Digging a British WWII Army Dump.

I sincerely hope that when you guys are on a battle field more care, respect and professionalism are observed. Without proper archaeology or scientific process history IS lost not recovered! You've merely dug it up. And in the process unintentionally destroyed the story of why/how "it" got there in the first place. I did enjoy the vid, just kind of questioning procedure is all. my .02
 
Plinker - As I said in my initial reply, all finds and their locations are catalogued and reported to the local archaeological office. They are also supplied with photographs of the finds, fully catalogued. We are most certainly not just 'digging a hole'. In this way the history of each item is maintained. The archaeological society is more interested in relics from much earlier but are grateful that we supply such information.

RRco. - It's a good distance from the nearest airfield and is definately an Army dump, not RAF. We find only Army specific relics here, unlike the airfield dumps we also dig which contain specific 'air' items.

Cheers

RRPG
 
plinker 777 said:
I sincerely hope that when you guys are on a battle field more care, respect and professionalism are observed. Without proper archaeology or scientific process history IS lost not recovered! You've merely dug it up. And in the process unintentionally destroyed the story of why/how "it" got there in the first place. I did enjoy the vid, just kind of questioning procedure is all. my .02
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So they should have just left it there to rust quietly away? This is NOT King Tut's tomb, it is an ARMY DUMP! NOT some remnants of a ancient battleground!!!
 
John Sukey said:
So they should have just left it there to rust quietly away? This is NOT King Tut's tomb, it is an ARMY DUMP! NOT some remnants of a ancient battleground!!!
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Whoa...hold on there, read my thread....I could care less about an old army dump. I'm referring to the remnants of a battleground, which the OP says they also dig. We've all seen the threads from eastern European battlefields where these Tom,#### and Demetrius "archaeologists" are posing for the cameras with crossed femurs of some German/Russian soldier who fell. No respect, no cataloging, no professionalism. THESE people must bear in mind that they are in effect digging in a graveyard.....have some respect.
Having stated that, my comment was a mere reminder and that I personally find that sort of activity unacceptable and perhaps criminal if not indeed criminal.
 
Plinker - You need to be careful how you word things to be honest. I certainly do not take kindly to being accused of grave robbing or treating the remains of fallen soldiers in the way you have described. Some of our members have indeed found the remains of such soldiers and treated them with the utmost respect, making sure the relevant authorities are notified and accompanied to the site to retrieve the remains. No articles what-so-ever are removed from these locations and all articles of clothing and accompanying field gear are left in situ.

As chairman of the WW2 Relic Retrieval and Preservation group, I ensure all members are thoroughly vetted before being invited to join the group. Every member has to prove they are honourable, knowledgeable, only ever dig 'legally', and show suitable levels of common sense, BEFORE they get into the group.

Whilst I accept and agree with your concerns over battlefield digging, my group is not the one to level accusations at.

Many thanks

RRPG
 
First off, I haven't accused you or your group of any misdoings' where battlefield digs are concerned. By your own admission you are aware of the more unprofessional side of "treasure hunters" no matter how well intentioned they may be.
You may also agree with my observations that the manner of "cataloguing" a dump site ought to be very different than that of a battlefield. Herein is the crux of my statements, they were not accusations. When did i accuse you of grave robbing? The "Tom,#### and Demetrius"comment was not leveled at you or your group. If you or anyone else took it that way I apologize.
 
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Many thanks for the clarification plinker. It did seem as though the accusation was levelled at myself and the group but you've cleared that up. :)

Many thanks

RRPG :) :)
 
Hey RRPG, I don't think anyone answered my original question (and others) on the subject, did you have to obtain permission from the government or military to dig in the site ? Are any items found confiscated by the military (i.e. Sten magazines and parts) ? Do they even care ? Do you clean up items (like those 20mm German anti aircraft magazines) and put them up for sale to fellow collectors (providing no human remains are found) or put them back in the ground ?

I would be curious to see how the Canadian government/military reacts on similar sites in Canada (if they exist ?) from ww1/ww2.
 
Hi Nabs

The law in England stipulates that we need the landowners permission, and that's it. Some areas are covered by Bye-laws, (such as old gunnery ranges), and digging is illegal, but this site isn't covered by such laws.

As for the military or police, the military aren't bothered as it was them who dumped it 65 years ago. The police would need to be informed if we found any items covered by the strict gun laws here in the UK. For instance, any firing blocks or barrels that could be reconditioned and used come under this law. As a responsible group, we would hand over any item covered by the firearms law but, as yet, have not found any such article so haven't needed to.

We do clean up the relics we recover but only to ensure they do not continue to rust away. All items are kept in our own collections and, at frequent intervals, displayed at military shows and leant to museums. In 10 years of digging and recovering WW2 relics I have sold FOUR items in total. So in answer, to your last question, no, we don't sell the items we recover.

We're about preserving history, not selling for personal gain.

Hope that answers everything.

RRPG
 
Thank you for answering my earlier questions, I wonder what it would take to start a similar group in Canada and go "dumpster diving" for WW1 and 2 relics.
 
HorseSoldier - Nope....we didn't :) :) Thankfully !!! One hell of a lot of paperwork if we had !

Nabs - Well, if you need any help getting a group started just let me know and I'll see if I can help.

RRPG
 
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