Duck boat sunk in World War II found in Italian lake

The amphibious vehicle sank in Lake Garda, killing 23 US soldiers just days before the end of the fighting in Europe. But the boat, and the remains of the soldiers, were lost until this week.

|
Rich Clabaugh/Staff

More than 70 years after it sank in a lake in northern Italy causing the loss of 24 American soldiers’ lives, a US amphibious vehicle has been found lying on the lake bed.

Amateur historians had been searching for months for the relic – a six-wheel, two-ton amphibious DUKW vehicle that sank during a storm on Lake Garda on the night of April 30, 1945 – but were only able to confirm their find on Monday.

The DUKW, pronounced “duck,” was carrying supplies and ammunition to an American military camp near the town of Torbole, at the northern tip of the lake, but sank as a result of gale force winds that were battering the area that night.

The truck was carrying 24 US soldiers aged between 18 and 25 from the 10th Mountain Division, only one of whom survived the accident. The men who died were from the division's 605th Field Artillery Battalion, as well as a driver from the Quartermaster Corps.

Days before armistice

The sinking happened just days before the end of fighting in Europe and the armistice with the Germans, on May 8, 1945.

“It was the biggest disaster to happen in modern times on Lake Garda,” said Mauro Fusato, the leader of the team that found the DUKW. 

The wreck of the vehicle was found with sonar lying at a depth of 905 feet – one reason why it had not been located before.

“On Sunday, the sonar gave us an initial image, but it wasn’t clear enough to be able to say for sure that it was the DUKW,” Mr. Fusato told Ansa, an Italian news agency.

“On Monday, though, we used a remote-controlled camera and we saw it. It is intact and sitting upright.”

The next step is to try to identify any human remains that may still be lying around the wreck, as well as military equipment, insignia, and personal possessions. “There are lots of objects around it, which could be the skeletons or remains of the soldiers who drowned,” said Fusato.

Any operation to recover them would be highly complex and technically challenging, however. The wreck lies too deep for divers, and there are old fishing nets and other debris on the lake bed that could snag underwater subs. Ultimately it will be up to the US government to decide whether to proceed with a recovery, the researchers said, adding that they had informed American diplomats of the discovery.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Duck boat sunk in World War II found in Italian lake
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2012/1213/Duck-boat-sunk-in-World-War-II-found-in-Italian-lake
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe