Still wearing their boots and helmets, the Germans who fell fighting Russians at the Gates of Berlin

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2776989/Recovering-fallen-German-soldiers-killed-bloody-Second-World-War-Brandenburg-battle-discovered-wearing-boots-helmets.html#ixzz3Gc45dXy2


By PAUL DONNELLEY FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 16:56 EST, 1 October 2014 | UPDATED: 06:28 EST, 2 October 2014


Still wearing their boots and helmets, and carrying their weapons, the bodies of German soldiers who died in the Battle of the Seelow Heights have finally been unearthed.

A team of archaeologists - the Association for the Recovery of the Fallen - have uncovered the skeletons of men who died defending Berlin from the soldiers of the Red Army in the final days of the Second World War.

The dig, in Klessin, Brandenburg, brought to the light weapons, helmets, boots and the bones of those fighting to protect the murderous Third Reich.

Video: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2776989/Recovering-fallen-German-soldiers-killed-bloody-Second-World-War-Brandenburg-battle-discovered-wearing-boots-helmets.html#v-3816817168001



A member of the Association for the Recovery of the Fallen uncovers the remains of German soldiers in a Soviet trench close to Klessin (Brandenburg), Germany




A German soldier has lain undisturbed for 70 years after falling in the Battle of the Seelow Heights, part of the Soviet assault on Berlin in 1945

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[Major Hogwash]

1. Man, that last picture is kind of spooky.

I wonder how many bodies are hidden in the earth, just feet from the surface, of Native Americans killed out here in the Western half of the United States.

[Cleita]

2. I don't think they even got that kind of burial. They were

probably left to the coyotes and vultures if their own tribal members weren't left alive to retrieve the remains.

[Major Hogwash]

6. George W. Bush didn't cure racism in the United States when he was President, that's for sure.

You make a good point.
I talked to a Native American Indian yesterday for a while about it.

He was wearing a baseball-styled cap that said "NATIVE" in big, white lettering on the bill.
So, I asked him which tribe he was a member of.
He told me that he was a member of the Arapaho tribe, and that he was from New Mexico.
I told him that I was glad he was up here in Idaho.

I was raised in Idaho, but I was born in a small city in Colorado that is located less than 40 miles south of the location of where the Sand Creek Massacre took place in the mid-1860s, near the end of the Civil War.
I know a lot about the Arapaho tribe of Native American Indians.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_Creek_massacre

So, we talked a little bit about politics, because I talk about the upcoming mid-term election to every stranger I meet these days.
I'm not obnoxious about it, I just say that my curiosity got the best of me and say that I was wondering what they think about the way things are going here these days.
If they are up to it, and so far, I haven't met the person yet who doesn't have an opinion about it, so I talk to them for just a short while about it.

And he told me that he was sure that my Governor, Governor Otter (R), was as good as gone because of the way he is running his campaign.
When we were talking he told me that all Republican Governors treat Native American Indians like 2nd-class citizens.
He said that they all act like they control the Indian reservations located in their state.
Just before we finished talking, he said that we must be careful not to trash up the state, or walk on hallowed ground.

I looked him in the eye and said, "Brother, all of the ground we walk on is hallowed. We must treat it with the respect it deserves, according to how the Great Spirit told our fathers to treat the earth."
He smiled, and said, "You're alright, kid" and walked away smiling.

[Fumesucker]

3. By that point it was mostly boys and old men doing the fighting for the Germans

They were fighting more for their homes and families than for the Thousand Year Reich I think, they knew what the Red Army would do.

[Adrahil]

16. Yup. Red Army soldiers raped my grandmother.

My mother and grandmother lived in Berlin during the war. My grandfather died in a train accident in 1943 (he was a brakeman in a Berlin railyard). Once the Russians arrived, they went house to house, room to room. And the first wave of soldiers was none to gentle. My mother was only 7 at the time, so she was spared, though many of her cousins were not so lucky. Fortunately, her section of city of was soon occupied by the U.S. Army.

[FLPanhandle]

23. At the end, it was the young and old.

Stalin and Hitler caused a lot of deaths and agony.

[GOLGO 13]

4. Died with their boots on.

Better this than falling into the hands of the Red Army while alive.

[PCIntern]

7. Yeah…too bad they didn't...

Nazi Fucks. Killed MILLIONS of innocents…

Read Hitler's Willing Executioners . No mercy. And no apologies for having none.

[Feral Child]

8. These particular German soldiers

did none of that. Fact is, they probably never killed anyone, for the most part.

These were civilians drafted in the final months of the war because Hitler refused to surrender, he actually wanted the total destruction of Germany for having "betrayed" him by losing.

They were boys, 12>16 years old and old men not even past draft age, but past retirement age. They were drafted, dressed in a uniform given a panzerfaust and an hours instruction and sent out to face seasoned Russian troops, well fed and well-armed.

Some were literally only armed with a panzerfaust, expected to try to take out one tank and die immediately afterward.

You'll find few Nazis in those graves, few warriors.

[BlindTiresias]

9. Perhaps

But I still feel worse for the poor Russians who saw an entire nation of people turn the western part of their country into a hell on earth for the mad ambition of a bunch of fascists.

[Feral Child]

17. I try to maintain a perspective.

I feel deeply for the working-class victims on both sides of any war, and reserve my hatred or anger for the politicos, priestly-caste, and war-profiteers of both sides, those that drive all wars.


I was made to go to war. The rest of the dominoes failed to fall. I was 19. Some increased their fortunes many fold, but I couldn't even get a minimum-wage job when I got released.

Despite the Republican memes and catch-phrases, I never wanted to be thanked for my service, I just wanted a chance to earn a living.

War is always vile, and always fought to benefit a small percentage of people that are already coddled and pampered.

[PCIntern]

10. Uh-huh….

Everyone was so innocent…that's the new meme. Pat Buchanan was right…in a few years no one will blame the Nazis for anything…it was a person here and a person there…no one's father or grandfather was REALLY involved - they all just went along for the ride. I wonder how many of these old men pointed out who the 1/8 Jews were on the block then sent to the death camps. On edit: I lost my entire extended family. Not interested in the German Army's losses at any level at all whatsoever.

[Ex Lurker]

12. Human nature is universal

If a tyrant took over in this country, most people would go with the flow, like they did in Germany. That's not to excuse the Germans, but it's a recognition of reality. We all like to think we'd stand up for what is right. Most of us wouldn't.

[Jenoch]

19. "Took over"?

Hitler was first VOTED in.

[Feral Child]

14. I've chosen not to discuss this any further with you.

1. Your response is pretty patronizing.

2. Your response was based purely on emotion and you are clearly too involved to discuss this dispassionately or without having your vision clouded by anger.

3. I don't wish to trigger any more bad memories for you.

Have a nice day, PCI.

[snooper2]

15. If you were feral when did you learn to write?

[Feral Child]

21. After I got civilized, of course!

The honey-badgers that took me in only had spoken-language.

[Adrahil]

18. Keep in mind that many of these "soldiers" were kids.

My family lived in Berlin during the war. I have no doubt some supported Hitler. None of my immediate ancestors were in the army (my grandfather worked in a rail yard in Berlin and was excused from military service, and died in an accident during the war), but I won;t make excuses in general... I have no doubt some of my ancestors did horrible things. But to quote Gandalf "Many who deserve to die, live. And many who die deserve life. Can you give it to them?"

[struggle4progress]

22. Conscientious objectors could get the death penalty during the Reich

Nobody of sound mind has the slightest sympathy for the Nazis. But the war ended seventy years ago, and for many of the horrid events that occurred the best we can do today is try to understand exactly what happened, because only such an understanding can help us prevent future recurrences

[BillZBubb]

11. "Hitler's Willing Executioners" is a GREAT book!

That said, I do have a good deal of sympathy for the young boys killed in the battle for Berlin. They were dragooned into service.

Having no sympathy for them strikes me as very inhumane. I'm not into the "sins of the father" vindictiveness.

[PCIntern]

13. Well, it's a lesson for all time...

sorry I'm fresh out of sympathy for this particular branch of our civilization.

[Adrahil]

20. You mean all Germans, circa 1945? NT

[damnedifIknow]

5. Ain't war grand?

Humanity needs a check up from the neck up.