GB No. 8, summer 1992
Deep down on the Baltic seabed there are hundreds of thousands tonnes of combat gases dumped there in the wake of World War II. South-east of Danish Bornholm and east of Swedish Gotland there are two gigantic chemical time-bombs, two sites at the bottom of the sea piled up with corroding gas canisters.
In May 1947 the Russians dumped there 35.000 tonnes of combat gases (mainly mustard gas), taken from the Germans.
Four similar sites are located in close proximity to the Norwegian and Danish coastlines, at the bottom of the Skagerrak and Kattegat Straits. At least 50.000 tonnes of combat gases were dumped there by the Allies. According to the still unconfirmed information, the East Germans were systematically dumping their stocks of combat gases in the Baltic up to 1965.
The tests carried out by the Soviet submarines established that it is now only a matter of time before the canisters are corroded right through and their contents released into the sea.
Tomasz Perkowski
ZB 11/92
transl. by Sigullum Ltd.