Unusual sight on the Rhine Why did a ship full of tanks pass Bonn?
Bonn · On Wednesday, a woman from Bonn noticed a ship full of tanks on the Rhine. It was quickly speculated in the net, what is behind it. Read here who the vehicles belong to and what their destination is.
Passer-by Petra Hansen from Bonn was quite surprised on Wednesday afternoon at the Bonn Rhine. Where usually ships full of containers and excursion ships can be seen on the river, a ship full of tanks and other army vehicles meandered up the Rhine towards Koblenz.
Corresponding pictures in the Facebook group "Du kommst aus Bonn, wenn..." quickly caused a lot of speculation. New vehicles for car dealers Michael Manousaki and Morlock Motors? No. As the US Army confirmed on Friday on GA request, the vehicles belong to them.
They are currently being exchanged as part of Operation "Atlantic Resolve", which is to be carried out by US armed forces and which is intended to secure peace and stability in the Eastern European NATO countries. 400 vehicles took off from the port of Antwerp, which they had previously reached across the Atlantic, and continued their journey up the Rhine to Mannheim.
From there, according to the US Army, the tracked vehicles will be transported by train to Grafenwöhr in the Upper Palatinate - where the USA has a military training area - before continuing on to Eastern Europe. On the inland vessel sighted in Bonn, the US Army mainly transported the M1 Abrams main battle tanks, the M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle and the M88 armoured recovery vehicle. Original text: Judith Nikula, Laszlo Scheuch Translation: Mareike Graepel
