Just a year ago, during this period, high temperatures and extremely dry climates affecting parts of Europe revealed a treasure from a dark past: some 20 German warships sunk during World War II emerged from the depths of the Danube River. This week, two more “ghosts” of the past emerged in the Serbian river port of Prahovo after drought in July and August lowered the river’s water levels.

Nazi ships. According to Reuters, these are the remains of Nazi ships loaded with explosives that were sunk in the Danube during the war. Four pre-1950 boats were also unearthed in the Danube-Drava National Park near Mohács, Hungary, where the Danube water level was only 1.5 metres (5ft) due to severe heat waves and the ongoing drought of the 2010s in July and August.

The ships uncovered at Prahovo were apparently among hundreds sunk along the Danube River by Nazi Germany’s Black Sea Fleet in 1944, presumably as they retreated from advancing Soviet forces and destroyed the ships themselves.

This continues to be an obstacle. Local authorities say the remains could hinder river traffic at low water levels. The riverbed contains ships with broken towers, command bridges, broken masts and bent hulls, while others lie mostly buried under sandbars.

Regarding this issue, Endre Sztellik, the Danube-Drava National Park official, told the media about one of the ships: “We still don’t know exactly what happened. It is a visible and unfortunate fact that as people get more and more attention, the wreckage decreases and some of it disappears.

A historic drought. The Danube in Budapest was at 1.17 metres on Tuesday, not insignificant compared to the record low of around 0.4 metres recorded in October 2018. For context, during floods the Danube rises well above 6 metres. “Eastern Europe is experiencing critical drought conditions affecting crops and vegetation,” European climate service Copernicus said in its latest drought report, published earlier this month.

The situation was similar last year with the announcement of new Nazi ships. High temperatures and dry weather are taking their toll on Europe this summer. July was the driest on record in France and the hottest since 1961 in Spain. The results were as expected: reservoirs and river levels fell to their lowest levels in history; it was the most severe drought in Europe in 500 years.

The “good” of drought is a relic of the past. But as we said, the lack of water in rivers and reservoirs is reviving traces of the past. Last year, 20 were some of the hundreds of bombs sunk along the river by Nazi Germany’s Black Sea Fleet in 1944. A 450-kilogram Second World War bomb was also found in Italy. An event that required the evacuation of more than 3,000 people from their homes in order to detonate it.

Not only this. The river has also revealed the remains of an ancient village in Piedmont, the Zibello, a 50-meter cargo barge that also sank in World War II, and a Nazi military vehicle. Even in Spain, archaeologists have found a prehistoric stone circle, the “Spanish Stonehenge.” In reality, it is the Guadalperal Dolmen, a stone circle completely exposed to the air in the Cáceres Valdecañas reservoir, where the water level has dropped to 28% of its capacity.

Finally, the evaporation of the As Conchas reservoir last year revealed the Aquis Querquennis, a Roman fort dating from AD 69 and 79 and abandoned around AD 120. And in Galicia, the falling waters of the As Conchas reservoir revealed the sunken old town of Portomarín, where people can even walk between their houses.

If I had to bet, I’d say new ghosts from the past will emerge this time next year.

Image | YouTube

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