War junk in North Africa

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e.polis
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War junk in North Africa

#1

Post by e.polis » 01 Sep 2004, 13:43

Who cleaned up the battlefields of destroyed tanks, trucks and other junk after the battles, what happened to it all.

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Andy H
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#2

Post by Andy H » 01 Sep 2004, 14:08

Most of the battlefield debris was gathered up by reclamation units and placed in dumps for later disposal-usually scrapping or as range targets.

Obviously given the environment (sparsely populated) there were vehicles etc that were missed. Many vehicles remained in situ for many years after the war, until authorities took action and had them removed.

Though it wouldn't surprise me if the odd AFV remained somewhere in the desert-Get you bucket and spade packed :)

Andy H


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e.polis
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#3

Post by e.polis » 01 Sep 2004, 15:14

What about the stuff that was used for range practise, that still there but in smaller bits........he he he he

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Aufklarung
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#4

Post by Aufklarung » 01 Sep 2004, 15:45

Hi
You can see some Western Desert "junk" here:
http://www.oldcmp.net/indexwdesert.html

Image

regards
A :)

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Gerry Chester
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Re: War junk in North Africa

#5

Post by Gerry Chester » 02 Sep 2004, 06:14

e.polis wrote:Who cleaned up the battlefields of destroyed tanks, trucks and other junk after the battles, what happened to it all.
In Tunisia virtually all the knocked out tanks (Allied and German) were salvaged and transported to the main REME Workshop located near Le Khroub, a hilltop town north of Constantine, Algeria.

Of interest to my Regiment is that the six Mark Close Support Churchills, delivered after thw war's end in Africa, were fitted with cupolas taken from the many PzKfw IIIs at Le Kroub. It was from there that the 75mm guns from Shermans were taken to be mounted in what became the Churchill Mark Na75.

perseus
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#6

Post by perseus » 13 Sep 2004, 22:20

There are still rusty old jerry cans and some other WOII junk in the North-African desert (I saw it on tv the other day). It must be great to discover those sites :)

Montys Foxhounds
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#7

Post by Montys Foxhounds » 30 Sep 2004, 21:44

I have travelled all over the North African battlefields and I can say that there is almost nothing left to find except mines. The last big finds were a SAS lorry and the Lady Be Good. You will always find bullets and shrapnel. In the 1950s it was the Italians that cleared the battlefields, what is left the Arabs sell to tourists. The best place to buy "battlefield finds" is from the Caretaker of the German War Cemetery at El Alamein. Over the years I have found 4 graves, all well over 20 miles from the nearest road.

Cheers

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Alter Mann
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War Junk

#8

Post by Alter Mann » 01 Oct 2004, 12:05

A friend of mine from Germany took a two week vacation to Tunisia to look for militaria. After much running around to different battle sites all he was able to find was a hand cart that used whels from a German tank.

I'm sure that there are still a lot of things to find over there, but I wouldn't expect instant gratification.

In the deep desert I'm sure that there are a lot of 'time capsules'. Vehicles and equipment that have been covered up by movement of the sand dunes. We won't have to wait as long for them to reappear as we would if they were covered by glaciers, but some of those big dunes take a long time to move a few feet.

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Xavier
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#9

Post by Xavier » 01 Oct 2004, 16:20

If I recall well, about 6-7 years ago a wrecked, but complete Pz III with the short barrel was found and I think at a later date transported to germany.........I will look for the story, and If found, will post it here.......


regards

Xavier
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Montys Foxhounds
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#10

Post by Montys Foxhounds » 01 Oct 2004, 20:11

Hi,

You are probably thinking of the panzer which stood in the German war cemetery and was brought back to Germany, in fact very close to where I live.

Cheers.

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