Visiting a frontline in austria ...

[Ostmark]

So we where walking back home, suddenly something catches my eyes
What the hell, thats looking like a grave ...

[Ostmark]

Closeup from the inscription

[Ostmark]

Translation from the last two lines of the plate:
"....because my mother is far away"

We will start next week with investigations if the soldier is still in the grave, the problem is, its on a private propertie .... I will keep you informed, if you are interested

Hope you enjoyed the pics

Regards
Herbert

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Herbert, thank you for a great thread. I would have loved to be with you on this trip. You made some great discoveries.


The items you found were very interesting and I can help you id what you saw. Both unknown items are Russian grenades. The one on the left is an RG-42 and the large one on the right is an RPG 43. Here is a good website which you might find useful in the future:


http://www.inert-ord.net/russ02i/crg42/index.html

http://www.inert-ord.net/russ02i/rpg43/index.html

As you can now see, both items lack the fuse. But you were very wise to leave them be As always safety first!

The 7.62mm x 25mm Russian pistol/smg ammo is very hard to find here in the UK. I would love some inert ones for my collection.

Keep us posted about the grave please.

Cheers, Ade.

[Robin Lumsden]

Nice journey into history, Herbert!

[Si1964]

Herbert
As per Ade and Robin, I look forward to some more information durning your next visit. Any information on the battle ground itself?

[Ostmark]

Some more informations and 2 more finds

Information to the battle:
On that frontline the 356 Inf. Div (under command from SS Obersturmführer Karl Heinz Keitel 1. SS Panzerkorps) fought against the 6. sowj. Garde Panzer Armee. The greman units where a mix of WH, WL, and schw. Artillerieabt.501 from the Waffen-SS. The Kampfkommandant was Hptm. Hoppe (Knightscrossowner). The battle took place from 3.4.1945 - 24.4.1945

[Ostmark]

Today we made a trip to the battlefields, and found a really big baby

First we found peaces of armour (we thought)

[Ostmark]

20 meters away i got a nice signal and we start to dig

[Ostmark]

What the hell is that

[Ostmark]

Well its a 500kg bomb

You can see the fuze inside, the steel body is cracked, but its look like the
fuze is OK

[Ostmark]

The KMRD was informed 1 hour ago .....

[Ostmark]

After that really big surprise we where wlaking through the deepest forest
and suddenly my friend called me ... what was the reason?

Well take a look at the pic (this is especially for Adrian and roughshooter
because i know you will like it very much)

[Ostmark]

We found a soldiers grave in the middle of nowhere, the view is really exciting
I never thought that such a grave will exist in my area still with a steel helmet on it.

Here are more detailed pics from the M42 Helmet

[Soviet]

Hope you didn't take the helmet with you.