WWII War Relics Eastern Front

[gshase]

This is a trip the wife and I want to do in the future. Using metal detectors and digging in old battle fields on the Eastern Front. These guys make it look so cool. Great finds and really good video. Any one up for a trip? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRbatNyQMy4 I really would love to hook up with these guys.

[john70t]

There is probably a lot of material (and stories) waiting to be found: Update On Recovered T-34 Tank With German Markings

[masraum]

Interesting stuff. I've always been interested in metal detecting. I've read some pretty cool articles about stuff found in England going back to Roman times and farther back. Lots of things that have ended up in museums.

That looks like it could be fun/interesting. I suspect if I were to actually do it, I would leave the bulk of what I found and would only be interested in actually keeping (assuming it's legal) very few of the items shown in the video, maybe some of the medals, buttons, the ring, etc.... I think parts of Europe are very, very dense in that sort of stuff.

[gshase]

The latest news about T-34.
Have successfully started the diesel engine not replacing any spare part. So COOL

[black_falcon]

These relic hunters are detested by much of the collecting community for grave robbing; many have dug up battle sites then looted them for artifacts without re-interning the deceased or notifying respective governments of remains.

Russian relic hunters. Some pictures are graphic: Eastern Front Relic Hunting Site

[Scuba Steve]

I have one but only manage to find junk. At one of our rentals an old railroad token came up, but I found that while putting in landscaping.

edit: Holy crap those guys find a lot of ordinance! They dig up civil and revolutionary war stuff from time to time around here and it gets carefully disposed of because it's most likely unstable. I'm not sure it's such a good idea to be standing around and posing with all of it.

[Rick V]

They are still finding a great deal of live ordnance in western Europe to this day. Farmers are constantly turning over the stuff with plows.
I hear a lot of this from a friend who lives in Belgium and he sends me links to the news reports. It has a certain cool factor to it, but it is from a not cool time

[Jolly Amaranto]

When I was in Jr. High School living on Guam, there was plenty of war wreckage everywhere if you looked. Unexploded ordinance was all over the place. The Navy was real diligent in educating the public to leave it alone if you uncovered any and call them to come get it. I still have a business card that they handed out.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Jolly Amaranto

When I was in Jr. High School living on Guam, there was plenty of war wreckage everywhere if you looked. Unexploded ordinance was all over the place. The Navy was real diligent in educating the public to leave it alone if you uncovered any and call them to come get it. I still have a business card that they handed out.

Yep, when I was a kid, we lived in northern Japan, and the security police used to come to the school every year with examples of stuff and warnings not to touch anything if we found it.

[Rick Lee]

There's usually one fatality a year in Germany when they uncover unexploded ordnance while digging for a new foundation. I remember seeing fenced off areas in Verdun, France four yrs. ago where they still hadn't cleared it from the first world war. In German antique shops swasktikas have to covered with decals. You can find some cool militaria there, but the price tag or a white decal will always be covering up the swastika on the item.

[74-911]

Originally Posted by black_falcon

These relic hunters are detested by much of the collecting community for grave robbing; many have dug up battle sites then looted them for artifacts without re-interning the deceased or notifying respective governments of remains.

Russian relic hunters. Some pictures are graphic: Eastern Front Relic Hunting Site

Per the above, one of the more fertile spots for relic hunters is the Stalingrad area as tens of thousands of Germans were buried in very shallow graves and there is a big demand for German relics in particular .

[Rick Lee]

I have a cop buddy in eastern Germany whose grandfather was killed at Stalingrad. He used some connections at the Red Cross to find out where his grandfather was buried. He still had the letter ("Fuer Volk, Fuehrer und Vaterland.....") that came to the house. The Red Cross was able to find out that the Russians had re-interred a lot of the German dead into a formal and still maintained cemetery, even had the individual grave site marked. My friend hasn't been able to make the trip there yet, but he knows right where to go when he does. I imagine there were a lot of cool relics the Russians dug up back then.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by 74-911

Per the above, one of the more fertile spots for relic hunters is the Stalingrad area as tens of thousands of Germans were buried in very shallow graves and there is a big demand for German relics in particular .

Finding stuff that was left on the battlefield or in a trench is one thing, digging up a grave to take stuff out of the grave is another entirely. Very not cool.