burried in france since ww1 thought it was intresting

smellie said:
Interesting that the single Mauser 98 rifle they show is "stripped" in much the same fashion as our guys stripped the likewise-long-and-heavy Ross.

Other unidentified rifle is a Lebel; these were not standard-issue in the Bavarian Amy.

It is really a pity that a few less "experts" and a few more people who KNOW something are not included in projects such as this.

Oh well, not as bad as the CWM. Went there, saw a Mark II Sten Gun (the sign said) up on the wall. It was a .45-calibre and had THOMPSON SUBMACHINE GUN rollmarked onto the Receiver. Pointed this out and was told, in rather a snotty manner, that they had "experts" who knew a lot more than any mere civilian. I asked if they had any experts who could READ. I haven't bothered going back. Clowns!
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Oh god, that's terrible.

I wonder why the first rifle was missing it's buttstock.
 
TheSteamingPile said:
On a side note, for anyone interested in WWI trench life should check out the Australian movie Beneath Hill 60. I stumbled across it almost by accident last week and watched it. It was a pretty good flick, all about civilian miners brought in from Aus to dig the tunnels and lay the giant mines (really box upon box of TNT) under the German lines.
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My wife's Grandfather was a miner in Britain before coming to Canada. At the age of 41 years he went to France in 1916 and did the same thing. I couldn't believe that someone that age would go there in the first place let alone work in the conditions they likely had to put up with. He was with the 127th Battalion.
 
Winchester-1897 said:
My wife's Grandfather was a miner in Britain before coming to Canada. At the age of 41 years he went to France in 1916 and did the same thing. I couldn't believe that someone that age would go there in the first place let alone work in the conditions they likely had to put up with. He was with the 127th Battalion.
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I am related by marriage to a WWII vet, since passed on, who was conscripted despite having only one eye. Passed as fit for service only in administrative duties in rear areas, he was a clerk in Egypt and ended up transferred to a divisional headquarters in the 8th Army. That HQ was over run in the Benghazi Handicap and he went in the bag. (He escaped from POW camps in Italy twice but was recaptured both times.)
 
TheTooner said:
I am related by marriage to a WWII vet, since passed on, who was conscripted despite having only one eye. Passed as fit for service only in administrative duties in rear areas, he was a clerk in Egypt and ended up transferred to a divisional headquarters in the 8th Army. That HQ was over run in the Benghazi Handicap and he went in the bag. (He escaped from POW camps in Italy twice but was recaptured both times.)
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He sounds like a Man to be reckoned with despite only having one eye!!
 
smellie said:
...Other unidentified rifle is a Lebel; these were not standard-issue in the Bavarian Amy. ..
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If you are referring to the two former rifles in the article pictures, both look like Gew 98s (one still has her leather sling too) to me unless I missed a Lebel somewhere ?

The first one has the curved German trigger, Lange sight, cleaning rod (still in place too) and you can make out the hand guard as well that still sits just forward of the rear sight.

The second one has her butt stock and looks like a late war variant with a walnut stock and take down disc. I can't see any finger grasping grooves as that part of the stock has rotted away. You can see the wood around the magazine has rotted away, leaving the magazine exposed.

I would love to hold either of those examples and study them. I wonder if they still have rounds in the magazine or the chamber ?
 
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It's good to see that those 21 German soldiers will at long last recieve a proper military burial.

I'm sure there's hundreds of thousands of men from both sides still listed as missing, presumed dead lying somewhere in France.
 
The effects of artillery, are one of the reasons for so many MIA's. A high explosive will literally turn the human body into atoms or micro chunks. Both sides tossed allot of explosives at each other.
 
Well think of it this way. Would you want a foreigner to come into your back yard, start digging, unearth something (i.e. a helmet, a shell...etc) and take it home with them ?

I'm quite cautious and avoid ads on Ebay that have "battlefield relics" as you do not know if they were taken from a site that still had human remains in it without a proper burial.

I'm very much against this relic hunting and believe that anything found should be put on public display, if appropriate, so that others may see it and learn from it while the soldiers get their proper military burials.

Just my two cents worth.
 
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