On April 30, 1945, Allied troops, mainly from the 10th Mountain Division, were advancing along the eastern shore of Lake Garda attacking the town of Torbole defended by fierce German militias. To bypass the road tunnels mined by the Germans, they were provided with some amphibious vehicles called DUKWs.

That night, three of these vehicles set sail (likely from Navene) heading to Riva del Garda, heavily loaded with men and weapons. Strong southern winds made navigation very dangerous. One of these DUKWs carried 25 soldiers and a 75mm howitzer. When it broke down far from the coast, the other two vehicles, also heavily loaded, had to reach Riva del Garda to raise the alarm. Two expeditions of local boats traveled along the coast but only managed to rescue one survivor, Corporal Thomas Hugh, the only skilled swimmer on board. The DUKW had sunk, taking down with it the 24 soldiers aboard, all mountain infantry without any suitable flotation devices.

The Voluntary Group of Garda began searching for the vehicle in November 2011. They used a rotating head sonar system that, when lowered to the bottom, allows to "see" objects within a radius of 150/200 meters resting on the mud.

Objects detected by the sonar matching in shape and size are then directly inspected using an ROV, a submersible robot equipped with a camera.

To discover the DUKW, the Voluntary Group of Garda performed about 900 sonar drops, covering an area of seabed of approximately 7 million square meters.

On the evening of December 12, 2012, the sonar located the wreck in the center of the lake, about two miles from the coast of Riva del Garda, lying in a navigational position but without any remains inside.

Several dives took place over the years, initially with unmanned submarines and then, in 2018, with manned missions. The wreck was photographed, laying the groundwork for a recovery project.