Severe wildfires sweeping across various parts of Europe amid the heatwaves and droughts striking the continent this summer have exposed Europe to unexpected new threats, Euronews reported on the 23rd local time.

As large-scale wildfires burn through extensive areas, unexploded ordnance from World Wars I and II that had been stably buried deep underground for a long time are being exposed en masse, posing an additional risk to firefighters, rescue authorities, and residents battling the blazes.

Euronews reported that there have already been successive reports of such exposed shells exploding in France, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

In France, a large quantity of ammunition believed to be from World War II was exposed at a wildfire site near Bordeaux in the southwest, putting authorities on high alert.

In Belgium's eastern province of Liege, which recently experienced severe wildfires near the German border, Governor Hervé Jamar stated that emergency response measures are being adjusted to prepare for unexploded ordnance buried in the wildfire-hit areas.

Governor Jamar said that "some sporadic explosions" were recently heard in the wildfire-affected regions.

The nature reserve in the province of Liege, which was hit by the large-scale wildfire, is the site of the Battle of the Bulge, considered one of the fiercest battlefields of World War II, where German forces launched a major offensive against the Allies in 1944.

Sarah Njeri, a researcher at SOAS University of London, pointed out regarding this, "Things that were previously stably buried are being brought to the surface by climate change and reactivated."

Drought, as well as wildfires, is also serving as an occasion to re-expose the remnants of past European wars.

Amid the worst droughts, major European rivers such as the Rhine and the Danube have dried up significantly, and German warships, military vehicles, and shells from World War II have recently emerged above the water surface one after another for the first time in decades.