Record-low Danube water level reveals 80-year-old WWII secret in Budapest
A prolonged drought has dropped the Danube's water level in Budapest so far that it exposed the remains of two German soldiers, a motorcycle and other items from World War II. Experts are now trying to identify the fallen soldiers.
A record-low water level in the Danube near Budapest, caused by prolonged drought, has uncovered more than 80-year-old traces of World War II. According to the BBC, fragments of the remains of two German soldiers were recovered from the river, along with a well-preserved German army motorcycle and several personal items.
The discovery was made on August 2, when a passerby noticed part of a motorcycle protruding from mud among rocks on the Danube's bank. During a subsequent search, specialists also found identification tags belonging to two soldiers, a wedding ring, and a so-called Cuban shield — a Wehrmacht combat award.
Two fallen soldiers from different units
According to the German War Graves Commission, one of the identification tags belonged to a Wehrmacht soldier, while the other belonged to a member of a Waffen-SS unit. Commission spokesman Arne Schrader told the German newspaper Bild that a kind of puzzle now begins, as experts try to determine the identities of the two dead soldiers.
Anti-tank mines were also found at the site, prompting a temporary closure of the Danube embankment while explosive ordnance disposal specialists were brought in.
Mud and oil helped preserve the items
The German War Graves Commission explained that the good condition of the recovered items was due to mud and oil at the bottom of the river. The motorcycle found is believed to be a DKW NZ 350-1 model, produced specifically for military use starting in 1944.
During the war, German soldiers' identification tags were split into two parts upon death — one stayed with the fallen soldier, while the other was sent to military authorities to register the death and inform the family. The commission believes the families of these two soldiers may never have received official notice of their deaths.
Specialists must now determine whether the recovered items indeed belonged to these two soldiers, with bone analysis expected to play a key role in identification. Once the investigation concludes, the remains are planned to be buried at a German war cemetery in Budaörs, near Budapest, a site of intense fighting between the Red Army and the Wehrmacht at the end of the war.
Due to low water levels, other WWII-era remnants have recently surfaced in the Danube, including fragments of a wartime ship's hull near Prahovo, Serbia.
