Thread by @ReassessHistory

Relic Hunting
A long time ago friends sent me details of figures who scarpered over old battlefields with metal detectors.

Sometimes they found guns, usually scraps of metal, occasionally dead bodies... /1
#WW2 #SWW #History

After a while pics of amateur excavations came up, the poster would show & tell their discoveries... then ask if their 'friends' were interested. /2

Their luck depended on a few factors; local knowledge, kit, skill, & an ability to trawl the tinternet in search of data kernels to direct their efforts.

By day they dug.

By night they drank.

Sometimes both. /3

I already knew of a buoyant if... disgusting trade in war relics in the UK, with sellers offering providence.

Clothing stripped from bodies was resold, awards, seized weapons, ammo boxes, pieces of tank... /4

Much of it was salvage from the old Eastern Front but... occasionally you'd hear of 'trips' over to Holland by people who'd pilfer promising sites for profit. /5

I became aware of a man called Oleg, he boasted of having many 'international friends', posting constant finds of materiel.

People gaped in awe at the promised militaria, & privately... spent well. /6

Eventually he posted a picture.

A pile of human bones.

Then another.

An industrial skip with a few bags of human remains thrust in.

These were someone's child, sibling, parent.

So... I confronted Oleg. /7

I asked him what he was doing. He explained, "the body is the vessel of the soul. Once the soul is gone, there is just a body. It is natural."

He disregarded any notion he was criminally stripping casualties for profit.

German awards tend to seek high prices. /8

So he carried on.

Until one day a mate called me up.

Oleg had suddenly died.

He discovered a hand grenade, held it up to show his friends and...

He was liberally spread over a copse. /9

I've often wondered how he, or his family, would feel if someone unearthed his remains to see what was lying there to turn a quick buck to some weirdo 'collector'. /10

I'm passionate about this as we know, despite being illegal, such unlicensed digs occur all over Europe - taking away any sense of closure for a family, and destroying any context. /11

Relic hunting is exceptionally dangerous, unexploded munitions, fbefore finding mines, WP rounds, gas etc... the risk of srs collateral.

If you know one, ask them if they'd be happy doing it to British sites.

Or whether scrapping naval war graves is o k

Food for thought. /end

NB
From my time exploring battlefields at a tactical level, it is often the smallest, quiet engagements or dumps that were missed in clean up.

Dangerous places.

There is good point WHY such legal protections/permits etc are in place.

Archaeology is a profession for a reason.