Belarus finds Napoleonic soldiers' grave at site of major battle

[Fade]

Belarus finds Napoleonic soldiers' grave at site of major battle
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MINSK, Belarus - A Defence Ministry official in Belarus says the remains of 180 Napoleonic soldiers who died in a major battle against the Russian army have been found in the former Soviet republic.

Tens of thousands of French troops were killed when the Russians attacked Napoleon's army as it was crossing the Berezina River in November 1812 on the punishing retreat from Moscow. The soldiers' remains are located about 115 kilometres east of Minsk near the town of Borisov.

Story continued.... (http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2008/06/19/5927786-ap.html)

[Alfacentori]

I'm not surprised, with the amount of wars that have swept Europe over the centuries there must be a lot of forgotten battlefields and graves about.
Hopefully France does them the honour of bringing them home and reinterring them on French soil.

Alfa

[Connaught Ranger]

I'm not surprised, with the amount of wars that have swept Europe over the centuries there must be a lot of forgotten battlefields and graves about.
Hopefully France does them the honour of bringing them home and reinterring them on French soil.

Alfa

Its doubtful, I have seen graves to French Soldiers (including Muslim French soldiers) here in western Transylvania, Romania, from circa immediate post WW1.

Connaught Ranger:)

[Alfacentori]

Its doubtful, I have seen graves to French Soldiers (including Muslim French soldiers) here in western Transylvania, Romania, from circa immediate post WW1.

Connaught Ranger:)

Well with established grave sites I can understand, unmarked graves I guess will either be moved to an existing gravesite nearby or a memorial established, but as I said would still be nice to see them bought home.

Alfa

[solidarnosc]

I'm not surprised, with the amount of wars that have swept Europe over the centuries there must be a lot of forgotten battlefields and graves about.
Hopefully France does them the honour of bringing them home and reinterring them on French soil.

Alfa


Who say's that the soldiers are French? Only half of soldiers who invaded Russia were French.

[Alfacentori]

Who say's that the soldiers are French? Only half of soldiers who invaded Russia were French.

That is a very good point, I guess it all depends if they have any way of establishing origin, but very doubtful.

Alfa

[Connaught Ranger]

That is a very good point, I guess it all depends if they have any way of establishing origin, but very doubtful.

Alfa

Thats why any uniform buttons may offer a chance of identification, there were many Bavarians fighting in Russia for the French as well, at that time,
amongst other allies.

Connaught Ranger:)

[Para]

It appears that this was a mass grave of soldiers that died from hunger and disease rather than in action and had to buried quickly to prevent further outbreaks of disease. The bodies recovered from this grave showed no signs of battle wounds

[wilhelm]

Does anyone know of the existence of possible German WWII graves in Belarus? I've had absolutely no luck whatsoever on the internet. Operation Bagration was launched at around this time in 1944. It was one of the largest offensives ever.

[Connaught Ranger]

Have you tried the

http://www.volksbund.de/

http://www.greatwar.co.uk/westfront/cemeteries/gecemies.htm

http://www.deutschland.de/link.php?lang=2&category2=207&link_id=1203

Connaught Ranger

[Eztyga]

Probably looking for German WWII graves to rob, and went 'Oh sh#t, we have found another one of those Frog graves'. Nil profit...

[Para]

No they were not looking for graves to rob, it was a redevelopment project and the whole thing filmed and shown on a history television programme

[wilhelm]

Have you tried the

http://www.volksbund.de/

http://www.greatwar.co.uk/westfront/cemeteries/gecemies.htm

http://www.deutschland.de/link.php?lang=2&category2=207&link_id=1203

Connaught Ranger

Thanks CR .... I have had a look before, but unfortunately my german is atrocious. I'm looking for possible details of a relative who went missing in action during Operation Bagration.

Belarus is still a relatively closed country, is it not? Did they destroy German cemetries post war? Do you guys know of any organisation or websites that may perhaps deal with combatant mass grave discoveries?

[Connaught Ranger]

Thanks CR .... I have had a look before, but unfortunately my german is atrocious. I'm looking for possible details of a relative who went missing in action during Operation Bagration.

Belarus is still a relatively closed country, is it not? Did they destroy German cemetries post war? Do you guys know of any organisation or websites that may perhaps deal with combatant mass grave discoveries?

With regards German graves in Romania, its now nearly 20 years after the fall of communist regimes and they are slowly being surveyed and documented by the German Organization the Volksbund, but they operate on a very limited budget and rely heavily on donations.

I have found and photographed some WW2 German Grave sites in the area of Transylvania (Hateg & Cluj-Napoca) and in Deva, where I live, last year I discovered a long neglected WW1 German grave site for 6 men who died in 1916, this I have "adopted" I pull the grass and weeds and on 1 November place a wreath and candles in memory of the 6 men, so far from home, despite sending pictures and info to the Volksbund I never even got a reply to my email.

Connaught Ranger.

[wilhelm]

Thanks for the info. That is a good and noble thing that you are doing.

[Modly]

Here are some of my photos from Berezina river:


Russian monument overlooking river crossing:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/OkoII/IMG_1740.jpg


French monument dedicated to all soldiers died on this river..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/OkoII/IMG_1747.jpg

[Modly]

River crossing....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/OkoII/IMG_1751.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/OkoII/IMG_1758.jpg

[Modly]

East side of river and some more monuments..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/OkoII/IMG_1822.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/OkoII/IMG_1829.jpg

village of Napoleon crossing

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/OkoII/IMG_1835.jpg

..it's all happened here..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/OkoII/IMG_1841.jpg

Monument to general Kutuzov.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/OkoII/IMG_1844.jpg

[CHERK]

Here are some of my photos from Berezina river:


Russian monument overlooking river crossing:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/OkoII/IMG_1740.jpg


French monument dedicated to all soldiers died on this river..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/OkoII/IMG_1747.jpg

Nice photos, been there my self, very special place.