WWI German soldiers found in perfectly preserved trenches where a shell buried them.

[waggy]

Waggy, even more interesting is the fact that they had 21 trenches buried at that site, with thousands of pounds of explosive in each. Of the 21, only 19 were actually triggered. One was set off by lightning in 1955, killing a cow in the process, and the last was discovered by the Germans and was never set off nor found after the explosion .. ITS STILL DOWN THERE !!

I read a article how people in Europe have to be careful when they dig. It's not uncommon to find WW1 or WW2 ammunition.

Just the thought of one of these huge bombs under the ground ready to go off is insane.

 

[BladeVenom]

A greater tonnage of bombs were dropped during the Vietnam war than WW2. Think of how bad they have it.

 

[EagleKeeper]

A greater tonnage of bombs were dropped during the Vietnam war than WW2. Think of how bad they have it.

It is the amount of unexploded ordance that is always the problem. The older the ordnance, the more unstable it is.

 

[fatpat268]

The more I read about WWI, the more I realize that I can't possibly fathom the scale of that war. WWI gets kind of skipped over in schools so they can cover WWII quicker, but I actually find WWI more fascinating.

Alone this quote from the wiki page on the Battle of Messines fascinates me:

In the week before the attack, some 2,230 guns bombarded the German trenches and conducted counter-battery fire against the 630 German guns and howitzers (236 field guns, 108 field howitzers, 54 100mm—130mm guns, 24 150mm guns, 174 medium howitzers, 40 heavy howitzers and four heavy 210mm and 240mm guns) with 3,561,530 shells.

O_O

 

[Gooberlx2]

The more I read about WWI, the more I realize that I can't possibly fathom the scale of that war. WWI gets kind of skipped over in schools so they can cover WWII quicker, but I actually find WWI more fascinating.

Alone this quote from the wiki page on the Battle of Messines fascinates me:



O_O

There's pretty insane footage from this series on youtube about the battle of Verdun. When they perfecting rolling barrages, they were absolutely devastating.

 

[freegeeks]

I read a article how people in Europe have to be careful when they dig. It's not uncommon to find WW1 or WW2 ammunition.

Just the thought of one of these huge bombs under the ground ready to go off is insane.

I'm Belgian, farmers here are digging up tons of ammunition every year. If you walk around the fields, it's not unusual to find ammo, including nasty chemical ammunition. The bigger ones are detonated in the North Sea, happens all the time. The problem is still so big that the Belgian army build a processing facility, they destroy more then 200 ton of ammo every year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi7qgL5pMaA

In this thread from a Belgian forum you can find some good pics, including one from a farmer plowing on a fosfor grenade

http://www.militair.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1837&p=45269

to give you an idea, this is a normal sight when you walk in the area, farmers put them on the side of the road so the army can pick them up
we have learned not to too touch anything

 

[waggy]

yeah the article i read had pictures like that. i thought it was rather insane.

 

[fatpat268]

There's pretty insane footage from this series on youtube about the battle of Verdun. When they perfecting rolling barrages, they were absolutely devastating.

Thanks for that, just watched it all. Fascinating stuff.

Makes you wonder how anyone survived when they shelled almost every square foot of land.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Thanks for that, just watched it all. Fascinating stuff.

Makes you wonder how anyone survived when they shelled almost every square foot of land.

The numbers are just staggering. Something like 2.5 million shells for 1100+ artillery guns of various types on the German side alone. 700,000+ casualties from both sides....for one battle.

I mean, I know that the numbers still don't top certain battles in WWII, like Stalingrad. But even so, it's just insane the carnage, conditions and misery of WWI. I think the whole trench warfare and no man's land tactics just seem more visually awful.

 

[Rudee]

A thread about perfectly preserved soldiers that shows absolutely no pics of said soldiers makes this thread a fail.

 

[dennilfloss]

A thread about perfectly preserved soldiers that shows absolutely no pics of said soldiers makes this thread a fail.

Title says perfectly preserved trenches, not perfectly preserved soldiers.

 

[JSt0rm]

very cool find. That will make a nice historical location.

 

[JSt0rm]

The numbers are just staggering. Something like 2.5 million shells for 1100+ artillery guns of various types on the German side alone. 700,000+ casualties from both sides....for one battle.

I mean, I know that the numbers still don't top certain battles in WWII, like Stalingrad. But even so, it's just insane the carnage, conditions and misery of WWI. I think the whole trench warfare and no man's land tactics just seem more visually awful.

I thought ww1 had a larger soldier death toll?

 

[OutHouse]

I have 2 pics from ww1 I got from my grandfather who was a Pfc bugler. 1St pic is of germans in no mans land with a German body half way in a shell hole. The sec is with German pow's with their hands up with amrtican soldiers with fixed bayonets. Guarding them.

 

[JEDIYoda]

wow, stay classy there buddy. you don't seem to like any posts that
have anything to do with the middle east or islam. your warped
view on these topics have been made known in P&N, where
everyone knew what type of one-sided 'mod' you were.
amdhunter and I are about 10 steps above you - and that's saying a
lot. it is past time to grow up, EK. do it. :\

So you agree with what amdhunter posted?
Both you and amdhunter love to troll and derail threads with nonsense that you cannot prove.

Why amdhunter is allowed to post such unprovable nonsense is beyond human understanding!

This is OT...so I guess there are no hard and fast rules about being able to back up your claims.......sounds like your type of forum to post in Sandeagle...lol

 

[LTC8K6]

Something like 30% of the shells the British fired in the early part of the war did not detonate.

 

[OutHouse]

i just read the story again and man oh man i wish i could go and see this site for myself.

 

[OutHouse]

freegeeks. what is this image of? did the tractor hit a chemical bomb?

 

[WT]

freegeeks. what is this image of? did the tractor hit a chemical bomb?

Its a WP (white phosphorus) round that the plow appears to have cut open. They were used to mask troop movement when a side going on the offensive needed to advance out of sight from MG nests in the trenches.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_phosphorus

 

[lupi]

I like watching current film of the french countryside where you can see so many portions of the land still in the disfigured formation of constructed defensive positions and from shell explosions, just now with decades of grass and vegetation grown back over the disturbed spoil. Really amazing to see how. Much was changed and how long it has. Still lasted.

 

[freegeeks]

Its a WP (white phosphorus) round that the plow appears to have cut open. They were used to mask troop movement when a side going on the offensive needed to advance out of sight from MG nests in the trenches.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_phosphorus

yeah, the picture was taking by the farmer himself

 

[OutHouse]

yeah, the picture was taking by the farmer himself

lol im sure he hauled ass away from that pretty damn fast. bet the tractor was still idling in the picture.

 

[freegeeks]

lol im sure he hauled ass away from that pretty damn fast. bet the tractor was still idling in the picture.

the farmers here have become really good at identifying the dangerous from the less dangerous. The chemical ones are usually not that dangerous anymore because of the decaying of the chemical agent inside. HE shells are the real danger

 

[rudder]

Came in to post this.
Plus, where are the bodies? I would like to see how well they have been preserved.

The trenches were preserved not all the stuff in them. At least read the title.

 

[Gooberlx2]

I thought ww1 had a larger soldier death toll?

No, not even close.
(from wiki)
WWI combined military KIA: 9,911,000
WWII combined military KIA: 24,000,000+

In total, WWII killed greater than 2.5% of the entire world's population; somewhere between 60 and 80 million people, with Russia and China taking ridiculously lopsided proportions of that total.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties