Member Since: 27 Feb 2011
Location: Wilts
Posts: 1376
DSL wrote:
Weather has been fine most of the day, unfortunately now tipping it down. Back on the campsite now, have feet up in my luxury (if not a bit nippy) boudoir.
And for those of you that are watching, tanks a lot!!
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From memory an IS2 heavy boy, and yes I did use that pun last year.
Is that near Seikerki (sp)? I did a battlefield tour theatre a few years ago? There is a war cemetery near by. There is also a plaque on the tank telling you what type it is and all about it.
4th May 2017 10:20 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73134
I think so, deffo near a war cemetery and I took a pic without the plaque as it just looked like an smadvert for a pizza place.
V1
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V2
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Rest of museum is just an old factory that anywhere else would have been pulled down decades ago.
Interesting POW exhibit though.
B-17 rudder aileron.
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And prop blade from a Lancaster that's looking a bit the worse for wear.
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Last edited by DSL on 4th May 2017 7:10 pm. Edited 1 time in total
4th May 2017 10:45 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73134
Just been inspecting the pride of the German Navy, well E German navy and a while ago. Still, if Putin decided to drop on for an unscheduled invasion visit a lick of paint will see these 4 up & running again.
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4th May 2017 11:42 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73134
Three hour drive back in the pouring rain, with squeaky wipers, and back on the floodplain of the Oder. Must get those piggin wipers sorted!!
Near where the Red Army first crossed the Oder at Keinitz you can see the odd house that still bears the battle scars.
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Also the first T34 across is mounted on a plinth there.
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Just W of Groß Neuendorf (down river a bit from Keinitz) there is a Soviet cemetery the size of my front lawn with 700 soldiers buried there. Most died on the first couple of days of Feb 45, immediately after the first crossings, the rest shortly after that from their wounds.
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One of the 3 sides.
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The granite plaques gives some of the names, these have been updated with the steel engraved plaques in front of the, with dozens of names on them.
Compare and contrast the graves of German soldiers near where I'm camped.
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Tomorrow is having a look and see what remains of the Seelow Heights battlefield, starting at Rathstock where some of the trenches of the first defensive line can be seen. Then the Reitwein Spur where Zhukov had his HQ, plus there is a network of trenches and emplacement on the top of the ridge that I want to find. Got the feeling it's going to be muddy.
Right, scoff calls. Beef curry, sweet corn and nans.
4th May 2017 4:20 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73134
Heading home, tucked up in a nice Mercure hotel in Bielefeld on the way back. I know I'm going soft in my old age but it's great to have a nice comfy bed, clean sheets and en-suite. Even car gets its own parking bay with no chance of door damage!!
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Had the last couple of days tromping around the Seelow Heights battlefield, will post some pics in a bit. First I've got to figure out how this Tassimo machine works.
Careful Del, those Tassimos are technical LRs are a fond memory, apart from the maintenance.
6th May 2017 4:19 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73134
Just about to find out!!
6th May 2017 4:23 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73134
And the machine has come to fear my coffee making powers!!
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6th May 2017 4:31 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73134
Right, a few pics. All these are in the context of the battle for Seelow Heights (and in the run up to it) , the last stand of the Germans before the Red Army went on a jolly to Berlin.
There are not that many traces of the battlefields at all. The terrain/superficial geology is all sand & soil so what was there has collapsed in or been ploughed out of existence. Where there is terraine there are some remnants of defensive and offensive positions. Whilst the positions are nice and obvious to the naked eye, they are a pain to photograph so some pics just look like a green field. All observations are in my non expert opinion, just comparing with what I've seen in French battlefields like Verdun.
Firstly slightly to the west of Mallnow, with a slight rise there and good views over the Oder flood plain.
In the reverse slope (when facing E) of a small spur is what looks like an artillery position.
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The revetments are square and connected with zigzagging communication trenches.
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On the top of the ridge were a few round holes with no trenches leading to them, I'm guessing these are shell craters and that Ivan lobbed a few bits of steel back.
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On a small knoll near there is also a series of observation positions, plus fighting trenches further along.
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Next stop was off to Reitwein Spur to find Zhukov's bunker.
Here's a pic of it as I didn't get to it. A mixture of going off piste and loosing the signs and finding another bunker that I thought was his.
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I did find loads and loads of other remains of bunkers and storage revetments.
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I didn't hang around too long as the mossies were re-enacting the battle with me as the enemy, and seemed to like DEET. Plus there were a LOT of signs of wild boar and I was getting nervious.
I did see lots of modern wooden posts with orange pain then realised they were marking small square stones with a cross in the top, possibly marking mass graves.
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Then back down to civilisation, past the dog who's mission in life was to bark at the "tourists". I really upset him when I popped out the woods from an unexpected direction!!
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Then had a look at the church there that has been left as a ruin. It's certainly taken a bit of a beating!
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Lastly to the Red Army war cemetery where 3000 are buried.
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And like in France and Belgium, identification of the remains looks like it continues.
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6th May 2017 5:03 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73134
Saw three or four D3/4s in the 2,100 miles of this jolly max. Back on the Chunnel train and there is a D3 in front, a D4 next again behind me and a D5 hiding first in the next carriage!! I think they just keep them at Eurotunnel and when they see a D3 or 4 they roll them out so said D3 or 4 feels at home.
See ya soon buddy LRs are a fond memory, apart from the maintenance.
7th May 2017 4:35 pm
ruben D3 Decade
Member Since: 26 Sep 2006
Location: ASTURIAS
Posts: 2440
DSL@ Do not forget that you undoubtedly live in the country of the D's .... here I can spend days and days without seeing one, 11 years later still is so, and instead in your country you see one parked in each streetlost in translation!
DISCOVERY 3 SE man. TDV6 2006, my true love!
DEFENDER 2 SE D I6 MHEV 2024, other live.
7th May 2017 5:05 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73134
ruben wrote:
DSL@ Do not forget that you undoubtedly live in the country of the D's .... here I can spend days and days without seeing one, 11 years later still is so, and instead in your country you see one parked in each street
It is indeed a special kind of Brit insanity!!
MrH wrote:
See ya soon buddy
Might be passing your way Tues or Weds, if you're around you could "show" me how to fit that breather thingie to the D3.
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