This is an interesting area of Milsurps and what the ground throws up after 75 years+
I just hope that when these guys find dog tags of fallen soldiers from any side, that they report it to the Commonwealth War Graves or the International Red Cross, so their details can be checked and cross referenced to their missing in action status and where they most probably fell. Nvertheless interesting video...............turn the music down as a suggestion!!!
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'Tonight my men and I have been through hell and back again, but the look on your faces when we let you out of the hall - we'd do it all again tomorrow.' Major Chris Keeble's words to Goose Green villagers on 29th May 1982 - 2 PARA
These guys are a conundrum for me. On one hand I wish it was me doing the digging, but on the other is it grave robbing.
They've posted before that they do in fact contact authorities when a body or bodies are uncovered and they have uncovered a lot of them too.
Totally agree and the reason I mentioned the dog tags..........
'Tonight my men and I have been through hell and back again, but the look on your faces when we let you out of the hall - we'd do it all again tomorrow.' Major Chris Keeble's words to Goose Green villagers on 29th May 1982 - 2 PARA
There no laws about that kind of stuff? Not as many battlefields here of course and most are now parks or otherwise Crown Land, but if you were to go digging around on 'em without all kinds of permits, you'd be arrested.
Grave robbing is very specific. There has to be a marked and recognised grave/s to rob. The action is manifestly illegal. Etc. I understand the sentiment but robbing a grave is a very premeditated action.
On the other hand metal detecting usually has a reward involved; selling what you detected, historical, just the pleasure of finding it, etc. A spin-off is finding and reporting human remains that may lead to identifying whoever it was, changing a name from missing to found with a location, providing closure to families, proper appropriate markers, etc. This implies ethical considerations that many metal detectors might not subscribe to.
For interest, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is a serious wide-spread organisation with the sole aim of care of war graves of Commonwealth soldiers, many such in extremely unlikely places as the British Empire used to be never-ending. Their search for the missing in combat/conflict is never ending, the same as for other countries, to be able to record the sites and names; and of course care for the sites. In South Africa the Commission still finds and records such sites today, some dating back to before the 1800s.
I'm thinking about the legalities of these guys running around with metal detectors on what would presumably be private property. I know it's not legal in parks etc, here without a permit or permission from the land owner.
Metal detecting in Germany, for example, requires a licence. Apparently, there are a lot of places there(in the old East Germany mostly) that one cannot dig at all due unexploded ordnance all over the place. No keeping any weapons found either. Even rusty stuff. German Metal Detecting Laws
Net search this too. List of countries where metal detecting is allowed/banned | MD-Hunter Blog
I think it's a little too soon to be digging up dead Germans for their uniform items and equipment. In the West, we treat war dead with the greatest respect. The Japanese do for ours we do for theirs. Even the N. Koreans sometimes do the right thing. France and Germany will very carefully call the US or UK authorities if they find, say, an airplane crash site. The only reason people get to dig up dozens of bodies every weekend is the Nazis tried to take over the world, and killed millions (mostly in the Soviet Union). So the former Soviets get the spoils of war, and don't worry about respecting the sites. I'm sure Gettysburg was ransacked 75-100 years after the battle too. But it's not right. Some of the bodies they've been pulling out for the past 20 years in Eastern Europe could be the fathers of living children. There is no reason for that kind of greed to sell helmets and belt buckles.
Most metal detecting people do so as a hunt to find an explore. not for profit. The reward is the find in its self. This is in my own opinion of the people an friends I know who hunt around here. When items are found they try an return to owners, ie; rings neckless etc. I bet in Europe its same way an with bodies its all with respect.
I believe it is all about the hunt, the search, the find. And then following the finds up to a conclusion. I believe very few are in it for the money only and wouldn't post videos about their finds either.
In any case, such finds that are common military stuff aren't easily linked to a name and would reward the finder's time and effort if sold. The time and effort to return personal items and IDs would also be compensated by the sale of such common items. Especially the personal stuff provides closure for remaining family.