Re: [MV] Julian's School of Knowledge-24 Volts!

Renaud OLGIATI (rolgiati@conexion.com.py)
Fri, 09 Jul 1999 18:30:40 -0500

At 16:55 09/07/99 -0400, islander wrote:
>I actually know of a "real" one of these. This was reported by the folks=
=20
>that have been recovering the Jagdtiger out in Poland (I can't find the=20
>link to their page, anybody got it?). They recovered an intact SPW 251=20
>halftrack from some barn in southern Germany. Seems the owner of it was=20
>also the original driver. In the last chaotic days of the war many=20
>German units just disbanded themselves and tried to make it to home=20
>instead of a POW camp. This guy happened to be near his house, so drove=20
>the 251 into his barn and hid it. There is stayed for about 50 years,=20
>where he sat in it every once and awhile, until he passed away. The=20
>relatives donated it, from what I remember, to this recovery group. =20
>Intact and very little rust, but hadn't been driven since the day it went=
=20
>into the barn. His equipment was burried in the back yard, but I don't=20
>think they found it (and the stuff would have been junk anyways).

You'd be amazed at the stuff that emerged from barns / woddpiles / sheds in
France in 1974: under French law, un-oposed ownership during 30 years gave
a valid title, and a number of MVs that had gone "missing" in the aftermath
of the liberation in 1944 suddenly came back to light; and not only Zundapp
and BMW combinations, Kettenkrads, K=FCbels and Schwimms!
It included, if I remember rightly, one big German AFV (might have been a
Jagdtiger, but I'm not sure).=20
The owner, silly twit, refused to sell it to the Mus=E9e des Blind=E9s, then
sold it on the quiet in Germany, whereupon it was confiscated by French
Customs (export of restricted war material), and ended up at the Mus=E9e,
without costing them a single Franc !

Those were the days.

I used to know a scrap dealer in Vimoutiers, near the last open exit to the
Falaise pocket; Forty years later in 1984, he still unearthed from the
battlefield bits and pieces, somewhat shot-up, but otherwise in remarquable
condition, with little rust,

Cheers,

Ron the Frog, in Darkest Paraguay.

Monday is the root of all evil
-- http://personales.conexion.com.py/~rolgiati/ --=20

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