Into WWII History?

Skogen · Post by **Skogen** » February 24, 2005, 4:46 pm

http://www.theserpentswall.com/

check out that site, brought to you by the same gal who rode her motorcycle to Chernobyl. Facinating stuff.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » February 24, 2005, 4:54 pm

Nice site for a look at things in a place many may never have the opportunity to go. I understand that language differences, and most comments were easy to overlook. I couldn't suppress a chuckle at this one though:

They closed many bunkers for people not to blow on mines.

Mak · Post by **Mak** » February 24, 2005, 4:56 pm

I was wondering what had happened to her Chernobyl site- glad to see it's back up.

Skogen · Post by **Skogen** » February 24, 2005, 5:02 pm

Boogahz wrote:Nice site for a look at things in a place many may never have the opportunity to go.

Ya, definitely...my wife is from Poland. A couple of years back we were there visiting her parents in village she grew up in. We went for a walk one day, and walked down some random country lane. I spotted a large mound of dirt that looked out of place, and asked her what it was. She said "oh, its a mass grave from WWII...there's like 500 or so russians buried in there...some big battle occured here." So, naturally, I started poking around the woods as we walked, and came home with 2 german helmets, and a german gas mask canister....I found them just lying there under a thin layer of old leaves & crap.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » February 24, 2005, 5:26 pm

Skogen wrote:
Boogahz wrote:Nice site for a look at things in a place many may never have the opportunity to go.
Ya, definitely...my wife is from Poland. A couple of years back we were there visiting her parents in village she grew up in. We went for a walk one day, and walked down some random country lane. I spotted a large mound of dirt that looked out of place, and asked her what it was. She said "oh, its a mass grave from WWII...there's like 500 or so russians buried in there...some big battle occured here." So, naturally, I started poking around the woods as we walked, and came home with 2 german helmets, and a german gas mask canister....I found them just lying there under a thin layer of old leaves & crap.

Cool stuff.

I may have mentioned this before but when I was a kid, like 8-9 years old, our family was on vacation in France and we stopped by Verdon, France. It's one of the locations of a huge WWI battle. Basically, the French got steamrolled by the Germans and had to retreat quickly, dumping equipment as they went. My dad took my brother and I back into the woods to look around for WWI stuff. He said specifically not to pick anything up until getting him. The first thing I picked up was a WWI German Hand Grenade with the Cork, detonator and powerder still in it. I said, "dad, look at this!" He probably shit is pants. Luckily (for me, not you!) it was rusted and the twisting handle was decayed enough to not function anymore. My dad scraped out the gunpowder and fuse. It's one of my favorite items I have in my possession.

If you go to europe, getting away from the typical tourist trap areas is worth the effort and you might find something cool to remember the trip by...or lose an eye or a limb!

Skogen · Post by **Skogen** » February 24, 2005, 7:05 pm

On the same note...I read a book a while back called "199 Days: The Battle for Stalingrad" by Edwin Hoyt. In the introduciton of the book, the auther tells of a decorated Russian soldier who comes home from Afghanistan in the mid eighties after being through some serious shit. He gets back to his home in Volgograd (Stalingrad), and goes for a walk up Mamyev hill (which was the site of some horrific fighting.) He steps on a german anti-personal mine of 1942 vintage, and blows himself to pieces.
Now that sucks....

Kelshara · Post by **Kelshara** » February 24, 2005, 7:48 pm

I kinda wish they had kept the stuff they stored illegally for the resistance down at the farm back home! Would have been worth a lot of money now!

Old mines are a huge problem though.. they are still found all over Europe. Now imagine how that is in countries where they more recently laid huge mine fields.. friggin scary.