January 25, 2007: Old tank found, pulled out of the muck

Some IotDs are just mysteries. Lurker Caleb (thanks!) sends along a series at this page with an .sk domain. The following shots are taken from there, and presented here without comment. If anyone can help solve the question of what the hell happened here, either via the Slovokian (?) words or from futher knowledge of the event, do comment on it.

Well, at first blush, I'd say it was a German tank driven into a bog during WWII, and it was preserved by the anaerobic nature of bogs. But then I get to looking at the turret, and notice there's not lid to the crew port, and what appears to be faded graffiti written on the rest of the turret. Now I'm just wondering if it wasn't some monument somewhere that got prank dumped into the bog...

A bit of an "odd" one

One of the mailing lists I'm on explained it somewhere

It seems up there on the northern front, during WWII, the Germans captured a Russian tank. They painted their markings on it, and put it to use. The next battlem the tank ended up breaking through the ice, and sinking in the swamp. Last year, they recovered the tank, which was preserved (as Esplode guessed) by a lack of oxygen

So you have a bit of an odd one - a RUSSIAN tank, with German markings, being pulled out of a bog

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1739643/posts

Ah. Best part of the story:

At that time, a local boy walking by the lake Kurtna Matasjarv noticed tank tracks leading into the lake, but not coming out anywhere. For two months he saw air bubbles emerging from the lake. This gave him reason to believe that there must be an armored vehicle at the lakes bottom. A few years ago, he told the story to the leader of the local war history club Otsing. Together with other club members, Mr Igor Shedunov initiated diving expeditions to the bottom of the lake about a year ago. At the depth of 7 metres they discovered the tank resting under a 3-metre layer of peat.

No mention of human remains found in the tank. You would think that if the tank was preserved that well, the human remains would have been as well. Maybe they were able to get out before it sank.

I believe the tank was ditched in the lake during the German retreat, nobody aboard ..... or no body aboard.

I think its neat that a commonly available civilian dozer is powerful enough to pull that tank out.

One of the freaky things about me is that when I look at a situation, I often look for the danger in that situation. For example, it drives me nuts when my wife puts things on the steps to take upstairs later as that's a tripping hazard.

Anyway, here I keep thinking about the cables and the tremendous tension they are under. They are obviously thick and strong enough for the task, but I can't help remembering the stories my Dad told me about how a cable will always whip around when it snaps, and can easily decapitate a person, but when a chain breaks, it just falls to the ground with no force. I bet those cables could cut through some of those smaller trees if they snapped, there is so much force in them. [/freak]

Yah, I took some guff for pulling an old barn together with binders and chain, when all the self-appointed experts were pushing for cable. They were not going to be the ones increasing the tension once a week...

Allow me to be the first to say

Tanks for the memories.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hampor Tanks for the memories.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-34

Chris

Mmmmmmmmmmmm... Its the Friday IotD! I say we saute that sucker in garlic butte... heyyyyyyyyy - Wait a sec - I can't eat that! There's gotta be a way to work this into a tasty morsel thread.

Mebbe we can scrape some tasty nematoads...

Ohhh I got it! Lets build a huge fire and roast the entire tank then, after it cools, we can go inside and eat whatever was living in it! Ahhh. Better now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beestie Mebbe we can scrape some tasty nemotodes...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Griff I think its neat that a commonly available civilian dozer is powerful enough to pull that tank out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beestie Mmmmmmmmmmmm... Its the Friday IotD! I say we saute that sucker in garlic butte... heyyyyyyyyy - Wait a sec - I can't eat that! There's gotta be a way to work this into a tasty morsel thread. Mebbe we can scrape some tasty nematoads... Ohhh I got it! Lets build a huge fire and roast the entire tank then, after it cools, we can go inside and eat whatever was living in it! Ahhh. Better now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce; I first saw this story through a link from that [B Kidofspeed girl [/b]riding her motorcycle through the Chernobyl dead area. She has a whole section on collecting military battlefield souvenirs. This is the story and pictures page http://www.strategypage.com/military...115163335.aspx

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deuce Yeah, like oysters. Once you get past hard candy coating, they're delish-crunch-us. Especially with garlic butter.

I was going to argue that it didn't look like a T34 ,
well I was WRONG !!!
Here's a link for info ,
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/row/t-34.htm

Another thing that tank had going for it is it was almost brand new.
They lost it to the Nazis in it's first battle. Then it was repainted to use against the Russians but in another three weeks the Nazis had to retreat so they dumped it in the lake with 116 of it's original Russian shells on board.
It helps the restoration if it isn't all beat to hell to start with.

Here's another tank-in-the-mud story, though the pictures are a little more indistinct. And technically, it's not a tank, it's an "assault gun"(Sturmgeschutz IIIG), but, well...

Guess those wide tracks didn't lower the ground pressure quite enough...

Quote:

Originally Posted by glatt They are obviously thick and strong enough for the task, but I can't help remembering the stories my Dad told me about how a cable will always whip around when it snaps, and can easily decapitate a person, but when a chain breaks, it just falls to the ground with no force. I bet those cables could cut through some of those smaller trees if they snapped, there is so much force in them. [/freak]