Here, in an area of just 10 sq km, an estimated 19,000 Soviet soldiers were killed in just a few days in 1942. As much as the diggers would have wanted for each soldier to have his own coffin, the extra 1,500 they would have needed for that days service kept them back they simply do not have the means to provide that. Independent military analyst Pavel Luzin said units like BARS were being mythologized in order to help create the illusion that there is popular support for the war in Ukraine. She recently unearthed a helmet and in order to find its owner, the team had to uproot two nearby trees. "Sometimes you need to know that you are doing something which is important, that you are not just a piece of dust in this universe. These teams are known as the "white diggers", but there are also those dubbed "black diggers" who search for medals, guns, coins or even gold teeth which they sell online or to specialist dealers. 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"If they refused to plough a field because there were corpses or bones in it, they'd just be sacked," says Ilya. It took Ilya Prokoviev months to track them down. The most experienced digger has been in this business for almost 30 years already. WWII 159,726 views Jul 14, 2016 Almost 30 million Russians lost their lives in World War. There are times they find old coins with the soldiers remains given by their families. Finding the dead is not the sole mission of the diggers. By Callum Hoare 10:30, Thu, Jan 9, 2020 . "In just three months the German death machine covered more than 2,000km (1,250 miles) of our land. We are engaged in the search and burial lost Red Army soldiers/ If we can to know their names, we looking for relatives and bury them on their native land with all. For the past 12 years she has spent most of her holidays like this, far away from home, her maternity clothes business, and her young son. She has spent most of her holidays being a volunteer body hunter far away from her home, business and her young son for the past 12 years. You are no longer the same person you were before.". If there were ukranian positions where theyre shooting at, no sniper would be so much as bothered by russians shooting at the wind. It was 1983, I was 40km from Leningrad and there lay the remains of a soldier who hadn't been buried. Freedom Russia Legion 5.20.2022: "During the battle, two servicemen of the 76th Infantry Division of the Russian Armed Forces were taken prisoner. We are engaged in the search and burial lost Red Army soldiers/ If we can to know their names, we looking for relatives and bury them on their native land with all the honors. Olga Ivshina walks slowly and carefully through the pine trees, the beeps of her metal detector punctuating the quiet of the forest. "But nature is working against us. In an area nearby, MarinaKoutchinskaya bends on her knees and searches through the mud. Analogous to the British Territorial Army or the United States Army Reserve, those enrolled in BARS. By Julia Malunga, 6th May 2022. There are so many unburied soldiers, it will take decades to find them. Olga Ivshina is one of those who signed up for this task. , , . . . Skip to content. In the van sat his crew of six diggers and a flatulent 150-pound Italian mastiff named Bagram, all of them violently jostling back and forth on the bumpy road while Rebecca Black's song Friday. but only actively promoted by the authorities in late 2021 in the run-up to the invasion of Ukraine. There are around 300 volunteer groups in Russia searching for similar grave sites. She employs the help of her metal detector as she scans the forest, walking slowly, carefully and thoroughly under the pine trees; only the sound her instrument makes breaks the silence of the surroundings. The remains are decomposing and it is getting harder to find the bones, ID tags and army kit.. Ilya Prokoviev, the most experienced of the Exploration team, is carefully poking the ground with a long metal spike. Plus, it was less than two decades after the war. Tracing a soldiers family can also take years, even decades, to do especially if the said family has moved elsewhere after WWII. Ukraine's top human rights organization, Center for Civil Liberties, has requests concerning around 900 civilians captured by Russia since the war began, with more than half still in custody. "We can reduce the saturation and yes! This work connects us to our past. Nazi War Diggers was due to air on National Geographic on May 13. According to an independent media site in Russia, they reported on Friday, December 14 that Russia is digging in for the long haul in occupied areas of Ukraine. However, the attempts to get the city by storm proved unsuccessful so Hitler opted for another tactic starving it. Little is known about the social background of the men volunteering in Ukraine, but a high percentage reportedly have military experience and many fought in eastern Ukraine in 2014, when Russia backed a separatist uprising against Kyiv. Russian war diggers (Youtube) Firstly, apologies if this has already been the subject of discussion elsewhere. You are no longer the same person you were before.. "Near a naked flame it's still dangerous, even though it has been lying in the ground for 70 years," she says. The team's technician, Rafik Salakhiev, uses ultraviolet light and digital imaging to reveal the faded pencil marks. When her friends in Moscow complain about not being able to afford a good enough car or designer clothes, she feels alienated. I was crossing a swamp when suddenly I saw some boots sticking out of the mud, he recounts. Fomchenko did not respond to interview requests from The Moscow Times. During World War Two, Soviet soldiers' ID tags were not made of metal - they were small ebony capsules containing a small piece of paper for their personal details. So we think the whole soldier was underneath the roots and the trees were growing on top of him.". The death toll from the weekend Russian missile strike on the apartment building in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro has . in September that employers should guarantee volunteers jobs for when they return to civilian life. , , . The diggers are exposed to horrors, too, as they seek to discover the remains and names of these WWII fallen soldiers. Being unknown is nothing to be proud of. The soldiers may have been thrown into the pit by their comrades or local villagers as a hasty form of burial, or even by the German Army, anxious to prevent an epidemic among its troops. Ukraine's capital came under one of the biggest attacks of the war as Russia's invading forces fired dozens of missiles across the country. But the skeletons were all mixed up and smashed. There was little time in the heat of battle to bury the dead, says Valery Kudinsky, the defence ministry official responsible for war graves. Russia said on Friday its forces had wrested control of the war-scarred town of Soledar in east Ukraine, its first claim of victory in months of battlefield setbacks, although Ukraine said fierce . Please take the time to read our policy about trolls and the rules. Russia Military claim they have Captured the Town of Soledar Ukraine's Donbass Defense System Collapsing Ukraine Russia Latest w/ Col Doug Macgregor Ukraine. "Every new search gets to me as if it was the first one," says Rafik. The Great War - Documentary Series (2010) We just had to come to this reburial service to visit the place where he died and accompany him to his final resting place.. The work can be dangerous, too. Immediately after the war, the priority was to rebuild a shattered country, he says. Russian authorities have actively encouraged volunteers to join the military since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Once youve seen that, youll never forget it. The History Channel for an in-depth view of the Past, Here is another find by Russian War Diggers. Crossing Continents is broadcast on Thursdays at 11:00GMT. It's those one-to-one connections, particularly with refugees, that May has sought with Ukrainians as a way to help the country in the midst of war. Yet as machine guns roared overhead at troops unable to advance over no man's land, the only remaining way to undermine the enemy was by digging extensive tunnels beneath their trenches - and filling them with explosives. Watch popular content from the following creators: ripped Lincoln(@ripped_lincoln), kgi(@ikg0x), Valerie Browne(@valerie_browne), Freedom(@i_love_freedom_peace), Kaisers_Finest(@kaisers_finest), Daniel14909(@based_militarysupportrr), Jadon_Kenobi(@jadon_kenobi), Stacy(@wicked_hoolie2.0), cthulhu113(@cthulhu113), Julia Nak(@juliaaanak) . The workers had went through far worse horrors than ploughing through lands with human remains strewn about. In WWII, soldiers of the Soviet Union had no metal ID tags. Many countries were scarred by World War Two, but none suffered as many losses as the Soviet Union. Violators will be banned. Volunteer battalions in particular BARS units have been heavily promoted by pro-Kremlin media, Russian pro-war correspondents, state TV channels and have even been featured on entertainment shows and praised by Putin himself. Sometimes we find messages with the soldiers name. They branded his young son and daughter traitor's children and the family were forced to leave. Free shipping. Each dug up soldier is photographed as well as their location recorded and the information entered into a digital database. They live off on primal conditions for their task wading in waist-deep mud at times just so they could find the bodies of those who have fallen decades ago during WWII. There must have been 30 or 40 soldiers in there. Some men also told The Moscow Times that they joined volunteer battalions because it gave them greater choice over their commanders and fellow soldiers. Visibly moved, as coffin after coffin is carried past to be buried, some of them look up to the sky. 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John Campbell Ross. Ilya adds up that the digging has become embedded in their souls, that they need to continue doing it to find peace for themselves it has become the meaning of their lives. We are true patriots, said Alexander, 31, who declined to provide his surname. About 20 BARS units their numbers boosted by fresh volunteers are currently in Ukraine, according to Telegram channels and group chats seen by The Moscow Times. The Exploration group is just one of the 600 groups of diggers at work all throughout Russia who were able to discover a total of 500,000 remains of WWII soldiers at present. 4th March 2022. Near a naked flame its still dangerous, even though it has been lying in the ground for 70 years, she pointed out. "I was crossing a swamp when suddenly I saw some boots sticking out of the mud," he says. "The fact that he was missing in action meant that my grandmother was not entitled to any of the financial support given to other relatives after the Great Patriotic War. $450.00. and bonuses for destroying enemy aircraft or tanks. Early in the war, Amsterdam's former alderman Marieke van Doorninck called for action to get off Russian gas, which created a community-wide effort called 15% GasTerug, . Others were left blank because many soldiers were superstitious - they believed filling in the forms would lead to certain death. However, that explanation is not enough as to why the battlefields were not cleared and the dead no identified and given at least proper burials. "The soldier had a family, he had children, he fell in love," says Ilya. Report rulebreaking comments for moderator review. When Ilya Prokoviev found Kustovs body and was able to identify it, it took him months to track his family down and inform them of the discovery. Read about our approach to external linking. Marina and Olga are just two of the many volunteers of the Exploration group who journeyed 12 hours via an army truck just to get to the forest located near St. Petersburg. He hopes that it is an improvised ID tag. problems or delays with payments and other benefits and some said they did not know with whom they had signed contracts. So we think the whole soldier was underneath the roots and the trees were growing on top of him, Marina claims. Even if they have been waiting for a long time.". They are also often eligible for one-off sign-on. last summer, the diggers were able to dig out a mass grave. Please select the Tab Content in the Widget Settings. "Being unknown is nothing to be proud of. Near River Neva's banks and close to the mass grave the diggers found, a Russian Orthodox priest says prayers while walking around the bright red coffins placed on the grass as the relatives -children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren of the identified soldiers the diggers have unearthed - watched, some openly shedding their tears. The soldier had a family, he had children, he fell in love. Alexander was shortly deployed to the frontlines in Ukraine after he joined a Russian unit for volunteer troopers in October as a result of he wished to "defend his motherland." One month later, he was badly injured by artillery hearth close to the Ukrainian village of Makiivka amid intense preventing within the east of the nation. . When they were unable to trace his family, the group put out an appeal on the evening news. Do not expect her to be politically correct. KYIV, Ukraine. Analogous to the British Territorial Army or the United States Army Reserve, those enrolled in BARS receive salaries and take part in regular military training while retaining their civilian jobs. Due to this fact there is now a group known as the "Black Diggers" who make it their mission to illegally dig up the lost remains of German and Russian soldiers in order to sell any military artefacts they happen come across. "When we told them that we had found their father's remains, for them the feeling was just indescribable. "Sometimes we find messages with the soldier's name," says Alexander. Please keep it civil. When even money and patriotism are insufficient to inspire Russians to sign up to fight in Ukraine, its time to bring out the big guns such as food ISTANBUL Alexander, 23, remembers panic-buying a ticket from St. Petersburg to this Turkish metropolis shortly after Russia launched its invasion Russian volunteers and mobilized men preparing to leave for training. Sometimes they find old coins with the soldiers, given to them by their families. 2023 BBC. 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They actively planted new trees on the battlefield they ploughed furrows and put the trees exactly in the places where the unburied soldiers were lying, Marina states. Next Post: Winter Arctic Cruise of USS Skate (SSN-578), 1959. According to Valery Kudinsky, the defense military official tasked with the war graves, there was no time to bury the fallen soldiers while at the heat of the battle. Here is another Relics find from the Russian War Diggers. Marina holds up an object she has found, it looks like a bar of soap, but it is actually TNT. Photographed as well as their location recorded and the information entered into a digital database the quiet of the.... Just indescribable another find by Russian War diggers ( Youtube ) Firstly, apologies if this has already the! Marina claims Here is another find by Russian War diggers the military since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine team to! At, no sniper would be so much as bothered by Russians at. 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