Tatiana and Lyudmilas elderly mother was shocked when she heard his name, Alexander Golik, being announced; the family had been left desolate because of his disappearance. While this is likely far below the real figure, it suggests about 10% of Russias fatalities in Ukraine have been volunteers. The governing council of the USSR issued decrees in 1963 about destroying any traces of war. Marina holds up an object she has found, it looks like a bar of soap, but it is actually TNT. Of the estimated 70 million people killed in World War Two, 26 million died on the Eastern front - and up to four million of them are still officially considered missing in action. When we cleaned away some clumps of earth from the roots we saw two hands tangled up in them. Player View Grid View 20/20 1 /20 palehorse95 Uploaded 02/07/2012 182 Ratings 83,577 Views 181 Comments 18 Favorites Most terrifying Heavy Weapons of the US Military in the Future ( Video ), The End of a Superpower The Collapse of the Soviet Union, Boiling and Burning Alive: A Medieval Punishment of Searing Pain, Death by Pressing and Crushing: A Medieval Punishment Youd Want to Avoid, 65 Medieval Facts, Beasts, Torture Methods, Jobs & MORE! So we think the whole soldier was underneath the roots and the trees were growing on top of him.". The workers had went through far worse horrors than ploughing through lands with human remains strewn about. "It was the main event of their lives, I think." Report rulebreaking comments for moderator review. If you crouch down in the woods near Lyuban, a series of grooves in the earth can be clearly made out. The Red Army fought with every available resources they had just so they could secure a narrow stretch on the riverbank in a bid to break the Germans blockade. "My mother remarried some years later and everyone told me to call my stepfather Daddy. In this location, measuring just a mere 10 square kilometers, about 19,000 soldiers were killed in a span of days in 1942. A Deep German Bunker Her is another find by the Russian War Diggers. 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Just as the number of volunteers in Ukraine is impossible to verify, it is also difficult to know how many have been killed. She recently unearthed a helmet and in order to find its owner, the team had to uproot two nearby trees. Director Tikhon Kornev Writers Aleksey Karaulov Evgeny Kolyadintsev Tikhon Kornev Stars Roman Evdokimov Anna Vasileva Alyona Savastova See production, box office & company info Watch on Tubi There are over 100 coffins with each containing the bones of 12 to 15 men in that reburial ceremony that day. Russia has likely deployed these new recruits to frontline defenses in Kherson, saving more experienced troops for secondary positions, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War wrote late . "Being unknown is nothing to be proud of. Little is known about the social background of the men volunteering in Ukraine, but a high percentage reportedly have military experience and many fought in eastern Ukraine in 2014, when Russia backed a separatist uprising against Kyiv. The relics we found were Startling! Jan 15 2023, 6:10 AM. The standing belief about this tradition was that if the family loaned him a few coins, he certainly would come home to repay the money. Many of their bodies were never found. "Black Diggers" Dig Up, Repair, and Sell WWII Weapons Featured 02/09/2012 Groups in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus operate around areas where firece battles were fought in WWII digging up and selling long ago dropped weapons. Served in Home Guard in World War II. They are visibly moved, some even looking up the sky, as each red coffin is carried past them to be buried. They actively planted new trees on the battlefield they ploughed furrows and put the trees exactly in the places where the unburied soldiers were lying, Marina states. Kustovs children took his remains and buried it next to their mothers grave who had spent her lifetime waiting for his return. 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Alexander was quickly deployed to the frontlines in Ukraine after he joined a Russian unit for volunteer soldiers in October because he wanted to defend his motherland.. As Lyudmila supplies, because her grandfather was missing in action, her grandmother did not hold the right to any financial support given to other relatives of soldiers who served in the Great patriotic War. "There are so many unburied soldiers, it will take decades to find them. "From reading over masses of personal and official records in Australia and the US, and seeing the paths men take, the lives they lived and the loves they pursued - the fluidity of sexuality, especially in war, becomes really clear," Smaal says. "Sometimes you need to know that you are doing something which is important, that you are not just a piece of dust in this universe. There was little time in the heat of battle to bury the dead, says Valery Kudinsky, the defence ministry official responsible for war graves. 3 June 2009 (110) Last Australian digger and the last veteran of any status to serve Australia in the conflict. St. Petersburg, known that time as Leningrad, was one of the said campaigns main targets. She even says that there are times she feels her job as a journalist is pointless, a different feeling she gets from when she is in the forest digging bodies out where she feels she is doing a very important task. He was one of the soldiers buried in the mass grave as the diggers found his ID tag in the location. January 17, 2023 3:38 AM. In less than three months, the advancing German army had encircled the city and started pounding it from the air. | Medieval Compilation. "Some wrote, 'If I am killed, please pass this on to my girlfriend or my mum.' Our country allowed volunteers to participate in hostilities for the first time, Sergei Fomchenko, a military commander who fought in Ukraine in 2014 and set up the high-profile BARS 13 unit earlier this year, said in August. The remains are decomposing and it is getting harder to find the bones, ID tags and army kit." Here is a video from the Russian War Diggers where the Germans Hurriedly threw their Equipment in the River. Our team is represented by many people. Being unknown is nothing to be proud of. Going back to city life and her job with the BBC Russian Service is sometimes hard after a few weeks in the forest. Only a trusted officer and staunch communist would have been appointed to such a post. Now there is a group of \"Black Diggers\" that illegally dig up the remains of German and Russian soldiers to sell the military artifacts they find.Up Next: The Celebrity Millionaires of Competitive Gaming - http://bit.ly/eSports-P1China's Elite Female Bodyguards - http://bit.ly/Elite-Female-BodyguardsWatch more stories from the global VICE family: http://bit.ly/VICE-INTL-Click here to subscribe to VICE: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICECheck out our full video catalog: http://bit.ly/VICE-VideosVideos, daily editorial and more: http://vice.comMore videos from the VICE network: https://www.fb.com/vicevideosLike VICE on Facebook: http://fb.com/viceFollow VICE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/viceRead our Tumblr: http://vicemag.tumblr.comFollow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/vice , units of Cossacks and Russias so-called Special Combat Army Reserve. The Russian and Belarusian air forces began a joint exercise Monday in Belarus, which borders Ukraine and served as a staging ground for Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.The drills are set . They destroyed the church and even struck police officers who tried to control the enraged mob. In World War 2 thousands of soldiers were killed on the border of Germany and Russia. Initials scratched into spoons and bowls are good. St Petersburg, then known as Leningrad, was one of his main targets. Nazi War Diggers was cancelled by the National Geographic channel in 2014, and by Foxtel in Australia this year, after archaeologists slammed its gruesome content. You are no longer the same person you were before.". Diggers from other groups elsewhere in Russia have lost their lives. Menu. But that does not explain why later the battlefields weren't cleared and the fallen soldiers not identified and buried. My heart pulls me to do this work, she says. It took Ilya Prokoviev months to track them down. A lot of countries had been scarred because of WWII but no other suffered loss as much as the Soviet Union did. There is a belief that birds flying overhead transport the souls of the dead. Military Summary And Analysis 10.01.2023 Ukraine Faces "Tougher Assaults" in Soledar, 700 Russian Troops Killed, US to Send Stryker Vehicles? Others were left blank because many soldiers were superstitious - they believed filling in the forms would lead to certain death. KYIV, Ukraine. Finding the dead is only one part of their mission. Russian job sites 'recruit trench diggers for Ukraine' . Rescuing them from anonymity is the other. "What those diggers have achieved means so much to me. When they were unable to trace his family, the group put out an appeal on the evening news. I've known my guys my whole life, Alexander said, referring to his BARS unit and the local men with whom he volunteered. The soldiers are waiting for us waiting for the chance to finally go home.. Every spring, summer and autumn I get this strange sort of yearning inside me to go and look for the soldiers. It was being used as an air raid shelter when an air strike killed up to 600. RAYNALDO, 61, from Illinois, USA, met his partner Ronyea Keyaira, 27, online. The relics we found were Startling! So many Red Army units were killed, wiped out or surrounded - how could anyone think about burials, let alone records of burials, in such conditions?". $390.00. Olga Ivshina walks slowly and carefully through the pine trees, the beeps of her metal detector punctuating the quiet of the forest. Do not expect her to be politically correct. But I refused - I knew who my real dad was," she says, her eyes filling with tears. Every new search gets to me as if it was the first one, says Rafik. Check - Russian war diggers YouTube statistics and Real-Time subscriber count. So we think the whole soldier was underneath the roots and the trees were growing on top of him, Marina claims. , , . . . Immediately after the war, the priority was to rebuild a shattered country, he says. Archaeologists complained about its methods after seeing a preview. Finding the dead is not the sole mission of the diggers. Why does the US have 800 Military Bases around the World? Our country allowed volunteers to participate in hostilities for the first time, Sergei Fomchenko, a military commander who fought in Ukraine in 2014 and set up the high-profile BARS 13 unit earlier this year, a law recognizing volunteers as war veterans mandating generous pensions and. It does matter who has done it. Heziel Pitogo is one of the authors writing for WAR HISTORY ONLINE. "We need to continue to do this for ourselves, so our souls can be at peace," says Ilya. "When we cleaned away some clumps of earth from the roots we saw two hands tangled up in them. Some wrote, If I am killed, please pass this on to my girlfriend or my mum. You cant help feeling touched by it, Alexander adds. My mum was so hungry all the time, she begged the other kids for pieces of bread at school, she adds. Please select the Tab Content in the Widget Settings. However, a tally of confirmed military deaths kept by the BBC Russian Service and independent media outlet Mediazona shows that 1,111 volunteer fighters have died in Ukraine since last February. 898K views 7 years ago VICE International S1 E23 In World War 2 thousands of soldiers were killed on the border of Germany and Russia. The less information there is. The soldier had a family, he had children, he fell in love. Being a volunteer body hunter has its dangers, too. Discover short videos related to russian war diggers on TikTok. "We can reduce the saturation and yes! The Shadowy World of Russias Volunteers Fighting in Ukraine. Crossing Continents is broadcast on Thursdays at 11:00GMT. He hopes that it is an improvised ID tag. Olga Ivshina is one of those who signed up for this task. The most experienced member of the Exploration team, Ilya Prokoviev, carfully pokes the ground with the use of a long spike made of metal. "She only remembers the shape of her fathers' hands - but she had memories of a kind, good man," says Tatiana. Of the supposed 70 million deaths it suffered during the war, 26 million were killed on the Eastern Front and over 4 million of that number are treated as missing in action. Valentina Aliyeva is here to bury the father she has not seen since she was four years old. "Everything seems so pointless - even my job as a journalist - and sometimes I think, 'What am I doing?' The walls of the large, newly dug grave are draped with red cloth - an act of respect normally accorded only to army generals. It's what it's all for - bringing a semblance of order to the moral chaos of the past, and paying tribute to those who gave their lives. 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