Lake Garda Bomb Search: WWII Ordnance Found Amid NATO Investigations

It has been over a year since that April 16th, 1999, a Friday, when six powerful laser-guided bombs ended up in the waters of the lake. Since then, first with radar tracks, then with searches carried out by Navy divers, the hunt for the devices dropped from the jet of NATO, returning from a war mission over the skies of Serbia, has remained ongoing.

The aircraft’s pilot was forced to jettison both the tanks and then the bombs in order to make an emergency landing on the Ghedi airstrip, as the Aviano base he was heading to was temporarily closed due to an incident. The orders from the radar operators at the NATO base in Friuli were clear; the pilot, to reduce weight, had to release the additional tanks, which ended up on the Asiago mountains, while the bombs fell into Lake Garda, a longstanding “drop zone”, somewhat like the Adriatic Sea.

Progress of the searches and recent discoveries

Initially, the searches were directed toward the water area in front of Maderno. However, in reality, the bombs ended up toward the southern part of the lake, roughly between Punta San Vigilio-Garda (Veronese shore) and the Sirmione peninsula. Just a year ago, meticulous searches began in front of the Garda shoreline and Punta San Vigilio.

“In recent months, Navy personnel moved along the shoreline between the Galeazzi harbor and the ‘Drive-in’. But without significant results. Finally, three months ago, they focused on the water area in front of Lugana Marina and Punta Grò. But then came the surprise.”

During the laser-guided bomb search, divers uncovered a genuine arsenal of wartime ordnance, presumably unloaded during the retreat of Nazi-fascist forces in the last days of April 1945. A surprise that is not new to the residents of Garda. In fact, everyone knows that for half a century, large quantities of bombs, ammunition, and various armaments have been stored there.