I agree fascinating seeing these items being dug up ,it must be quite dissapointing when you dig so hard and so long and find nothing .Rob.
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God please take justin bieber and gave us dio back -
OK, I posted most of the "technical" militaria related pictures. I will post the few others I may have, as well as a few pictures showing the human side of the trip.
First, here are two of the items I brought back. The belt buckle pictured before when still in the ground.Comment
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A bullet holled bullet. When I found this, the russians all laughed at me, saying it was a hole made by the "shupa", the steel rods they use to probe the ground. However I think that this type of damage is a real bullet hole for various reasons, one being how folded back one part of the metal is at the exit hole.Comment
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Here is a stick grenade that was only buried at about 50cm in a trench. It is thus in bad condition.Comment
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Fantastic thread JL!
You sure had a great trip!
On a side note, you said that no human remains were recovered but I also noticed the absolute lack of firearms. Is this because there weren't any, which might explain the lack of remains as the soldiers simply took them along, or can't it be shown here?Comment
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Hi Jean-Loup,
Thanks for sharing this with us, I really enjoyed looking at your pics and can only imagin how thrilling such an expedition must be.
Just one question with all that life ammo lying arround in the ground isn't this rather dangerous?
KR
PhilippeComment
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The Germans won the battle at Demjansk, so I suspect they salavaged many weapons that had been left behind. The of course civilians probably took most of what was left. The result is there arent many weapons, but they do find some sometimes. Here are some that were found when I was there:
An MG barel that still had the Waffen Amt eagle perfectly visible as if it was new. The picture is out of focus thow.
" Just one question with all that life ammo lying arround in the ground isn't this rather dangerous?"
I would say, not realy. Bullets and grenades are "safe" in my book. The only thing I would consider dangerous would be fired but unexploded artillerie, or unpinned and unexploded grenades. But I have never heard of any problems with these, expet when people felt compelled to unscrew them, open, them, etc.
Anyhow, the Russians aret exactly "safety first" type people
Last edited by Jean-Loup; 09-29-2005, 11:24 AM.Comment
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Jean-Loup this is just incredible!! I enjoyed your photos very much. This must be a great experience to be there. Keep us informed!
FransComment
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An MG barrel and a Mauser in miserable condttion in that 2.5 meter sand bunker we wasted a day on.Comment
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Some MG ammunition. (they endedup in the fire a few minutes latter)Comment
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An SS helmet coming out of the ground.Comment
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The same helmet as above.Comment
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Forest lifeComment
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A russian gypsy (could you imagine a worse combination after seeing the movie Snatch) drying his "socks", those big blue things.
He was a fine guy of course.Comment
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The "shup", used to probe the ground and "feel" the remains of the log roofs, or floors of bunkers.Comment
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