Dig trip to Belyi

[Datrus]

No not yet, but i will certainly try it.

Cheers

[elpato]

The small bottleneck round looks like a 7.62x25 Tokarev. Could be for a TT-33, or more likley, a PPSH.

[Datrus]

Thank you elpato. Was quite sure it was soviet, because it was found in a soviet trench.

[Paul D]

It's the Rzhew salient, south western part. Very nice and interesting area. We met some local diggers on our first day outside our designated area, and they were really nice guys. No one cares a damn if people dig there, as long as you stay away from memorial areas, which is understandable.

Thanks mate i'm looking forward to more !!

[sandgroper]

Thanks for the pics mate, I wish I was there with you!

[Datrus]

Thanks a lot for the nice comments guys. We will go back to the German trench as soon as our economy will allow it.

[Datrus]

So we did not return to the German trench yet. Instead we went to another location. This time we went outside (west) of the German front line. This is part the area where the Soviet army launched their attack on Belyi in the winter during Operation Mars. We went to the edge of the huge marsh land and bogs which is about 50 kilometers wide. The Soviets waited for the marsh to freeze over, and send something about 10 rifle divisions towards Belyi, which was one of the less heavily defended positions of the Rzhev salient. Luftwaffe feld Div had a hard time there. Also 8 cavalry SS Div was there. We knew this would be a very difficult trip. We were looking for small heights, islands in this area. Because of the time of year we could not get very far. Already too much water. We also lost one day out of two being stuck in the mud. We only managed to reach a few trenches. We walked about 20 kilometers that day in less than ideal terrain.... Also we did not dig much in those, just locating them and logging them on the GPS. We found a few things though.

-Some Soviet 7.62 rounds. I have now deactivated them.
-Spent 7.62 rounds
-A casing that measures 250mm in length x 38mm in diameter. I suspect it to be German actually.
-Head from a shovel
-Drum magazine
-Top of a Samovar
-Ever present Russian spent 7.62 casings
-Two fire places. Red bricks.
-A wild dog found us

I will post some pics of the 7.62 round and "big" shell shortly.

Where the road started to go bad. We had to fill the ditch with branches to pass. Later on we got stuck for 4 hours and missed one day of the trip.



Entering the forest. We found a few Soviet bunkers. One of them quite big. 16x8 meters and it looks untouched. All the tree trunks that made up the ceiling is still there, under the soil.




Some of the finds and the dog who found us and our bread

[CARL]

Nice dog!

[Datrus]

It was a nice dog, but it stole our bread the little bastard.

[Datrus]

Some pics of the very limited finds we did on this trip.

The casing i think is German. Has the same red color as the K98 Rounds.





Some 7.62 Rounds