Still wearing their boots and helmets

[Tallguy88]

Still wearing their boots and helmets

Still wearing their boots and helmets, and carrying their weapons, the bodies of German soldiers who died in the Battle of the Seelow Heights have finally been unearthed.

A team of archaeologists - the Association for the Recovery of the Fallen - have uncovered the skeletons of men who died defending Berlin from the soldiers of the Red Army in the final days of the Second World War.

The dig, in Klessin, Brandenburg, brought to the light weapons, helmets, boots and the bones of those fighting to protect the murderous Third Reich.

Second World War German soldiers unearthed 70 years on | Daily Mail Online

 

[Archie the Preacher]

No doubt "interesting" (with a salute to Arte Johnson) to archeologists and historians. Somewhat bitter-sweet to me.

I do not support or endorse the NAZI regime. However, I have a camaraderie and love in that sense for soldiers who died at their appointed place of duty. Hopefully the historians and archeologists will benefit from studying the find and then the dead will be decently interred.

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

Soldiers weren't necessarily Nazis. People really blow things out of proportion. They probably just thought of themselves as defending their homes and nation from the Russians, who by all accounts raped and terrorised and stole their way accross the towns on the eastern front.

 

[Archie the Preacher]

[German] Soldiers weren't necessarily Nazis.

Correct. I'm sure some were conscripted and some were loyal to the country of their birth and doing their duty in their own eyes. Perhaps even in the sense of "...render unto Caesar... render unto God..."

One can certainly take exception to a "policy" and not have hatred for individuals of that organization, be it a company or a governmental body.

 

[Tallguy88]

Right, these were Wehrmacht soldiers, not SS.

 

[JackRT]

The leading elements of the Soviet Army were well trained and well disciplined soldiers, while those in the second and third echelon were "animals". This was told me by a former soviet officer now living in Canada.

 

[blackribbon]

I suspect that lots of soldiers from all eras and cultures have died and were basically left behind in the battle field in their battle gear. It is just a fact of logistics. The losing side has the most loss and doesn't have the ability to go back and tend to the dead.

 

[JackRT]

The OP reminded me of an incident from WW1 involving either French or Belgian soldiers. They were standing in their trench waiting for an expected attack. A giant mine was exploded nearby with the effect that the trench collapsed like a vise closing. It left the ends of their rifles with bayonets fixed sticking out of the ground. They were never dug out. The area was consecrated as a graveyard. The rifles and bayonets are their tombstones.

 

[Zurückschlagen]

RIP, Ruhe in Frieden

Nobody deserved to die in this or any war. Oiling the machine run by the corporations.