Italian army removes 250 WWI explosives from Dolomites glaciers
Briefing by News4U · First published
The Italian army recovered and defused 250 unexploded shells and mortar bombs that emerged from melting glaciers in the Dolomites this summer.
The Guardian reported that the Italian army’s Julia Alpine brigade removed and defused 250 explosives, including 18 Italian 75mm artillery shells and 37 French Thevetot mortar shells, that hikers spotted in the Canal San Bovo area of the Primiero Valley and other high-altitude sites in Trentino Alto Adige. [1]
The munitions date from the 1915-1918 “white war” between Italian and Austro-Hungarian forces; experts attribute their emergence to accelerated glacier retreat linked to global heating. [1]
Sources
- Melting glaciers in Dolomites reveal cache of first world war munitions
The Guardian · · Full text