Digging For Nazis - Body Recovery on the Wolchow Front 1980s

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Digging For Nazis - Body Recovery on the Wolchow Front 1980s (Page 1 of 6)

Posted: 2/20/2010 2:50:18 PM EDT

Posted on another forum. This is a body recovery operation led by Russians in the late 1980s on the Wolchow Front near Leningrad. It's amazing how much World War Two stuff is out in those woods. They are still recovering massive amounts of stuff to this day.

Posted: 2/20/2010 2:53:18 PM EDT

[#1]

All that UXO!

Neat pics!

Posted: 2/20/2010 2:54:44 PM EDT

[#2]

Great Pics!
You-Tube is full of videos of recovery efforts, sanctioned and unsanctioned, that are ongoing right to present day.
The amount of lost material and men is staggering.

Posted: 2/20/2010 2:55:03 PM EDT

[#3]

Very cool stuff.
I wouldn't be messing around with those explosives, though.

Posted: 2/20/2010 2:55:29 PM EDT

[#4]

I'd love to participate in one of the sanctioned recovery efforts.

Posted: 2/20/2010 2:55:36 PM EDT

[#5]

I'd be afraid to do much digging because of the UXO...

Posted: 2/20/2010 2:57:15 PM EDT

[#6]

I find their digging disturbing

Posted: 2/20/2010 2:58:21 PM EDT

[#7]

Go check out the vids!
Guys are rolling mortar bombs into other mortar bombs, Lighting incindiary bombs to watch them fizzle, smashing open the remains of grenade boxes,,,,great stuff!

Posted: 2/20/2010 2:59:17 PM EDT

[#8]

Great photos.

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:00:39 PM EDT

[#9]

yeah, let's fo dig up all the UXO we can find!!!!

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:02:07 PM EDT

[#10]

PRETTY COOL

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:02:15 PM EDT

[#11]

Looks like they actually may have reburied the remains of the German soldiers they found.

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:02:48 PM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:

I find their digging disturbing

The methods that were used at the time by the Soviet government were pretty rough, there is no doubt. The Finnish government does a much better job in their efforts, from what I've seen. The real problem are the relic hunters (see the youtube videos referred to in this thread). Those guys could care less about the bodies.

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:04:02 PM EDT

[#13]

Interesting, but yuck! I bet that was a seriously nasty project, I wouldn't get too far into that decomposing fat before I'd be blowing chunks.

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:04:28 PM EDT

[#14]

Thanks for posting these.

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:06:07 PM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:

Looks like they actually may have reburied the remains of the German soldiers they found.

Alot of those remains are Soviet, as well.

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:06:59 PM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:
Looks like they actually may have reburied the remains of the German soldiers they found.

...and for that, this broken down Soldier is grateful....Nazis or not....

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:08:58 PM EDT

[#17]

Hard to fathom the huge scale of the eastern front. These guys are just scratching the surface.

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:10:01 PM EDT

[#18]

I think god was on a holiday.

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:10:57 PM EDT

[#19]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I find their digging disturbing

The methods that were used at the time by the Soviet government were pretty rough, there is no doubt. The Finnish government does a much better job in their efforts, from what I've seen. The real problem are the relic hunters (see the youtube videos referred to in this thread). Those guys could care less about the bodies.

+1
It is my understanding that Russia returns identifiable remains to Germany or other countries of the Soldiers origin.
Unidentifiable remains are buried with Military Honors in Military Cemetaries.
The relic hunters remove the items from corpses and kick the remains back into holes and cover them up.
German Identity Tags were a hot ticket item on E-Bay for quite some time and are still sold there but E-Bay will flag or cancel an auction now if they find out about it.
There are many videos about the practice of relic hunting on you-tube also, Videos are shot by sanctioned recovery organizations as well as relic hunters.

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:11:47 PM EDT

[#20]

I have a German dogtag that was dug up in Russia, either Stalingrad or the Leningrad area. I am sure it came off the remains of a body. But it is cool to have nevertheless.

Amazingly, there still is a ton of stuff from WW2 under the ground in Germany, France and Belgium too. Most of the countries have laws against recovering it, but in some parts of Germany it is still legal. I used to get emails years ago from a guy in southern Germany showing what stuff he has found. Lots of cartridges, helmets, all kinds of equipment pieces, even weapons. He found a rusted solid rifle once, I believe it was actually a French rifle, and another time he founded a rusted up (and still loaded) Mauser HSc pistol that had apparently been buried by someone as it had originally been in a glass jar, but the jar broke open and the pistol rusted up and the slide broke off the frame. The most thought provoking things were the US .50 cal projectiles he found in the ground, showing that the area had been strafed by aircraft. That had to be a shit place to be during that time.

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:12:27 PM EDT

[#21]

Wow, that is a lot of history there.

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:12:39 PM EDT

[#22]

Wow. I'm guessing the photos left off the eight guys who accidentally blew themselves up during that dig project.

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:13:18 PM EDT

[#23]

I remember reading in the 70s that a german bunker was discovered and all items inside were nearly in pristine condition. An ar15.comer's wet dream.

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:14:43 PM EDT

[#24]

Quoted:

Wow. I'm guessing the photos left off the eight guys who accidentally blew themselves up during that dig project.

The original poster of these pictures was a Soviet soldier. Evidently, they had guys on site to deal with the UXO that was dangerous (88mm HE projectiles, some mines, etc). They clearly do not consider it all to be dangerous, though.

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:14:50 PM EDT

[#25]

Quoted:

Quoted:

Looks like they actually may have reburied the remains of the German soldiers they found.

...and for that, this broken down Soldier is grateful....Nazis or not....

+1 from another broken down Soldier.

Thanks for posting

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:16:11 PM EDT

[#26]

Quoted:
Wow. I'm guessing the photos left off the eight guys who accidentally blew themselves up during that dig project.

That's not so uncommon either!

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:16:33 PM EDT

[#27]

Quoted:
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s232/brucers99/Wolchow%20Front/digginglate80s45.jpg

I think god was on a holiday.

He was away on business.

Specifically, preparing to open a major can of whoopass in the Pacific and in North Africa, before proceeding up Italy, then back across the Channel, over the Rhine, making a quick (although abortive) vacation in the Netherlands, and then cleaning out Berlin.

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:19:29 PM EDT

[#28]

I like the DP28 they found...that is probably in a museum somewhere.

I bet the 7.62x54R would still work in my Mosin.

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:19:34 PM EDT

[#29]

Quoted:
Looks like they actually may have reburied the remains of the German soldiers they found.

I don't care which side they were fighting on, Germans are our friends today and I would like to see those men get proper burials. Same for the Japs and the Ruskies.

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:19:35 PM EDT

[#30]

Quoted:
I remember reading in the 70s that a german bunker was discovered and all items inside were nearly in pristine condition. An ar15.comer's wet dream.

The Stasi went in and recorded the remains of Hitlers bunker in the 1970s before it was sealed and turned into a parking lot for a giant apartment complex.
The video clearly shows the remains were far less than pristine.

Everybody still hopes for the fabled miracle bunker full of mint king tiger tanks but so far, no such luck,,,

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:19:38 PM EDT

[#31]

Thats pretty mind boggling. The world will (hopefully) see nothing like those days again.

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:23:21 PM EDT

[#32]

Quoted:
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s232/brucers99/Wolchow%20Front/digginglate80s45.jpg

I think god was on a holiday.

Yeah, I kind of chuckled at that myself.

Quoted:

Quoted:
Looks like they actually may have reburied the remains of the German soldiers they found.

I don't care which side they were fighting on, Germans are our friends today and I would like to see those men get proper burials. Same for the Japs and the Ruskies.

Yep, the war has long been over, the least we can do is give the remains of men who died fighting so far from home and their loved ones a proper burial.

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:23:22 PM EDT

[#33]

Very interesting photos. Thanks

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:26:46 PM EDT

[#34]

Quoted:
Thats pretty mind boggling. The world will (hopefully) see nothing like those days again.

Oh Willie McBride it all happened again....and again and again and again and again....

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:30:17 PM EDT

[#35]

Awesome pics, Thanks for posting.

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:34:11 PM EDT

[#36]

Several years ago I read a newspaper arrticle about a secret underground hangar discovered under an airport near Berlin...they cracked it open, and it was full of pristine fighters, bombers, experimental jets, and ammo and fuel for them all...

Then, no word about it ever again. I do wonder what happened to it all...

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:34:38 PM EDT

[#37]

wow

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:50:19 PM EDT

[#38]

Quoted:
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s232/brucers99/Wolchow%20Front/digginglate80s45.jpg

I think god was on a holiday.

"God is mine"

"God is ours"

?

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:52:48 PM EDT

[#39]

they find tanks every decade over there in the various peat bogs, fairly well preserved. They've found peices of tiger tanks, panthers, etc all across the steppes where the Germans and Commies fought.

Posted: 2/20/2010 3:55:57 PM EDT

[#40]

"God with us."

The question is more appropriately, "are we with God?"

Posted: 2/20/2010 4:00:45 PM EDT

[#41]

Translates: "God with us"

Posted: 2/20/2010 4:01:59 PM EDT

[#42]

Woops, I made the reply with the correct translation before scanning the rest of the posts. The actual translation has been twice correctly given.

Posted: 2/20/2010 4:05:10 PM EDT

[#43]

There's a running Tiger 1 that was captured in Tunisia in England. Its the only one that runs and I think its at the Bovington tank museum.
France has the only running King Tiger at the Saumur tank museum.

Posted: 2/20/2010 4:05:41 PM EDT

[#44]

Previously answered...nevermind.

Posted: 2/20/2010 4:14:01 PM EDT

[#45]

Quoted:
Several years ago I read a newspaper arrticle about a secret underground hangar discovered under an airport near Berlin...they cracked it open, and it was full of pristine fighters, bombers, experimental jets, and ammo and fuel for them all...

Then, no word about it ever again. I do wonder what happened to it all...

Secret underground hanger:

http://www.stelzriede.com/ms/html/mshwma33.htm

Posted: 2/20/2010 4:19:37 PM EDT

[#46]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Several years ago I read a newspaper arrticle about a secret underground hangar discovered under an airport near Berlin...they cracked it open, and it was full of pristine fighters, bombers, experimental jets, and ammo and fuel for them all...

Then, no word about it ever again. I do wonder what happened to it all...[/quote

Secret underground hanger:

http://www.stelzriede.com/ms/html/mshwma33.htm

Here's your clue right here.
"Berlin, With it's dry sandy soil,,,"
Berlin is actually built in the middle of a forested swamp, there never was a 'mystery aircraft bunker', and the water table is unbelievably shallow for such a large metropolitan city to sit above it.

Posted: 2/20/2010 4:19:47 PM EDT

[#47]

they sell allsorts of left over nazi stuff as antiques in bulgaria, saw lots of u boat compases, rings, lighters hitler youth knives etc. looked genuine.
last summer i went wheeling round lake lodoga in russia where there was heavy fighting with the fins in ww2, amazing how often we found bullits and shrapnel in our firewood

Posted: 2/20/2010 4:19:58 PM EDT

[#48]

Quoted:
I find their digging disturbing

really.

I don't see the need to go digging it all up. UXO is bad enough, but isn't this sort of like a sunken warship? Would not most of us consider it a war grave?

If they were about to start some major construction project, I guess I could see it as a way of removing the dead for re-burial and the artifacts for study and history reasons, but otherwise I'd say leave them where they lie.

Posted: 2/20/2010 4:24:44 PM EDT

[#49]

Quoted:
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s232/brucers99/Wolchow%20Front/digginglate80s45.jpg

I think god was on a holiday.

It's an old Prussian Motto

...I have one of those belt buckles that my Grandfather brought back

Posted: 2/20/2010 4:25:12 PM EDT

[#50]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I find their digging disturbing

really.

I don't see the need to go digging it all up. UXO is bad enough, but isn't this sort of like a sunken warship? Would not most of us consider it a war grave?

If they were about to start some major construction project, I guess I could see it as a way of removing the dead for re-burial and the artifacts for study and history reasons, but otherwise I'd say leave them where they lie.

I am all for it, provided the excavation is done under specified archaeological protocals, the remains are properly reinterred with honors, and the material is not utilized for personal gain.
These are war graves and should be treated as such.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Digging For Nazis - Body Recovery on the Wolchow Front 1980s (Page 1 of 6)

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