Record-low water levels on the Danube in Budapest have exposed the remains of two German Wehrmacht soldiers, a military motorcycle, and numerous anti-tank mines dating to World War II, more than 80 years after they sank to the riverbed.
Staff from the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge exhumed the soldiers' remains near Batthyány Square, opposite the Hungarian parliament building, between Monday and Tuesday. A diesel-oil mixture in the harbour silt acted as a preservative, leaving identification tags and the motorcycle — believed to be a DKW NZ 350-1 — in remarkably good condition. Bomb-disposal teams were called in to handle Teller mine 35 anti-tank ordnance found at the site.
Heat and drought have driven the Danube to unprecedented lows, halting river cruise traffic in Budapest. The Volksbund expects further shipwrecks containing war dead to surface. The soldiers are to be buried at the Budaörs war cemetery outside Budapest.