"I went down to the Field today..." Topic

Just found this on Coolminiornot. How would you like to have one of these turn up buried in your backyard?

link

Interesting what you find in the Russian back forty. Think you could make a small fortune in scrap metal around Stalingrad. Each country has their own bits of history stashed away. Wonder what you would find in the various areas?

Back in Vancouver, Canada I remember finding a Bren Carrier parked in the forest. It was a left over from a training site. Wreck Beach is interesting for the concrete bunkers and gun emplacements (not to mention the 'other' scenery).

Here in Germany you tend to find things dropped from the sky which occassionally get dug up. Speaking of dug up, a couple of years ago they built a house next door. While digging, the operator stopped, looked down and began yelling… within 15 minutes we had the Politzei and Kampfraumungsdeinst (Bomb Disposal unit) show up and remove 10 Panzerfausts plus boxes of MG cartridges. There are days on the Autobahn when I dream of those Panzerfausts…

Once cleaned off it looked like you could start it up and drive it away.

Here in the Netherlands bombs are pretty common, sometimes a complete neighborhood has to be evacuated while the army bomb disposal guys do their job. Hat off for those guys. Airplanes are a rarer find, because obviously they were spotted at the time, but I remember them finding an Allied fighter in a railway embankment, he pilot still at the controls.

And at the edge of my county there still is a tanktrap, made out of railwaytrack. It's still there because it is on a spot where three authorities can tell it's the responsibility of one of the others to clear it. So, the people of that neighborhod just clened it up and call it a monument.

What I find really interesting is the extended tracks. Ive never seen this except on US tanks.

Is that additional armor bolted on the front?

That is quite amazing; hope the tank was empty of crew – looks like it was upside-down when found – yet otherwise pristine.

>What I find really interesting is the extended tracks. Ive never seen this except on US tanks.

"Ostketten"… used quite a bit on the Eastern Front.

w.

Learn something new everyday.

It does look like they're lynching someone in the 6th picture up…

I suppose there was still ammunition and other stuff inside – hope the crew got out.
Otherwise yes it looks like you could start her up and go to the supermarket in it.
The only thing I found in my back garden was a clay tobacco pipe from around 1690

As I recall back in the early eighties there were still a couple of Tiger 1`s on the impact area at Hohne ranges in Northern Germany. They were pretty shot up and I doubt if they`re there now.

One of my fondest memories is shooting holes in an M10 with a Charlie G up there for a morning. Happy days.

Must be tons of stuff like this in the old eastern bloc hidden away on farms and in forests and marshes just waiting for a rich restorer to find it.

Rich Restorers?

The group rebuilding the vulcan bomber could do with one of them, (if they exist)?

;)

Theres a gent named Littlefield (IIRC) out in California who certainly qualifies as a Rich Restorer. Must be nice to have ones own armour museum and be able to swop with the likes of Israel and Jordan for rare armoured vehicles and bits. ;-)

*makes note to self to buy winning powerball ticket tonight*

Don`t suppose Bill Gates needs a hobby?

isn't there a "tank hunter" society that looks for WWII wrecks like this? I thought I'd heard about that somewhere.