World War II Military Relic Hunting
World War II was fought between the Allies (Great Britain, France, the Soviet
Union, the United States, etc.) and the Axis (Germany, Italy, Japan, etc.)
from September of 1939 to May of 1945. It was the biggest and horrific military
conflict in the history of mankind, involving countries all over the world
and causing millions of deaths.
The Eastern Front, the largest and bloodiest theater of World War II, took place in the western part of the Soviet Union. Being the most costly conflict with over 30 million dead as a result, the Eastern Front involved more land combat than all other World War II theaters combined. That is why even now, 62 years later, many military relics and artifacts can be unearthed in large quantities at the former battle sites throughout Western Russia, Baltic States, Belorussia and Ukraine.
That is the main reason why the military relic hunting, or military digging, has been very popular in those countries. Even before metal detectors became available or affordable, people of all ages and backgrounds participated in recovering of war artifacts of all kinds. Many of weathered relic hunters still use just a long steel probe to locate buried weapons, gear and sometimes remains of soldiers. The latter are usually reburied with honor, and their relatives are found and notified.
This type of relic hunting requires both strong physical shape and caution. Many military diggers form groups to reduce risk and put their resources together. Some groups are assembled officially to let youngsters have their firsthand experiences with history, or the groups are formed spontaneously by enthusiasts with different goals. Their finds range from small weapons and personal gear to tanks and other machinery well preserved in stale swamps, marshes and bogs. In any case, they all do the hard work of preserving history for future generations.
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Below you will find photogalleries of military relic finds that I recovered while metal detecting in Estonia, Russia and Ukraine, and finds made by my fellow relic hunters in Russia as well as other historical information related to World War II:
My WW2 Relic Hunting in Estonia
Excavation of WW2 German Dug-Out
Russian Sapper Demining the Porch with a Metal Detector, 1942
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