Entering Germany 1944

**rudeerude** · 08-22-2011, 09:00 PM

Very nice photo's WeyAx an all around good job.Here is a "Now and Then" merged of tank destroyers from the Kall trail.I couldn't resist.

**WeyAx** · 08-23-2011, 07:53 AM

Rudeerude thank you for not resisting and ........

Hassiman this mine-typ was a very dangerous one, even many man of the mine-clearing teams in 1946-50 died of this mines:

because often they were saved by other mines against picking up.

The actual living Hürtgenwald-Diggers do not find mines, thats a sign that in the early fifties the men in the forest have done their job well.

But never say never!!!! Its a strange feeling digging or climbing in not so common places there.

Perhaps someone will find such a mine and...............disappears........ and could not tell us, because in Germany we have a bonmot: Wer gräbt der findet, wer eine M35 erwischt, verschwindet.

And if you find one, think,....the corrosion made it more dangerous as in 1944!!!!

Cheers

Alex

**WeyAx** · 09-06-2011, 08:54 AM

VW-Beetle at War???

Not even.................but in 1947 someone visited the places in Hürtgenwald with
a split-beatle as I do it in 2011.

Look at this pictures out of a film of the Konejung-Stiftung about Hürtgen:

smashed houses in the Hürtgenwald-region

in the background you can clearly see the huge Hürtgenwald-forest

and now the visitors car,-.-.......a split-beatle

for me as a driver of a war-beatle an phantastic document!!!!!!!!!

Cheers

Alex

**ozzaroo** · 10-01-2011, 12:06 AM

excellent presentation and great photos of this relativelly unknown battle where thousands of soldiers on both sides paid the ultimate price for their country.i have been interested in militiary matters all my life and only heard about the hurtgen forest when playing a pc computer game sudden strike 2 in 2006.
i really like your before and now comparison photos, maybe 1 day i will visit europe.

**sandgroper** · 10-01-2011, 12:14 AM

Another brilliant thread, I could spend all day looking at your adventures, you should make a documentary mate!

**WeyAx** · 10-01-2011, 08:28 AM

Hey Australiens!

Yes Hürtgen-Wald was the forgotten battle, because right in december 1944 the battle of the bulge started, and this battle was a bigger nightmare for the american troops.

Yes, I made a documentary of this Ardennen-Normandie times, but for whom??? For my son and daughter. And why?? In germany these times are no remembering times, they are bad times, bad history of the Nazi-Regime. That is absolutly right and I agree, but this men where my father and uncles
who fought there with 17 and 18 years. These men were not gangsters or killing machines, only young soldiers in a Wehrmacht under a bad guy on top of Germany.

My father or uncles told me their storys, but not in their younger days, only when they where very old, I heard these men speaking, but my childrens???

No one, even not in school, will tell them the german soldiers tales, tales of young men fighting in brutal battles without a chance of winning in the years of
1944/45, but they had to stay and fight or die.

That is my opinion that I will tell to younger german people and nothing else.

Salutation

Alex

**Woolgar** · 10-01-2011, 09:19 AM

Alex, this special thread is an educational wonder, I keep going back to it

Well done!

Nick

**zf41** · 10-25-2011, 12:41 PM

by WeyAx

Hey Australiens!

Yes Hürtgen-Wald was the forgotten battle, because right in december 1944 the battle of the bulge started, and this battle was a bigger nightmare for the american troops.

Yes, I made a documentary of this Ardennen-Normandie times, but for whom??? For my son and daughter. And why?? In germany these times are no remembering times, they are bad times, bad history of the Nazi-Regime. That is absolutly right and I agree, but this men where my father and uncles
who fought there with 17 and 18 years. These men were not gangsters or killing machines, only young soldiers in a Wehrmacht under a bad guy on top of Germany.

My father or uncles told me their storys, but not in their younger days, only when they where very old, I heard these men speaking, but my childrens???

No one, even not in school, will tell them the german soldiers tales, tales of young men fighting in brutal battles without a chance of winning in the years of
1944/45, but they had to stay and fight or die.

That is my opinion that I will tell to younger german people and nothing else.

Salutation

Alex

100% agree with that!

**klokhoane** · 10-25-2011, 05:40 PM

"I was just wondering... Are there still live M35 "Bouncing Betty" mines out in the Hurtgenwald? I know there must be plenty of unxploded ordinance... but are the mines still dangerous?"
Well they are still out there. I know some people that found those mines in that forest. The number of mines still left is very low but there are still mines left. HW is known for it's live ordnance.

**ozzaroo** · 10-26-2011, 02:15 AM

i think walking into any old battlefield off the usual path would be a dangerous activity as you cannot know what is hidden under the surface like an unexploded mine or bomb especially in the ww2 remote areas.
the passage of time may have made these bombs unstable and easier to set off.i know it has been said before in other forums but never try to move or defuse a bomb unless you are an expert in that field.i saw a film in the army where a person tried to unscrew the top of a bomb with a deadly explosion.safer to buy what you like off the internet from e bay or a militiary dealer, of course more expensive that way and not as challenging.