WW2 Buffs

**Richard** · June-08-17, 06:07 PM

On YouTube and under WW2 metal detecting

After the close of WW2 and the German purge that followed,which is considered at 16 million,the largest ethnic cleansing and relocation in history,on the Eastern front and up until the fall of communism sort of in Russia the remains of fallen soldiers,civilians and weapons were kinda just allowed to lay where they fell.

Now there is a mix of civilian volunteers that call in the military when the live ammo is found,scour the battle sites with metal detectors and find the burried foxholes and dig them back up.

When I first started watching the videos where skeleton remains are I wondered what they did with the remains.

You have to figure that they are in the millions.

So what I found out,was what they are doing is trying to identify who the remains are which is near impossible because the dog tags back then only applied to what unit one was in.

So what they do is bag the remains and then re bury them with a funeral service in a massive unknown soldier cemetery.

They pay for all of this by raising funds by selling the relics that they find.They are just everyday people doing something that was not allowed for 70 years.

I think it is pretty cool that after 70 years this is happening.

They are pulling fully stocked tanks and equipment from lakes and mud bogs anything that was used in battle at that time lays where it was dropped or buried at the time from bomb drops.

Kinda sad and interesting at the same time.

**Bigb23** · June-12-17, 07:04 AM

They are pulling fully stocked tanks and equipment from lakes and mud bogs anything that was used in battle at that time lays where it was dropped or buried at the time from bomb drops.

I'm also a WWII mechanical equipment buff, and I love the YouTube videos of the locals using heavy construction vehicles to drag this stuff out of swamps.
One video showed a Russian T-34 Tank dragged out, but with a German cross painted on the side. Retreat, repurposed, retreat and scuttled!

Also my ultimate surplus purchase fantasy would be a full sized, inflatable decoy tank from WWII - to present. Imagine blowing that up in you're driveway overnight, and watching your neighbors go to work in the morning.

**coracle** · June-12-17, 08:04 AM

WWII was probably the last war the West won "decisively" and I sometimes wonder if we'd still be fighting it today if it had been waged based on current UN Terms of Engagement - you can go after the bad guys, provided you don't use all your fire power, but don't under any conditions harm the general inhabitants that "enable them to exist" because they're "moderates".

**Richard** · June-13-17, 04:00 PM

Originally Posted by coracle

WWII was probably the last war the West won "decisively" and I sometimes wonder if we'd still be fighting it today if it had been waged based on current UN Terms of Engagement - you can go after the bad guys, provided you don't use all your fire power, but don't under any conditions harm the general inhabitants that "enable them to exist" because they're "moderates".

If you get a chance,watch the movie 5 day war.

**Richard** · June-13-17, 04:10 PM

Originally Posted by Bigb23

I'm also a WWII mechanical equipment buff, and I love the YouTube videos of the locals using heavy construction vehicles to drag this stuff out of swamps.
One video showed a Russian T-34 Tank dragged out, but with a German cross painted on the side. Retreat, repurposed, retreat and scuttled!

Also my ultimate surplus purchase fantasy would be a full sized, inflatable decoy tank from WWII - to present. Imagine blowing that up in you're driveway overnight, and watching your neighbors go to work in the morning.

In the early 90s,I got a wild hair about wanting a DUKW,there are a few in the states but in searching I found out that in France there is a ton of WW2
equipment stuck back in barns,the farmers had to clear the fields and drug the stuff in and stuck it out back or in the barn,been sitting there for years.

I wonder what ever happened to the inflatables,there were thousands of them,even landing craft inflatables.The original bouncy houses.

There are videos also of vintage info clips of manufacturers in the US that deal with when the armistice was signed production quit over night,millions of bits and pieces and projects in various stages of production along the pipeline line.

**Bigb23** · June-15-17, 12:13 PM

I wonder what ever happened to the inflatables,there were thousands of them,even landing craft inflatables.The original bouncy houses.

They are still making tank decoys to this day, but needing a semi and a hi-lo, and a crew of six, for each one along with that price point takes the fun out it.

Also a good read is "The Ghost Army" From Wiki -

The Ghost Army was an Allied Army tactical deception unit during World War II officially known as the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops [[Operation Quicksilver).^[1] The 1,100-man unit was given a unique mission within the Allied Army: to impersonate other Allied Army units to deceive the enemy. From a few weeks after D-Day, when they landed in France, until the end of the war, they put on a "traveling road show" utilizing inflatable tanks, sound trucks, fake radio transmissions, scripts and pretence. They staged more than 20 battlefield deceptions, often operating very close to the front lines. Their story was kept secret for more than 40 years after the war, and elements of it remain classified.^[2] The unit was the subject of a PBS documentary The Ghost Army in 2013.

There is also an excellent book of that name that I read some years ago.

**Bong-Man** · June-16-17, 05:55 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esCSkNvpgq8

They are still bringing up aircraft in Lake Michigan from pilot training exercises during the war.

**Bigb23** · July-14-17, 10:34 PM

Not to highjack, but this is the most perfect video ever put out there.
WWII vets would approve.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLnZ1NQm2uk

Blonde on right= pipes.

**Honky Tonk** · July-15-17, 03:27 AM

Originally Posted by Bigb23

Not to highjack, but this is the most perfect video ever put out there.
WWII vets would approve.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLnZ1NQm2uk

Blonde on right= pipes.

I need a cigarette after that, hubba-hubba!

**Bigb23** · July-15-17, 04:15 AM

The worlds longest address.https

://www.bing.com/search?q=marble+machine&form=EDNTHT&mkt=en-us&httpsmsn=1&refig=0c03e5eda32540dca0d07e48f0c144 fe&sp=-1&pq=marble+machine&sc=8-14&qs=n&sk=&cvid=0c03e5eda32540dca0d07e48f0c144fe

**Jimaz** · July-15-17, 07:32 AM

Originally Posted by Bigb23

The worlds longest address.https

://www.bing.com/search?q=marble+machine&form=EDNTHT&mkt=en-us&httpsmsn=1&refig=0c03e5eda32540dca0d07e48f0c14 4 fe&sp=-1&pq=marble+machine&sc=8-14&qs=n&sk=&cvid=0c03e5eda32540dca0d07e48f0c144fe

I don't know where you were trying to go with all that, Bigb23, but that first video is too good to hide: Wintergatan - Marble Machine [[music instrument using 2000 marbles).

I love the way they kept all the working parts exposed. Detroit would have hidden all that ingenuity and slapped some tailfins on it.

[[Contains no peanuts or WWII content)

**Bigb23** · July-15-17, 08:35 AM

I try to showcase talent wherever I find it. The Wintergatan machine is awesome and puts me in perspective . What was I not thinking? I'm a machine builder. with no concept of beyond. There is too many on YouTube. My Micrometers are off to you.

Post Modern Jukebox was a no brainer that got me back into music. I'm going to sport the're Jersey. Let's here it for the Stray Cats.

**Jimaz** · July-15-17, 12:16 PM

He says "Wintergatan" is Swedish for "The Milky Way" [[our galaxy).

Our preindustrial ancestors would have taken The Milky Way for granted even though they didn't understand what it was. With today's light pollution I imagine many folks live their entire lives without ever seeing it.

I used to go way out into the dark Arizona desert to see it. It's a wide band of light arching from one horizon to the other.

Then it suddenly dawns on you: I'm inside that gigantic thing!

**Honky Tonk** · July-15-17, 03:10 PM

Originally Posted by Jimaz

He says "Wintergatan" is Swedish for "The Milky Way" [[our galaxy).

Our preindustrial ancestors would have taken The Milky Way for granted but with today's light pollution I imagine many folks live their entire lives without ever seeing it.

I used to go way out into the dark Arizona desert to see it. It's a wide band of light arching from one horizon to the other.

Then it suddenly dawns on you: I'm inside that gigantic thing!

I remember seeing it from a mountain top, night skiing out West. We just stood there staring up for the longest time. Suddenly I got a terrifying feeling I was going to fall UP and keep going forever.