Yesterday's Weapons Forums

I think someone remarked there seemed to be a lot of Italian rifles made in 1917... here is a pic of the reason why.

This was taken just before one of the Isonzo battles in 1916...which means nearly all of the troops shown were casualties & the same number of rifles were captured or destroyed. - Multiply what you see here by several thousand.

Obviously a posed pic as no bayonets are mounted... and the photographer would have been completely riddled by the time the film was exposed!!! War sucks! SW

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Slava Ukraini!!

....I love the "stupidvisors" in the back rows...calmly standing there mit der hands behind their butts...

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....Naj puška govori!....
.............deplorable typical "bitter clinger"....

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Slava Ukraini!!

Was it 11 or 12 Battles of the Isonzo?? -TR

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Rome fell because it had a Senate-what will become of us with both a Senate and a House-Will Rogers

There were 12 major battles over a 4 year period along with countless small skirmishes and nameless shoot outs. Dangerous country even in the high ground - both sides lost a combined 60,000 troops - with rifles - to avalanches. SW

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Slava Ukraini!!

I knew that a lot of men & material were expended over what one book I have calls "an otherwise worthless piece of territory",but I had a brain cramp on the exact number of battles.(of course if I wasn't so lazy,I could build those bookshelves I want & get those books out of the attic..) Bet the place would drive a metal detector crazy!-TR

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Rome fell because it had a Senate-what will become of us with both a Senate and a House-Will Rogers

Metal detector? You bet! There have to be a lot of intact rifles and other equipment just laying there! Helmets... medals... bayonets... you name it!

Metal detecting is becoming more popular in Russia where detecting clubs go over old battle sites... and find stuff you would not believe! Full CASES of grenades & various arms... German & Russky both!

I would be pretty nervous about UXO, though. Some of the fuses could be very unstable. For example, the Jap. military used a lot of picric acid in their detonators & fuses. A very unstable explosive, it will vaporize with temp extremes with the vapors solidifying in places like the fuse threads.

Which means when someone tries to remove the fuse to render the item safe, it goes high order! So I would be very selective about what I tried to remove from the earth.

Another down side is what will be found in abundance - human remains. That doesn't bother some people, and as long as the remains are turned over to local authorities, I wouldn't have a big problem with that.

Russian remains are given military burials in that country... German remains are simply returned to the ground where they had been found. Feelings still run deep even after these many years.

But I agree that a 2 week vacation would pass very quickly with metal detector in hand & a back pack full of batteries, bottled water & sammiches!

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Slava Ukraini!!

Actually, I would believe. Someone posted a link over on the old site that showed some stuff the Russky's dug up. The fellows that run Great War Militaria showed me some pics that they took on one of their scavenging trips to France. One of them was sitting on a stack of German artillery shells in a cave where they have been since 1918! Near Vimy Ridge he said IIRC. The human remain issue would pose a problem, but I agree it would make an interesting vacation trip!-TR

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Rome fell because it had a Senate-what will become of us with both a Senate and a House-Will Rogers