Exhumations of WW2 Dead German Soldiers (1 Viewer)

[DeathHand]

Over the past several years there has been a renewed interest in Poland for exhuming the remains of German soldiers who were killed during their occupation of the country. Many of these soldiers were buried in local cemeteries in various cities/towns from 1939 - 1945 and once exhumed, documented and attempts made to Id them the remains are being transferred to Germany or to cemeteries that already contain the graves of many soldiers (both German and Polish), that are managed by the Polish War Graves Commission.

A number of locally known burial sites of German soldiers were destroyed or vandalized during the past few decades and some were only partially excavated.

This thread will contain a number of these individual excavations and the photos that were taken. Generally, there are no photos of weapons since the police have to be immediately notified by the excavations teams and are then taken away.

Set 1.

April 6, 2022, Brzeg Dolny, Poland:
The remains of three German WW2 Wehrmacht soldiers were exhumed so that they can be buried in the German WW2 war dead cemetery in the Czernica area. The soldiers died in 1945 and had been buried along a roadside. It's believed that they died in 1945 during Operation Brunhild, when the Germans tried to seize the Anorgana factory from the Soviets. These soldiers were not buried with their weapons but they certainly had alot of ammo buried with them.

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4. The German Death Head ring...

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13. This is a German Wound badge, like the US Purple Heart.

14. This is a German soldier's dog tag. When one is killed in battle who ever is collecting them to bring back to their HQ to report a soldier's death breaks the tag in half, taking one half with them and leaving the other half with the body. Since this one, and another, were intact the deaths of these guys was probably not registered with the German authorities at the time.

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[Ravishing Rick Rude]

Cool post thanks DeathHand 👍

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Pull those bullets out of the cases and give me the powder and primers. I bet these are still dry and functional for reloading. German factories since 1898 had lacquer sealed their ammo, meaning long term weather and waterproofing.

 

[Dr. Johnny Fever]

The buried ammo is a bit surprising

 

[Gurgled_Sliced_Throat]

Can any of thaty ammo be salvaged?

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Can any of thaty ammo be salvaged?

The inside components most likely can. I've pulled powder out of old horrifically rusted and corroded combloc 7.62x54R ammo from Classic Arms bulk bringbacks in the early 2000s and reloaded the powder into .300 Win Mag and .308 cases for hog hunting. The powder, as long as they have not been compromised, still function good.

 

[KiKeKrusher88]

Trying to get a clear view of the belt buckle bit ot looks to be a Waffen ss em buckle. Also the deaths head ring but clearer pics would help. Either way tragic loss of life fighting the communist,zionist, hordes.

 

[pangs]

Allow the dead to rest in peace

 

[Humungus]

Excellent post.

 

[McM]

At first I thought 'strange hand grenade' but it's a canteen (5th pic).
Has a black bakelite cup.
I was irritated by the brown color of the canteen's body; I knew only the metal version with grey felt around.
Did they produce a cheaper wooden version later? Interesting
(Light metals, etc. were restricted and meant only for weapon and plane production.)

Nice post. Reminds me of the same work the Ger/Rus organizations do in Russia.

 

[HG]

Sometimes I follow you about on here @McM - you are interesting...

 

[Denim Chicken]

Yep, still dead

 

[KiKeKrusher88]

At first I thought 'strange hand grenade' but it's a canteen (5th pic).
Has a black bakelite cup.
I was irritated by the brown color of the canteen's body; I knew only the metal version with grey felt around.
Did they produce a cheaper wooden version later? Interesting
(Light metals, etc. were restricted and meant only for weapon and plane production.)

Nice post. Reminds me of the same work the Ger/Rus organizations do in Russia.

Nice observation mom. The wooden canteens were mainly issued to Afrika Korps early on but also to troops stationed in italy,Greece, etc (tropical) I would seriously like a clearer photo of the belt buckle but I do believe it was waffen ss.🙁

 

[SPHINCTERPUNCH]

Over the past several years there has been a renewed interest in Poland for exhuming the remains of German soldiers who were killed during their occupation of the country. Many of these soldiers were buried in local cemeteries in various cities/towns from 1939 - 1945 and once exhumed, documented and attempts made to Id them the remains are being transferred to Germany or to cemeteries that already contain the graves of many soldiers (both German and Polish), that are managed by the Polish War Graves Commission.

A number of locally known burial sites of German soldiers were destroyed or vandalized during the past few decades and some were only partially excavated.

This thread will contain a number of these individual excavations and the photos that were taken. Generally, there are no photos of weapons since the police have to be immediately notified by the excavations teams and are then taken away.

Set 1.

April 6, 2022, Brzeg Dolny, Poland:
The remains of three German WW2 Wehrmacht soldiers were exhumed so that they can be buried in the German WW2 war dead cemetery in the Czernica area. The soldiers died in 1945 and had been buried along a roadside. It's believed that they died in 1945 during Operation Brunhild, when the Germans tried to seize the Anorgana factory from the Soviets. These soldiers were not buried with their weapons but they certainly had alot of ammo buried with them.

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4. The German Death Head ring...
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13. This is a German Wound badge, like the US Purple Heart.
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14. This is a German soldier's dog tag. When one is killed in battle who ever is collecting them to bring back to their HQ to report a soldier's death breaks the tag in half, taking one half with them and leaving the other half with the body. Since this one, and another, were intact the deaths of these guys was probably not registered with the German authorities at the time.
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This is some Awesome Content Bro! Dunka!!! 🤘🏻🤟🤙...SP

 

[DeathHand]

August 25, 2021, Siekierczyn, Poland:

The remains of German soldiers, who died during the fighting with the Red Army during the "Battle of Lubań" in Feb-March 1945, were exhumed from their shallow graves on the grounds of the local church.

Set 2.

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3. Wound Badge of one of the soldiers.

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5. I've only seen one other exhumation case of a German soldier where he was buried with his glasses on.

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7. Throughout these excavations, the durability of the boots issued to German soldiers is evident, while uniforms are almost always long gone (just buttons).

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9. German whistle.

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12. Christian cross found with one of the soldiers.

Set 3.

Oct. 2014, Klessin, Brandenburg, Germany:

The remains of German soldiers who died in the Battle of the Seelow Heights, have been unearthed. The remains of the German soldiers were found buried in a Soviet trench close to Klessin and were likely buried in April 1945.

Almost a million soldiers of the Red Army under the command of Marshal Georgi Zhukov, attacked the position known as the Gates of Berlin. Defending the German position were110,000 soldiers of the 9th Army. Seelow Heights was where some of the most bitter fighting in the overall battle took place. Fighting began in the early hours of April 16 with a massive bombardment by thousands of artillery weapons. Some 12,000 German troops perished.

1. It appears that these guys were just dumped haphazardly into the trench when buried - or it was in the trench that they died...

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3. A German StG-44 machine gun.

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Set 4.

May 17, 2022, Rudzica, Poland:

Six German WW2 Wehrmacht soldiers were exhumed from their graves in an enclave beside a church in Rudzica, in the Siekierczyn area. It's believed that they died in Feb-March 1945 during "Battle of Lubań". The graves had been disturbed years back when the church was renovated. Two of the remains had dog tags.

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7. Old map that showed the location of these burials.

 

[Nihilianth]

Trying to get a clear view of the belt buckle bit ot looks to be a Waffen ss em buckle. Also the deaths head ring but clearer pics would help. Either way tragic loss of life fighting the communist,zionist, hordes.

Fuck you nazi pigs

 

[DeathHand]

Set 5

April 7, 2021, Sierczynek, Poland

Exhumation works, another of several in Sierczynek, this time in the district of Międzyrzecki, located near the intersection of local roads, the graves of three German soldiers who died on January 28-29, 1945, as the Russians fought to break the German defensive line at Trzcielska. With the remains were two unbroken dog tags.

The Soviet Army Spitz (11th Guards Armored Corps of Colonel Amazaspa Babajanian ) reached Trzciel on January 25, 1945. The defense of the city turned out to be so effective that the Russians set up a detachment to bypass Trzciel from the north. It was the 44th Gwardyjska Armored Brigade commanded by I. Gusakowski , which on January 28 attacked the isthmus between the Chłop and Wędromierz Lakes near Borowy Młyn.

The first attack was repulsed, but the next day the defense of the isthmus broke down and the Russians crossed the main defensive line of the Trzcielska position. On January 29, the cities of Pszczew and Trzciel were also occupied, and the Soviet troops, after regrouping, moved towards Międzyrzecki.


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4. A possible shrapnel break.

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[hedgerow]

nice pics. i sure the nazis here all got horny seeing them, esp that freak 14zombie88 LOSER

 

[DeathHand]

Set 6.

Oct. 11. 2022, Kotliska, Jelenia Góra, Poland

Near rural buildings of the village of Kogutów, three graves of German soldiers who died during fighting between February and March 1945 were exhumed.

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2. Not much left of this soldier.

3. A German General Assault Badge.

4. An odd position to be buried in.

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8. Plastic bakelite canteen cap (cup).

9. The barrel of an MG42 rests on the remains of this soldier. It's possible that the 3 soldiers were an MG crew.

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Set 7.

Oct. 2022, Baborów Poland:

Mass grave containing 66 German soldiers buried in a local cemetery in an unmarked section under a concrete wall. The soldiers died in 1945 when the city was seized by the Red Army Workers' and Peasants' Army on March 29, 1945. At first the graves could not be located until an elderly man approached the archaeology team and pointed them to where they were.

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4. German Iron Cross badge, probably a Class 2.

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7. Wounded Badge.

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9. Fatal injury to this skull.

10. Shattered bones.

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13. Waffen SS Officers Collar Tabs (pips).

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16. Another fatal head injury.

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23. A Wounded Badge.

Nice observation mom. The wooden canteens were mainly issued to Afrika Korps early on but also to troops stationed in italy,Greece, etc (tropical) I would seriously like a clearer photo of the belt buckle but I do believe it was waffen ss.🙁

The wooden canteen threw me off too - I wasn't aware of them. In another post the excavation yielded only the plastic canteen cup so it's quite possible that that soldier also had one of these wooden ones, which in that case had deteriorated, leaving just the cup. Those are the only photos available - none of a few others clearly shows the buckle: they made not have brushed the clay off it yet.

This is some Awesome Content Bro! Dunka!!! 🤘🏻🤟🤙...SP

Thanks - glad folks enjoy them. This is something that I would love to do as a profession, that or just good old metal detecting (which I do) on some farmer's field in Russia or Poland.

Can any of thaty ammo be salvaged?

As others mentioned, it certainly can be. Most of this stuff often ends up on eBay or the black market when it's found by diggers that aren't there to recover soldiers' remains - just the relics. Once they empty the grave of valuables they may or may not contact local authorities about the skeletal remains. It is illegal to do digs like that but money talks...

 

[KiKeKrusher88]

The iron cross pictured is almost certainly the pin back 1 st class of the award as if it were 2nd class you see a tiny "tac weld" at the 12 o clock position of the frame where the loop.wouldve bee attached. Also of note is the different way the :dog tags" are found. The ones that are only halves more than likely were identified to their fies. The ones that are whole say these poor fellows are still on "vermisst list" to this day. Its heart breaking to think these poor heroes gave their all to try and save humanity and wound up dying lost and alone on foreign soil. At least now they're no longer nameless and will get some sort of recognition and appreciation of their sacrafice. Many thanks to you DEATH HAND for such an awesome thread with clear, concise photos.