The 1920 Bombing of the Susquehanna: A Frozen River's Crisis

The 1920 Bombing of the Susquehanna: A Frozen River's Crisis

In March 1920, the Susquehanna stopped behaving like a river. For 83 days, it lay frozen from shore to shore, until a sudden thaw turned the ice into a deadly barricade threatening Port Deposit. With water rising and no way to cut the gorge, an unthinkable solution followed: Army airplanes from Aberdeen Proving Ground dropped bombs onto the frozen river to force it back into motion. This is the story of the winter the Susquehanna became an enemy…