Europe's devastating wildfires unveil deadly new threat - buried bombs from WWI and WWII

[dognose]

Droughts across Europe have also been churning up military vehicles and weapons from the era, with shrinking rivers revealing German warships, a Wehrmacht motorbike, and a bomb.​

Devastating wildfires that have ravaged Europe over summer have been unveiling a potentially deadly new threat - unexploded ordnance from World War I and World War II.

Fires have burned through huge areas of land in western Europe in recent months as the continent has battled scorching temperatures and droughts, and firefighters have faced the additional threat of exploding shells.

Explosions have been reported in France, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

“Climate change is now doing the work of unburying and reactivating what was previously stable,” Sarah Njeri, a peace and conflict scholar at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, said.

One fire close to the city of Bordeaux in southwestern France has revealed a hoard of what is thought to be World War II-era ammunition, while in the province of Liège in eastern Belgium, local governor Hervé Jamar said emergency services were adapting to account for munitions buried in a fire area and that “a few sporadic detonations" had been heard recently.

Liège has seen a particularly fierce fire in the High Fens area, which stretches over the border into Germany. The Battle of the Bulge, one of the bloodiest battles of the Second World War, was fought in and around the High Fens. German forces launched a major offensive against Allied forces in the region on 16 December 1944, achieving some initial success as they caught American troops by surprise. But the attack fizzled out by the end of the month as Allied reinforcements poured in and German resources dried up.

The wreckage of a WWII German warship is seen in front of Djerdap II, a large dam on the Danube River, between Romania and Serbia, near Prahovo, Serbia, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026.

Droughts across Europe have also been churning up military vehicles and weapons from the era, with shrinking rivers revealing German warships, a Wehrmacht motorbike, and a bomb.

Christina Greene, a researcher at the University of Arizona, said “the legacy of war keeps creeping up” due to climate change.

“It's reliving the legacies of war and conflict in a way that we haven't had to deal with in a while in certain places," Greene said.

SOURCE: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/...dly-new-threat-buried-bombs-from-wwi-and-wwii

 

[releventchair]

• Danube: Wehrmacht soldiers and WWII motorbike recovered after 80 years

MSN

 

[ToddsPoint]

“Hunger stones” have also been appearing. These are rocks that are normally underwater but emerge during severe drought. They have messages of doom carved on them from people suffering from droughts long ago. Severe drought is not common but it’s certainly nothing new.

 

[Red-Coat]

“Hunger stones” have also been appearing. These are rocks that are normally underwater but emerge during severe drought. They have messages of doom carved on them from people suffering from droughts long ago. Severe drought is not common but it’s certainly nothing new.

Yes, these are interesting reminders of previous droughts. The stones are most commonly seen in Germany and many of them have multiple dates from recurring droughts (one of them has 16 different years on it, from 1800 to 1959). The most commonly seen date seems to be 1904, when there was a major drought across most of central Europe arising from an exceptionally long, hot, and dry summer.
There's a famous one in the Czech Republic in the River Elbe that has 12 dates on it, beginning with 1417 through to 1893, which also has the inscribed message "If you see me, then weep." These days it's seen fairly frequently since a dam was constructed on one of the Elbe's tributaries.

 

[Nwohseeker]

Kind of amazing that “climate change” is mentioned twice by scientists in the article. The cows must have farted way more 600 years ago if they had these same droughts.

 

[russau]

Well thats one way to clear old ordinance away !