Battle manner

Discussions on WW2 in Western Europe & the Atlantic.
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Panzergrenadier2967
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Battle manner

#1

Post by Panzergrenadier2967 » 14 Jan 2018, 22:14

In France in 1944, the Allies after the battles (Falaise, Carentan,Cherbourg, Ardennes) when they recovered German bodies, did they keep the equipment or not (before the burial)? The shoes I think that civilians took them.

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Sheldrake
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Re: Battle manner

#2

Post by Sheldrake » 14 Jan 2018, 23:30

By and large soldiers were buried in their clothes but not their headgear, webbing or weapons.

In theory, they was probably some official salvage process. Recycling played a significant part in the war time economy. As many downed German aircraft as sauce pans ended up as Spitfires etc.

Personal effects should have been returned via the Red Cross. Although the British are in general law abiding , we cannot be trusted alone and unsupervised with unguarded attractive items such as:
(watches, Lugers, binos, maps family photos etc.)

Boots might indeed have been more attractive to local French civilians. I have not read, or seen photos of British soldiers wearing German footwear. I suspect that, for most soldiers used to ammunition boots, German calf boots would be considered an inferior design.


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