Most Intact Battlefield

[peleliuexplorer]

Any opinions here? I think Iwo Jima and Peleliu are the most complete battlefields (not picked over). Still artillery pieces and skeletons in many caves! Peleliu is covered in dense jungle now but still has many relics lying around.

-Eric

[prussian.guard]

north africa has a lot of gear lying around.yea the sand has moved but soo much is still buried there

[Jean-Loup]

"north africa has a lot of gear lying around.yea the sand has moved but soo much is still buried there"

Where do you hold this information from? Have you been there?

I would also expect the most preserved battlefields to be in the pacific (also Kiska, etc). Maybe also still some remote areas of Russia may have higly preserved battlefields.

JL

[Felix]

"north africa has a lot of gear lying around.yea the sand has moved but soo much is still buried there"

Where do you hold this information from? Have you been there?

JL

Dont you think this is a possibility? Most of the desert around El Alamein is military area and prohibited for walking. One major reason is the vast mine fields that were laid out. I have been in the museum at El Alamein and they show some stuff found in the desert in perfect condition. Once a whole truck was found with a load of ammo and other things in close to mint condition. I know the gevernment in Egypt is trying to clear some areas for the infrastructure and pipes and I dont know how far they have come? It has been my thought for a long time that there has to be many undiscovered things around and rather well preserved.

[DaveNZ]

When I was a kid I lived in Papua New Guinea and there was a heck of a lot of war material still lying around (this is in the early 80's).

landing craft
boats and ships
crashed planes
guns
etc etc etc

i had a great time.

even bought back a piece of the P 38 that was crashed on a beach on a remote little atoll. still have it in my mums garage.

as for other places; well im guessing some pacific spots. as for russia: wouldn't it be pretty picked clean by now as with most places in europe?

[Simon O.]

In Europe i'd expect the battlefields along the Finland\Russia\Norway border to be in relatively good condition. Certainly on the Russian side those battlefields lie in the heavily restricted border zone and of course also in pretty remote areas in many cases.

Much of the Narvik battlefield is also still in very good shape up in the mountains.

[behblc]

Recent isues of After The Battle have carried a few articles on the Norway/Russia border - surprising what is still in situ.
Of all battle fields the Atlantic should not be overlooked - all is still there exact;y where it came to rest.

[DaveNZ]

Of all battle fields the Atlantic should not be overlooked - all is still there exact;y where it came to rest.

good point

the wreck of the Bismark comes to mind for starters

[pete]

.

I can confirm that to be true about north africa in some ways. While much of the surface scrap has been mostly collected up the sand does uncover items which are protected and in good shape and there are fighting positions which ive heard are still in place, guns and all. Remember that some places out there people never go, theres no reason to. Others have a purpose or a future purpose. Two Freinds of mine were tasked seperatly with mine clearance and battle area clearance for pipelines in libiya and another was tasked with geo referencing the hand drawn minefield maps on record from the german government to modern day features and making a database. This is to aid in clearance areas because you can walk forever in line doing bac and not get a signal and then you get signals. If this is where the pipeline will go in, any digging or service roads those signals have to be investigated. He located one helmet decal for saharian helmet on the surface and several vehicles which were stripped and sub surface, or when the sand dunes moved mines which were pristine and in working order. There wasnt even any corrosion on some of the fuzes. I can ask for photos from clearance organizations ( some of them being freinds who are already keeping in mind objects they find for me) to see the state and amount of items located because none of this is worth anything to them. Im hoping for that because i would rather a relic helmet then a "DAK" helmet thats been on the collectors market, looks right but, cant ever be traced that it was actually ever there. On the other hand i have freinds clearing the mines on the beaches of coast of denmark and due to the conditions there any relics or mines are always in poor condition. They have come across untouched bunkers which im waiting for photos of. I think some of the best places are those jean loup has visited. I could also get in to talk about whats in vietnam and cambodia. Another freind was attatched to an MIA recovery team for the DOD lab in hawiee and other freinds who have worked in vietnam on old firebases removing minefields and other explosive remnants of war. Alot of it is untouched and fully like the day it was left just reclaimed by the jungle. Helicopters and other aircraft or with crew on board, mags loaded, pearl handled 6 guns still in holsters, uniforms on, you get the picture....then theres other things like remnants of specail forces missions etc.

Best,

Pete

[prussian.guard]

"north africa has a lot of gear lying around.yea the sand has moved but soo much is still buried there"

Where do you hold this information from? Have you been there?

I would also expect the most preserved battlefields to be in the pacific (also Kiska, etc). Maybe also still some remote areas of Russia may have higly preserved battlefields.

JL

yes ive been there and you can still find fox holes outside el alamain.talk to the locals they know where the stuff is.the truck that was mentioned i have seen although the ammo is long gone.you just wait for the sands to shift and walk the desert stuff is just lying on the surface.
i would imagine there are tanks crashed planes and field gear in abundance
underneath the dunes

[Jean-Loup]

Sorry, I have to disagree about North Africa, at lest for the Egyptian part. I dont know about Lybia, the political and geographic conditions are different there.

For Egypt, I went there multiple times, for prolonged periods, including for drives in desert. Items are extremely hard to find for the simple reason that locals (several of whom I know very well) have been picking them up ever since the day the war ended. First they picked items up as scrap, today they pick items up to sell them to tourists, for very high prices(often more expensive then Bill Shea would sell). Items are rare, and most are in bad condition. Most of the areas where the battles occured are visited on a regular basis by shepheards, etc.

You still can find foxholes/rock forts easely, but that is the same on all battlefields. If lucky, you can find an object, but it is infinitly more difficult then to find items in Russia for example.
That jeep you guys talked about was not found on the battlefield, it was found in the desert outside Cairo, and was post war, being used by Egyptian paratroopers if I remember correctly. It doesnt really have anything to do with WW2 history. As for tanks... I highly doubt any will ever be found in Egypt (not like in Russia where they find them regularly, and sometimes in as new condition).

Mind you, there are still things to be discovered, but you will find less stuff and in in worse condition on an Egyptian battlefield, then on a Russian battlefield.
The only thing left in large amounts in Egypt is stuff like this:

JL

[Danny L]

Somebody posted a topic about the battlefield in Finland, I think that was just visited (1990s) for the first time since the battle ended with bodies lying were they fell.

I've been to Verdun and know for a fact there is tons of munitions lying about untouched. I believe it is illegal to relic hunt the Verdun battlefields because it's a national park? To be honest, you'd have to be an idiot to relic hunt it unless your an explosives ordnance technician.

[Jean-Loup]

Here is a picture from Finland you are talking about, from a forum members site, but I cant remember the link.
Now that is truely untouched!!

[Joachim_Nilsson]

Jean-Loup, do you think it's possible for you to dig up that link somehow. I'd be really interested in seeing some more present day photos from Finland as my grandfather fought there.

[Jean-Loup]

Yes, the link was posted not long ago in the forum, I will try to find it, or maybe the forum member who posted those photos will see this thread. In the meantime, here is an other one of the photos.

JL