the Volksbund.
Due to the extremely low Danube levels this year, the experts recovering the remains and wrecks expect that additional ship remains and perhaps other war victims will surface.
The legendary Constantine Bridge in Bulgaria
But it’s not over, because beyond relatively recent war relics (only 80 years old), an incredible discovery has just been made that dates back to the Roman era. Also from the dried Danube waters, the remains of the ancient Constantine’s Bridge emerged, this time in Bulgaria.
It was one of the most imposing structures of the Roman Empire, dating to 328 AD and thus would be identified for the first time in history. The bridge lies near the village of Gigen, in the north of the country, along the river. On the opposite side sits the city of Corabia, of Roman origins. Emperor Constantine the Great built on the Danube what was then the longest bridge in Europe (2,437 m). This bridge was destroyed during the invasions of the Avars, an army formed by several groups of Eurasian nomads of unknown origins (among the ruins of Corabia there is also an ancient Roman thermal complex and an ancient basilica).
The exceptionally low levels of the Danube in Bulgaria have thus brought to light part of the foundations of the ancient Constantine Bridge, one of the Roman Empire’s most extraordinary engineering works. Commissioned by Emperor Constantine I, the bridge connected the ancient city of Ulpia Oescus, in present-day Bulgaria, with Sucidava, in present-day Romania. With a length exceeding 2 km, it is considered one of the longest bridges of antiquity, though it lasted only a short time.
