Here are the gas warfare objects found in the grave. Not much compared to what should have been found if regulations had been followed by the soldiers.
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Here are all the non military items found: several combs, two wallets, a pen, some pieces of a mirror, the ring, some coins.
PS: after a request from an interested reader, I will add that the pen (apparently) has the following inscriptions on its tip:
WARRANTED
1er QUALITE
IRISTYL
4Last edited by Jean-Loup; 04-07-2007, 05:05 PM.Comment
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All the recognisable coins were french, exept for one, that was German. I was suprised to see a coin made in 1941 with "Marianne" on it, instead of the Vichy government axe.Comment
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More personal objects: 5 types of knifes, a piece of a razor, some lighters.Comment
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For the canteens, it is a similar story as for the shoes: the only two that were found were damaged by schrapnel, in other words useless for the civilians back in 1944, whitch is probably the only reason they didnt take them.Comment
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Some of the belts discovered, with some ammo, a pistole holster, and... a G43 loader; kind of an unexpected find.
Note that one belt has been cut in half, probably by a civilian who cut it off a decomposing body to take the ammo pouches and baionet.
Also note that the belt with ammo pouches has two different models of pouches attached: the soldier didnt care if his ammo pouches were a matching set or not! One pouch has alluminum stds, the other has iron studs, and the leather parts are rivetted together.Last edited by Jean-Loup; 05-29-2007, 08:29 AM.Comment
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All the miscelaneous buckles that are always found on battlefields.Comment
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And finaly, the pieces of metal responsable for killing some of these 14 german soldiers: several pieces of shrapnel, one bullet, and some pieces of metal that may be shrapnel, but it is difficult to tell for sure.
Think that these little fragments of metal weighing only a tiny fraction of our own weight can kill us in an instant. These fragments actualy did kill people.Last edited by Jean-Loup; 03-20-2009, 03:21 PM.Comment
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Now I have been at this for 4 hours, and it i 4 in the morning here. My brain is not functioning any more, so I may have forgotten something. I hope you found it interesting.
Here is a picture taken the night before the exhumation. It was unexpectedly given permission to start preparing the exhumation, so went digging in the dark with 3 friends. We were lit up with candles in the forest. I was defenetly a strange feeling to be in the forest at night, with shadows dancing in the candle light, knowing you are digging up a mass grave that was forgotten for 60 years.
JLLast edited by Jean-Loup; 03-20-2009, 03:21 PM.Comment
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I was asked to pose for a picture with Mr Julien Hauser, of the Volksbund, since I was the finder of the grave, and a man from the city hall quickly also ran up into the picture, although nobody had asked him anything. He then took the jaw of one of the bodies to pose for the picture...
Why wasnt I suprised....Comment
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Here, one of the men who was a teenager in 1944 comes to look at use dig up the bodies in the rain. For some reason, the man from city hall wasnt there any more when it was raining and the journalists were gone.Last edited by Jean-Loup; 12-24-2006, 08:06 AM.Comment
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In the end, we found 14 bodies, 7 of them still with their dog tags. We found that four guys had most likely been killed by bullets, and 4 by schrapnel. One guy was apparently crushed as well, maybe he was in a house that collapsed or something. For the 5 others, I guess since no wounds were found, it is probable that most were killed by bullets, as shrapnel wounds are often multiple and have a better chance of leaving a trace on the skellton or the equipments.
There was probably more then 14 Germans killed in this battle, maybe 25 or 30 or even more, but the bodies were evacuated by the Germans. Only the bodies that they were unable to evacuate ended up in this grave.
That's is for now.Last edited by Jean-Loup; 03-20-2009, 03:22 PM.Comment
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Hi JL,
Unbelievable find!! I have one question. What kind of timeline was it from when you first started investigating this lost grave to where the digging finally started? Sorry if you mentioned it before I may have missed it. Great job, there will be people and souls resting easier now that this chapter of thier lives has been closed. Merry Christmas!!
-Shawn
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Riveting to say the least. Thanks for sharing.Comment
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Thank you JL for all your hard work and sharing it here in this excellent thread.
Cheers, Ade.Comment
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