Exhumation of 25 German soldiers from field hospital cemetery Balkan Front

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Exhumation of 25 German soldiers from a forgotten field cemetery in the Balkans. Most of the soldiers still had their identification tags. Several bodies displayed signs of medical treatment, such as the presence of splints or of tourniquets on fractured limbs. 14 of the 25 bodies had been buried in coffins. One amputated leg was also found with the bodies. Also found were one half body, one severely mangled body, a wedding ring, a campaign ring, a death head ring, shrapnel fragments, condoms, coins and buttons. The exact location of the cemetery was found thanks to an elderly period witness.
The point of the excavation was to recover these bodies buried in unmarked graves, to identify them, to rebury them in an official German war cemetery, and to inform the relatives of the soldiers of the location of the bodies.

Participating in this exhumation brought to mind the words of Siegfried Sasoon:
«You smug faced crowds with kindling eye
who cheer when soldier lads march by
crawl home and pray you'll never know
the hell where youth and laughter go»

Exhumation de 25 corps de soldats allemands enterrés, semble t'il, après être décédés dans un hopital de campagne. Nous notons la présence de matériel médical, dont des attelles et des tourniquets.

Ausbettung von 25 gefallene Soldaten, die sicher in ein Feldlazarett gestorben sind.

A Crocodile Tear Productions battlefield archaeology documentary


Some of the more thoughtfull or amusing comments posted here:

«The body of every soldier is the sadness of a mother.»

«In my humble opinion: I want to say „Thank you“ to the grave recovery people, from Germany and Russia, in this video, and to all who donate their time to this sad process, from this horrific war…. I know there are not enough tears to shed, for all those whom you recover… .there are not enough tears left on Earth, which could quench the pain of this war. I just pray, that those you have found, are at peace, finally. And, thank you for your good work.»

«More condoms than coins in that wallet !»

«Amazing! Even after 70+ years in the ground, they still have better teeth than most Brits»

«When they say modern war is a meat grinder they mean it in a literal sense. Human bodies just shattered and torn apart.»

«How many German men and women who joyed for their führer would have known that their husbands and sons would wind up in agony until death in some foreign field? I wonder...»

“War does not determine who is right, only who is left”