Search for equipment of World War 2. Echoes of the Great War (60 photos)

http://youtu.be/sLGq4JmiLKU

The dangerous predator lay in the ground for 72 years. All this time, legends about its existence were passed on by search engines from generation to generation. Outstanding german tank, one of the best cars of its time - the hope of the Wehrmacht.

The Tigers made their debut in 1942 near Leningrad. One, or rather the first in the series, could not leave. And here is a sensational find in the Kirov region - the wreckage of that same "Tiger" with serial number 1. In one of historical mysteries a point has been made.
We were looking for remains Soviet soldiers, and discovered a German tank. Or rather, what was left of him. When studying the wreckage it turned out: they found a legend - heavy tank"Tiger". Yes, not an easy one - the first production copy in history. From those that Hitler personally sent to the Volkhov Front in the summer of 42.

The fourth vehicle, according to combat reports, stood in no man's land for two months and was blown up by German sappers. It was her wreckage that was found. The discovery has already caused a stir in research circles.
Tiger tanks are considered one of the most successful in the history of World War II. Interest in them among historians is still high. Thousands of books and articles have been written about the Tigers. Until this moment there were only assumptions about the tanks of the first series.
The wreckage of "Tiger" No. 1 will remain in Russia. They were transferred to the Vsevolozhsk Museum of Defense of Leningrad. Museum workers promise that a separate exhibition will be dedicated to the legendary tank. Work to collect its debris continues. True, with great difficulty. For example, this small piece of armor weighs more than one hundred kilograms.

from the comments to the article

This letter was written by David Byrden, author of the site tiger1.info.

The "First Tiger" was a prototype numbered V1. Serial numbers 25xxxxx were assigned to the production contract. thus Tiger 250001 was essentially the second Tiger. At tank factories, many parts and assemblies were given numbers. Many of them were the same as the tank numbers. For example, all Tiger towers were numbered. And the turret numbers also started with 250001, BUT... the part numbers did not always match the serial numbers of the tanks. There was no need for this.

The real tank number can be found on the hull armor, for example, near the driver's seat.

About tank 250001. According to German records, it was accepted by the Waffenamt (weapon testing department) and on May 17, 1942, it went to Kummersdorf. We have several photos of this tank in testing.

In 1945, the British captured Kummersdorf and they compiled a list of equipment. The Germans showed them an old tiger standing in a field with many parts missing and said that it was the "first production Tiger."
Then the British decided to have some fun - they destroyed this Tiger with a self-propelled artillery mount (17pdr SP Achilles).
So that part found near Leningrad cannot be from Tiger 250001, but it is definitely from one of the earliest Tigers.
We know that Tigers 250002 - 250010 were sent to s.Pz.Abt.502 and they fought near Leningrad. These Tigers were different from others. For example, they did not have side mudguards.
Photos of these nine Tigers, in the first section "Sommer 1942"
David
P.S. I think you know what part of the tank was found? This is the hatch under the engine...
This data comes from the work of Hilary Doyle, Tom Jentz and Ron Klages.
Of these 9 special Tigers, we know that the Russians took two for testing, and some of them must have been sent south when the Germans retreated.
But some of them were blown up on the battlefield near Leningrad, and search engines found him. We don't have complete information about these Tigers, so the find is very interesting.

29 Oct 2014

Of course, it’s nice that we found it, I didn’t know that it would be a sensation, we visited there three years ago, it’s a pity that I didn’t know that they were looking for it; I actually found the armor plate by hand, but it was not realistic to pull it out, and below are photographs of some finds from that place under Gaitolovo (to the place of the so-called “death” of the Tiger, our command periodically sent fighters, and the Nazis conducted intense shelling of this place, the earth still contained those fighters who made their way into the first VP after the discovery, the fighters were reburied in Sinyavino)




and it all started like this


and it happened like that in a couple of days

Attached images

01 Nov 2014

What's the point of a tiger torn into small pieces? 10 elements of armor from a notebook, and a couple more junk things, in the second photo there was no longer a tower at that time, what can we talk about here...
Post edited by dedai: 01 November 2014 - 06:42

04 Jun 2015

The first serial German Tiger tank was discovered in the forests of the Leningrad region

The dangerous predator lay in the ground for 72 years. All this time, legends about its existence were passed on by search engines from generation to generation. An outstanding German tank, one of the best vehicles of its time - the hope of the Wehrmacht.

The Tigers made their debut in 1942 near Leningrad. One, or rather the first in the series, could not leave. And here is a sensational find in the Kirov region - the wreckage of that very “Tiger” with serial number 1. One of the historical mysteries has been put to rest.
They were looking for the remains of Soviet soldiers, and found a German tank. Or rather, what was left of him. When studying the wreckage, it turned out that they had found a legend - the Tiger heavy tank. Yes, not an easy one - the first production copy in history. From those that Hitler personally sent to the Volkhov Front in the summer of 42.

The fourth vehicle, according to combat reports, stood in no man's land for two months and was blown up by German sappers. It was her wreckage that was found. The discovery has already caused a stir in research circles.
Tiger tanks are considered one of the most successful in the history of World War II. Interest in them among historians is still high. Thousands of books and articles have been written about the Tigers. Until this moment there were only assumptions about the tanks of the first series.
The wreckage of "Tiger" No. 1 will remain in Russia. They were transferred to the Vsevolozhsk Museum of Defense of Leningrad. Museum workers promise that a separate exhibition will be dedicated to the legendary tank. Work to collect its debris continues. True, with great difficulty. For example, this small piece of armor weighs more than one hundred kilograms.

From the comments to the article

This letter was written by David Byrden, author of the site tiger1.info. He saw the news that search engines had found Tiger No. 1 and decided to share his data. Below I publish a translation from English of his letter.

The "First Tiger" was a prototype numbered V1. Serial numbers 25xxxxx were assigned to the production contract. thus Tiger 250001 was essentially the second Tiger. At tank factories, many parts and assemblies were given numbers. Many of them were the same as the tank numbers. For example, all Tiger towers were numbered. And the turret numbers also started with 250001, BUT... the part numbers did not always match the serial numbers of the tanks. There was no need for this.

The real tank number can be found on the hull armor, for example, near the driver's seat.

About tank 250001. According to German records, it was accepted by the Waffenamt (weapon testing department) and on May 17, 1942, it went to Kummersdorf. We have several photos of this tank in testing.

In 1945, the British captured Kummersdorf and they compiled a list of equipment. The Germans showed them an old tiger standing in a field with many parts missing and said that it was the "first production Tiger."
Then the British decided to have some fun - they destroyed this Tiger with a self-propelled artillery mount (17pdr SP Achilles).
So that part found near Leningrad cannot be from Tiger 250001, but it is definitely from one of the earliest Tigers.
We know that Tigers 250002 - 250010 were sent to s.Pz.Abt.502 and they fought near Leningrad. These Tigers were different from others. For example, they did not have side mudguards.
Photos of these nine Tigers, in the first section "Sommer 1942"
David
P.S. I think you know what part of the tank was found? This is the hatch under the engine...
This data comes from the work of Hilary Doyle, Tom Jentz and Ron Klages.
Of these 9 special Tigers, we know that the Russians took two for testing, and some of them must have been sent south when the Germans retreated.
But some of them were blown up on the battlefield near Leningrad, and search engines found him. We do not have complete information about these Tigers, so this find is very interesting.

In the period from 1945 to the present day, parts of that very bloody war, the war for human ideals, are found all over the earth. Summer residents find unexploded shells, grenades and mines in their gardens. Search teams, divers, fishermen and ordinary mushroom pickers find tanks and planes. Let's remember what was found and raised.

The P-39Q-15 Airacobra aircraft, serial number 44-2911, was discovered at the bottom of Lake Mart-Yavr (Murmansk region) in 2004. The fighter was spotted by a fisherman, who reported that he saw the outline of the plane's tail through the water, on the muddy bottom. When the plane was recovered from the lake bed, it turned out that both cockpit doors were locked, although usually, during a hard landing, one or both would be thrown back to allow the pilot to exit. Presumably the pilot could have died immediately from the strongest blow aircraft on the bottom or from cabin flooding.

The found remains were buried with full honors on the Walk of Fame in Murmansk.

The wing 12.7 mm machine guns on the aircraft were removed. The fuselage armament and the 37 mm Colt-Browning M4 motor gun did not undergo any modifications.

Supplies of ammunition and stewed meat were also found inside the cabin. In a separate case, a flight book and other documents were found, heavily washed away by water.

The aircraft was built in 1939 and saw action in the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain before serving on the Eastern Front. On April 4, 1942, German fighter ace Wolf Dietrich Wilcke, piloting this plane, was shot down and forced to land on a frozen lake. Wilke escaped death. The plane remained almost unscathed after a near-perfect emergency landing until it plunged to the bottom of the lake. There it remained untouched for more than six decades, until it was finally raised in 2003. Countless bullet holes located on the plane's wings and horizontal stabilizers were one of the main reasons for the plane's accident, but one large hole in the right wing attachment point may have been what killed the fighter.

Brewster F2A Buffalo - BW-372. The plane was found in Lake Bolshoye Kalijarvi at a depth of 15 meters in a depression in the middle of the lake. The underwater environment was ideal for preserving the vehicle. Having lain for 56 years at the bottom of the lake, the fighter was completely immersed in silt; this slowed down the corrosion process, but became an obstacle when rising, making it difficult to lift it off the bottom. Its pilot, Finnish fighter ace Lauri Pekuri, was shot down on June 25, 1942 during a battle with pilots of the 609 IAP in air combat over the Soviet airfield Segezha in the Murmansk region. Pekuri has already shot down two Russian aircraft, before he was forced to land his. The pilot left the damaged Brewster and reached his positions.

An F6F Hellcat crashed on the morning of January 5th at last year war. The pilot Walter Elcock, who was sitting at the helm, lost control during a training flight and fell into the air together with the plane. ice water Michigan, however, managed to swim out.

The only Dornier Do-17 bomber that has survived to this day was raised from the bottom of the English Channel. The plane was shot down during the Battle of Britain in 1940. This is one of one and a half thousand sharpened by Germany, and the only one that has survived today. The Dornier Do-17 stood out among its contemporary bombers high speed. It was originally designed as a fast reconnaissance aircraft, but was redesigned as a bomber in the mid-1930s. The plane was attempting to attack airfields in Essex. It was possible to restore the call sign of the recovered aircraft - 5K-AR. The plane with these call signs was shot down on August 26, 1940. The pilot and another crew member were captured and sent to a prison camp. Two other crew members were killed

The Soviet attack aircraft Il-2 was found by fishermen. The plane was lying relatively shallow. Apparently, the plane was severely damaged during the battle; it went under water, breaking into pieces. Fortunately, the looters did not reach the plane - evidence of this is the preserved remains of the pilot: no one entered the cockpit.

The front part and wing are well preserved. The plane's tail number could not be found, but the engine and propeller numbers were preserved. Using these numbers they will try to establish the name of the pilot.

A B25 bomber recovered from Lake Murray in South Carolina.

This P-40 “Kittyhawk” crashed in 1942 three hundred kilometers from civilization, in the heat of the desert. Sergeant Dennis Copping took what little he could use from the crashed plane and went into the desert. Since that day nothing has been known about the sergeant. Seventy years later, the plane was found almost untouched. Even the machine guns and their ammunition, as well as most of the instruments in the cockpit, survived. The vehicle's nameplates have survived, making it possible for historians to reconstruct the history of its service.

Focke-Wulf Fw-190 Yellow 16 Designed by German aeronautical engineer Kurt Tank, the Focke-Wulf Fw-190 "Würger" (Strangler) was one of the most successful fighter aircraft of World War II. Entering service in August 1941, it was popular among pilots and was flown by some of the Luftwaffe's most elite fighter aces. During the war years, more than 20,000 of these aircraft were produced. Only 23 aircraft survive in complete configuration, and they are all in different collections around the world. This remarkably preserved Fw-190 was recovered from the cold waters off the Norwegian island of Sotra, west of the city of Bergen.

IN Murmansk region near the village of Safonovo-1, an Il-2 attack aircraft from the 46th ShAP of the Northern Fleet Air Force was lifted from the bottom of Lake Krivoye. The plane was discovered in December 2011 in the middle of the lake at a depth of 17-20 meters. On November 25, 1943, due to damage received in an air battle, the Il-2 did not reach its airfield by about three kilometers and made an emergency landing on the frozen Lake Krivoye. The commander, junior lieutenant Valentin Skopintsev, and the air gunner, Red Navy man Vladimir Gumenny, got out of the plane. After some time, the ice broke, and the attack aircraft went under the water, only to reappear on the surface 68 years later.

Lake Krivoe generally turned out to be rich in aircraft found. A Yak-1 aircraft from the 20th IAP of the Northern Fleet Air Force was also lifted from the bottom of the lake. On August 28, 1943, during a flight, the fighter made an emergency landing on the surface of the lake and sank. Piloted by junior lieutenant Demidov. To date, there is only one Yak-1 in the world out of more than 8,000 built. This is the Yak-1B Hero fighter Soviet Union Boris Eremin, who was transferred to the pilot’s homeland, in local history museum city ​​of Saratov. Thus, the raised Yak-1 fighter will be the second in the world today.

On the hot morning of Monday, July 19, 1943, Sergeant Major Paul Ratz got into the cockpit of his Focke-Wulf Fw190A-5/U3 WNr.1227, “White A” from 4./JG 54, and took off from the Siverskaya airfield. The departure was carried out by a pair of staff vehicles; it was about a 15-minute flight to the front line; crossing the front line on the Dvina River, the pair moved further to the east. In the Voybokalo area, planes attacked a Soviet armored train. During the attack, the vehicle was damaged by air defense fire; one of the hits punctured the tank and injured the pilot. The pilot pulled to the base until the last minute, but having lost a lot of blood, he made an emergency landing. The plane landed in a clearing in the middle of the forest, and after landing the pilot died.

The Aviation Museum in Krakow carried out a recovery operation from the bottom Baltic Sea wreckage of an American Douglas A-20 bomber that sank during World War II. For the museum, this exhibit is a real treasure, since there are only 12 such aircraft left in the world.

Hawker Hurricane IIB “Trop” fighter, Z5252, airborne “white 01″ from the second guards fighter aviation regiment of the Northern Air Force. Pilot Lieutenant P.P. Markov. On June 2, 1942, he made an emergency landing after a battle on a lake west of Murmansk. In 2004 it was raised from the bottom of the lake.

This I-153 Chaika fighter was lost near Vyborg on the last day of the Winter War.

A B-24D Liberator rests on Atka Island in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, where it crash-landed on December 9, 1942. This aircraft is one of eight surviving "D" version Liberators. He was on a weather reconnaissance mission when inclement weather prevented him from landing at any of the nearby airfields.

"Junkers Ju-88". Spitsbergen. Early versions of the German Luftwaffe's Junkers Ju-88 aircraft, which entered service in 1939, underwent many technical modifications during their development. But once these were eliminated, the twin-engine Ju-88 became one of the most versatile combat aircraft of World War II, serving in various roles from a torpedo bomber to a heavy reconnaissance fighter.

An IL-2 plane was lifted from the bottom of the Black Sea. Presumably, he was shot down in 1943, when there were fierce battles for Novorossiysk. Now the historical find has been delivered to Gelendzhik.

The German Ju 52 aircraft was recovered from the bottom of the sea by employees of the Greek Air Force Museum on June 15, 2013. During the siege of Leros in 1943, the plane was shot down by anti-aircraft guns off the coast of the island. He's been down ever since Aegean Sea for more than 60 years, when local divers, with the help of the Greek Air Force War Museum, discovered it again.

The German military recovered the remains of the Nazi bomber JU 87 Stuka from the bottom of the Baltic Sea. On at the moment There are only two original examples of this military aircraft in the world, which are presented in museums in London and Chicago. The Ju-87 "Stuka" was discovered at the bottom of the Baltic Sea in the 1990s. However, work to raise the aircraft started much later. According to experts, the plane was preserved in good condition, despite the fact that it had lain on the bottom of the sea for about 70 years.

The 70-year-old plane was lost in the impassable forest wilds somewhere on the border of Pskov, Novgorod and Leningrad regions. A search party from Novgorod accidentally discovered it on a patch of land surrounded by swamps. By some miracle, the plane completely survived, but neither its history, nor the model, nor the fate of the pilot have yet been clarified. According to some signs, this is a Yak-1. The car is completely overgrown with moss, and search engines have not yet touched it for fear of damaging the rarity. What is known is that the plane was not shot down, its engine simply failed.

Curtiss-Wright P-40E airborne “white 51” from the 20th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. Pilot junior lieutenant A.V. Pshenev. Shot down on June 1, 1942. The pilot landed on a lake. Found in 1997 at the bottom of Code Lake west of Murmansk.

The twin-engine long-range bomber - DB-3, later called Il-4, was used as a long-range reconnaissance aircraft, torpedo bomber, minelayer, and a means of landing people and cargo. The last combat missions of the IL-4 were carried out on Far East during the war with Japan. Was found by searchers in the swamps of the Kola Peninsula.

Messerschmitt Bf109 G-2/R6 B “Yellow 3”

German fighter Messerschmitt Bf109 G-2. which made an emergency landing in the sea near Nereus, Norway on March 24, 1943. It was raised in 2010 from a depth of 67 meters.

Henkel He-115, raised from the bottom in Norway.

The half-sunk Flying Fortress No. 41-2446 had lain in the Agaimbo Swamp, Australia, since 1942, where its captain, Frederick Fred Eaton, Jr., made an emergency landing after his aircraft was damaged by enemy fighters over Rabaul in the East. New Britain. Despite several bullets, shattered plexiglass and bent propellers, the B-17E remained largely corrosion-free 70 years after it crashed into the ground.

This Douglas SBD "Dauntless" veteran of the Battle of Midway was salvaged from the waters of Lake Michigan in 1994. In June 1942, during a raid on Japanese aircraft carriers west of Midway, the Neustrashimy was riddled with 219 bullets and was one of only eight aircraft to return to base out of 16 that had departed. The plane returned to the United States for repairs, where it crashed during a training flight to the aircraft carrier Sable.

Half-buried at an abandoned military airfield in the shadow of the mighty Mount Pagan volcano, the skeletal remains of a Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero fighter jet are the remains of one of two Japanese aircraft that crashed on the western side of Pagan Island, part of the Mariana Islands.

Unfortunately, most of the aircraft found in Russia have long been sold abroad, where they were restored and put on the wing. It’s very disappointing that we, even for a lot of money, gave valuable exhibits of that Great War. But even so, they would have disappeared in the dark waters of lakes and swamps forever.

A rarity discovered 30 years ago in the former East Prussia can now be seen in Kubinka near Moscow

Sowing season 1984 did not foretell any surprises. The weather was normal for the Yantarny region, and work was proceeding according to schedule. Suddenly - a sensation. In the Bagrationovsky district they plowed and plowed and found a German tank!

In the early 1950s, destroyed tanks, self-propelled guns and armored personnel carriers in the former East Prussia, which became after the Victory Kaliningrad region, could be found like mushrooms.

“We had a tank right in our yard,” recalls Vera Shatan, who came to these parts with her parents in 1946. They then lived on Stalingradsky Avenue (now Mira Avenue) in Kaliningrad. And all the games of the local children revolved around this T-34, which was shot down in 1945 during the assault on the city. But gradually the wounds of the war healed, and the armored vehicles were taken to be melted down. So when a tank suddenly “found” in Kaliningrad in the early 60s, a crowd gathered. Then, for the first time, ponds in the city center were cleaned. They drained the water, and it turned out that a German iron beast was standing at the bottom not far from the shore.

Veteran local journalist Sergei Gurov was 10 years old at that time.

Outsiders were not allowed in. By evening, most of the onlookers had left. And with the onset of darkness, our yard company decided to try to get through the cordon to the tank and rummage through its remains. Suddenly there was a pistol lying around or some other wonder of a child’s dream. I was left in the lurch. Alas, my friends didn’t bring anything interesting from there:

The increasingly rare technology was already very bad. After decades, even powerful armor turned into rusty dust. That's why what happened in April 1984 became a sensation.

That day I went with my family to Kaliningrad,” says Vladimir Gusev, a local historian from Pravdinsk. “We’re driving along and suddenly we see this picture: in a field, on a high-rise, collective farmers are swarming around a tank covered in mud. However, the dirt did not prevent us from immediately understanding: the tank was not ours, it was German...

In those days, another war film “Act according to the situation!” was just being filmed in the region, so the first thought was about a fake tank. But it turned out that the movie had nothing to do with it. Five machine operators from the Chekhovo collective farm in the Bagrationovsky district, working on arable land near the village of Mariyskoye, came across a truly rare thing: a self-propelled artillery installation. At first she was mistaken for the famous “Panther”. The collective farmers, having watched enough war films, knew a lot about the “Tigers” and “Panthers”... They opened the hatch. They looked in with caution, expecting to see the remains of the crew. Luckily, there were no bones inside. But there was a full supply of shells there.

The news of the discovery quickly spread around the area. People came from all over to look at her. One of the veterans immediately identified: fighting machine was not covered with earth - it was hidden in a caponier, in an ambush. Yes, so reliably that, consider it mothballed. That is why it is so well preserved. Judging by the untouched ammunition, the Germans never used it. Most likely, the crew left, realizing that it would not be possible to contain the Soviet tank colossus. The version about “Panther” was also refuted.

No, guys,” said one of the veterans who fought in these parts. - This is a self-propelled artillery unit called “Artshturm”.

Of course, there was no end to the boys at all. Today those boys have long been uncles. One of them, Oleg, remembers that incident well.

I had a lot of time climbing on it when they pulled it out. It was all in its original paint, with crosses. The inside is silted. The engineer officer who took her said that if the tractor drivers had not opened the roof of the caponier, it would have been completely dry. And so they broke the waterproofing with plows, and it leaked into it.

The authorities were informed about the treasure on the tracks. The police appeared, cordoning off the find. Then the military arrived. Ivan Alekseev at that time was a colonel and headed the headquarters of the weapons department of the 11th Guards Army.

The self-propelled gun turned out to be simply wonderful,” says Ivan Lyudvigovich. -In the sense that it was surprisingly well preserved. Usually they found rusty ruins, but then at least fight again.

At first, the military authorities planned to destroy the shells on the spot. However, the sappers asked to give the ammunition to them for study, because it was also a rarity. The self-propelled gun, having been pulled out of the ground, was loaded onto a tractor and taken to Kaliningrad, to one of military units. Immediately after it was discovered, the local press commented on the event: “For 39 years, rye, wheat, and oats were grown above the armored monster with a black cross on board. And now they have pulled it out into the light so as not to disturb the grain growers. His place is not on the field, but at the scrap metal dump. How everything that the Nazis, led by their possessed Fuhrer, tried to impose on the world has been thrown into the dustbin of history.”

There are not many places in Belarus where you can see the real equipment of the Great Patriotic War. Employees of the Historical and Cultural Complex "Stalin Line" time after time go in search of her in different corners countries. the site landed on the tail of the expedition to the Tolochinsky region, where, according to local historians, the Tiger drowned while crossing.

History is preserved in metal, iron, broken by fragments, distorted in places, from which you can see how hard the victory was.

There are not many places in Belarus where you can see real equipment of the Great Patriotic War. To count the rarities that are stored in museums or installed in memorable places, perhaps the fingers of one hand are enough.

Employees of the Stalin Line Historical and Cultural Complex time after time go in search of World War II equipment. The exhibition already includes the legendary thirty-four, the no less famous SAU-100 and other vehicles. But the most formidable German "predators" - the T-V "Panther" and the T-VI "Tiger", for the knocking out of which were given an order and a substantial cash prize.

Cut into metal, melted down for seeders

Finding any of these “predators” is a great success,” says Mikhail Metla, deputy for development of the historical and cultural complex “Stalin Line”. - Most of the tanks after the war were melted down for metal, some went to the Belarusian metallurgical plant, others were less fortunate - they ended their lives in the form of rusty seeders in collective farm yards. Moreover, the villagers acted as follows: they often abandoned the tank if it got stuck in a swamp or river, and then only the gun barrel or part of the turret rose above the water. All this was cut down into metal and melted down in the nearest forge. Also, many tanks “died” during mine clearance: Soviet sappers simply collected ammunition lying around, put it inside the tank and blew it up.

Remains self-propelled gun StugIII Photo: archive of the IKK “Stalin Line”

The Nazis believed that they had already won

Mikhail Metla's team has raised several tanks. Soviet - heavy KV, several medium T-34s, light BT-7, German - medium tank Pz III and self-propelled gun Stug III.

Great luck was the rise of the German troika, which remained almost entirely intact. Inside were personal belongings of the tankers, maps, notebook pens, tablets and... books. Each crew member carried several publications on agronomy and animal husbandry.

After all, according to the Ost plan, part of the inhabitants of the USSR should have been destroyed, and conquerors would have settled on their lands.

Where can I find a tank?

There are few wartime tanks left in our country. Mostly these are “drowned people”. Vehicles stuck in a swamp, lost while crossing, or simply driven into a quagmire (so as not to fall to the enemy). It is almost impossible to find a tank rusting in a field or forest, and such a vehicle will suffer seriously over time.

There are few people left who clearly remember the military events that died down almost seven decades ago. Stories about them are passed on from father to son; over time, details are lost and events are distorted, but among urban legends and stories told by old-timers, sometimes valuable information is found.

It is not possible to check all the information, and as experience shows, even in the lists of irretrievable losses of equipment, many mistakes were made in the names settlements.

To check another legend, Mikhail Metla and his colleagues and a team of volunteer divers from the Captain Morgan club went to the Tolochinsky district, where, according to local historians, he drowned while crossing real tank, maybe even "Tiger".

A whole article was devoted to this machine in the Tolochin newspaper; local old-timers talked about it more than once, even recalling that, as children, they dived from a cannon into the river.

But opinions differ specifically on the type of tank. According to Mikhail Metla, initially it was said about the "Tiger", but the local military commissar reported that it was most likely the "Panther" that sank.

Both versions look quite plausible. Although the Panther is called a medium tank, it weighs like a heavy one - 45 tons (for comparison: the Soviet IS-2 heavy tank weighed 46 tons). This tank was supported only by permanent bridges, but a wooden bridge across the Drut could have given up before such a weight. And the Panthers often broke down - these tanks did not get rid of childhood diseases until the end of the war. Therefore, they were often abandoned by crews, blown up, driven into a swamp, or drowned in a river.

And there were also “Tigers” in the Tolochinsky district. In 1944, during the offensive of Soviet troops in Belarus, the 330th infantry division The Wehrmacht was supported by the 505th heavy tank battalion. The "Tigers" of this battalion took part in the battles near Borisov, and several heavy tanks were knocked out in the Tolochinsky district. Major General wrote about this in his book “Tankmen” tank troops I. Vovchenko. The battle with the "Tigers" was described in the chapter "Ah, Tolochin, Tolochin."

Armed with this knowledge and enlisting the help of local residents, we set off to the banks of the Drut River. The road is more like an obstacle course, and the all-wheel drive Niva feels best on it.

In the photo: Alexander Metla and Dmitry Ermakov (foreground)

On the shore, the military commissar of the Tolochinsky district military commissariat, Dmitry Ermakov, briefed the searchers:

The fighting in the Druti area was serious; in 1941, our units fought back to the east, leaving a lot of damaged equipment on both banks. In 1944, the situation changed dramatically - this time the Germans fled, and here at the crossing, according to the stories of local residents, a tank fell from the bridge. In winter, fishermen from among local residents and activists of the Union of Officers became interested in the find. To clarify its location, they rang through the ice with metal detectors. The contours determined using instruments coincided with the dimensions of the tank.

Getting to the place where the combat vehicle ended up is not easy - the shores are swampy, and without a rubber boat it’s not worth even trying. The first few hours of the search are fruitless: the divers begin to freeze in cold water, but still no tank. Perhaps the river itself is to blame: the Drut changes its course every summer, and the same happened this time.

The search engines decide to test this theory and shift the search area ten meters to the left. Divers armed with an underwater mine detector again dive into the icy water; after a few minutes, the mine detector notifies with a squeak about the long-awaited find.

Something, undoubtedly, iron is buried under a layer of silt, all that remains is to carry out underwater excavations. For this purpose, the divers had an ordinary shovel in their arsenal. After half an hour of hard work, it turns out that all efforts were in vain: at the bottom of the river rests a long metal pipe that does not even remotely resemble a tank gun.

Alexey Yakimenko on the right in camouflage uniform.

Perhaps they were digging in the wrong place? For help in further searches We turn to the chairman of the regional organization of the Belarusian Union of Officers, Alexei Yakimenko, who joined our team, who claims that in the winter of this year he discovered the tank with fishermen.

Information about the tank was found in the archives by the correspondent of the local newspaper "Nasha Talachynshchyna" Mikhail Korolev, in particular, a mention of the hostilities that took place here in July 1944. Then the main German group stood near the village of Skuraty, a German column was breaking through to them T-IV tanks. A quick battle took place not far from the search site; as a result, two German tanks were knocked out, and the third retreated to the crossing with the rest of the column. And if the motorcyclists were able to cross, the bridge broke under the weight of the tank. Perhaps the “four” lies there with the crew. Local old-timers said that the damaged tanks were cut up for scrap metal, but this one remained in the river. In March of this year, on the 3rd or 4th, we decided to find his location. We were helped by a local resident, whose father, as a boy, swam in the river, diving from the gun of this tank. Of course, he showed this place to his son. Indeed, after a few hundred meters the mine detector went off. Soon, the tank’s circuits were ringed using the trigger signals. It was in winter, and the Drut constantly changes its course, but I’ll show you the place.

The PPMA-3 proton magnetometer helps detect metal objects.

This time we are divided into two detachments - one, together with Mikhail Korolev, goes by boat, the other, together with weapons specialist Sergei Zakharov, walks along the shore.

In the indicated place, the river meanders, the bank is almost overgrown with bushes, but in the hands of a weapons specialist, a mine detector comes to life - here are the first finds: several shell casings from small arms. And good luck - they are German, presumably from the Mauser K98. A few more buttons, Soviet and German. Looks like the right place!

Weapons specialist Sergei Zakharov.

The divers prepare for the descent again, checking their basic equipment. Everyone is excited about the find; discussions are already underway on how to raise the tank.

Meanwhile, on the Internet I find an article from a local newspaper about the battles that took place not far from the village of Krugloye, which is close to Tolochin. Then parts of the 3rd Guards tank corps General Vovchenko repelled the attacks of a German tank group (the Nazis also had heavy Tiger tanks). The fighting broke out right at the crossings, and one heavy tank fell into the swamp. Perhaps this is the “Tiger” we are looking for.

Civilians often confused the later T-IV and T-VI "Tiger" tanks, hung with anti-cumulative shields. But no matter what tank is now lying on the bottom of the lake, covered with silt, it is still well preserved and is of historical value.

After an hour, tired divers from the Captain Morgan club rose ashore; their gestures showed that the search was fruitless.

Perhaps they were looking in the wrong place, regrets Alexey Yakimenko, the river changes its course every year, but the tank is definitely there.

Mikhail Metla is also upset, but admits that he was ready for such an outcome.

It often happens that stories and even documentary information about tanks that allegedly sank are not confirmed. After checking hundreds of applications, we find one or two tanks. But they exist, the war was too long, and the battles were fierce, we will continue to find the iron buried in the Belarusian soil during that war for many years to come.

Mikhail does not lose hope of finding the legendary German tank, because there is documentary information about the missing "Tigers" of Major Leve's group. IN last time tanks were seen near Vitebsk, then the entire unit and its commander literally disappeared and were never mentioned again in combat reports. Perhaps these machines are still waiting to be found, although it is very difficult, and more like hunting for ghosts.

P.S. If you know places where wartime equipment has been preserved, write to: [email protected].

Lifting the KV-1 tank on Nevsky Piglet

On August 11, 2002, a team of scuba divers OPEN SEA, together with a search team of the MGA, examining the fairway of the Neva, discovered 30 meters from the shore a heavy tank KV-1, which during the assault on Nevsky Piglet Soviet troops in the fall of 1941, she was unable to complete the crossing and sank, going under water from a bullet-riddled pontoon. Film by Andrey Gerasimenko.

Lifting KV-1 tanks from the bottom of the Neva River(same as above) and T-38, discovered in the Nevsky Piglet area.

Raising the T-34-76 tank from Black Lake to Kosino

Lifting the Sherman M4A2 tank (USA) Cherkasy region.

Tractor "Stalinets-65"

During the search expeditions of the ANO PK "Rearguard", a unique tractor "Stalinets-65" was found and raised in the village of Belodedovo, Zapadnodvinsk district, Tver region (September 2012), and then restored and put into operation in a restoration workshop. The uniqueness of this model lies in the presence of a cabin.

Armored cap "crab"

In 2008, in the city of Novodruzhevsk, a “Crab” machine gun armored cap was discovered buried in the ground in the courtyard of a private house. German made. According to local residents, during the war there were no residential buildings in this place, but the German defense line passed through. A reinforced concrete German bunker measuring 3 x 3 meters and 1.8 m high was also discovered next to the excavated armored cap. In the center of the bunker there is a well with drinking water.

Raising the remains of a captured KV-2 tank

Lifting the T-34/76 tank, Cherkasy region. Sank 01/07/1944 in the Gniloya Tikich river

Lifting of the registered Soviet tank T-34-76 "Brave"

On May 7, 2009, the Search Club "Rearguard" in the village of Malakhovo, Pskov region, raised a personal soviet tank T-34-76 "Brave". According to the archives, this tank went to the front straight from the parade on Red Square in Moscow...

The rise of the Soviet tank T-34-76 "Sniper"

Raising a World War II tank in the Novosokolnichesky district, Pskov region in 2003. The lifting was carried out for the museum in Kubinka by the “Vysota” search team, led by Andrei Zabelin.

The rise of the Soviet KV-1 tank from the bottom of the Neva

On November 16, 2011, the Soviet KV-1 tank was lifted from the Neva River, St. Petersburg, using a floating crane. The "Rearguard" Search Club donated the raised tank to the St. Petersburg Museum "Battle for Leningrad".

rise German self-propelled guns StuG-40

As a result of a successful search expedition of the Rearguard Search Club in April 2002 in the Pskov region, the city of Velikiye Luki, a German StuG-40 self-propelled artillery mount was found and raised.

The rise of the Soviet T-34 Dovator tank

In the Pskov region, Velikoluksky district, in the village of Bor-Lazava, the Search Club raised a registered Soviet tank T-34 - Dovator.

The rise of the Soviet T-70 tank

On September 20, 2001, in the Velikoluksky district, Pskov region, the search club raised a Soviet T-70 tank from a swamp.

Lifting the BT-5 tank

JSC "Iskatel", lifting the BT-5 tank, Neva River. 2008

A Soviet tank was found in an ice hole, Volgograd region

RVPOO "Heritage" German tank PzKpfw III

In 2001, in the area of ​​Gureev village, Dubovsky district, Rostov region, the RVPOO "Heritage", Volgodonsk, raised and donated to the museum of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45. in Moscow, on Poklonnaya Hill, a German tank.

Remains of German Stug-III found in Belarus