Tank Crew Survivability And Injuries

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bf109 emil
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Re: Tank Crew Survivability And Injuries

#16

Post by bf109 emil » 17 Feb 2010, 18:22

A gruesome thought, as awhile back i was chatting with a Canadian forces chaplain and he revealed to myself that one of the duties (by clergymen) they served in WW2 was the exhuming of corpses from armor/tanks during WW2. As post death rigamortis sets in fully some 24 hours after death, part of the Chaplains duties after recovering damaged tanks, was to bless the dead and proceed to remove the corpse through limited hatch space by means of a hatchet :(

I have not found a source for this, but likewise it made me ponder whether this was indeed fact or a myth!

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phylo_roadking
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Re: Tank Crew Survivability And Injuries

#17

Post by phylo_roadking » 18 Feb 2010, 19:34

As post death rigamortis sets in fully some 24 hours after death, part of the Chaplains duties after recovering damaged tanks, was to bless the dead and proceed to remove the corpse through limited hatch space by means of a hatchet
...but BEGINS a lot sooner, that's why you'll see relatives or nursing personnel removing rings etc. from the deceased ASAP after death is confirmed - before such becomes impossible within an hour or two....

HOWEVER...I was always taught it begin to relax again after three days or so...


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bf109 emil
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Re: Tank Crew Survivability And Injuries

#18

Post by bf109 emil » 19 Feb 2010, 09:24

HOWEVER...I was always taught it begin to relax again after three days or so...
Phylo i think you are right, but did the engineering department wait until the bodies became pliable again to allow removing, or what per say might happen during a colder time of the year and bodies now froze within a tank.

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