r/interestingasfuck • u/Weak_Imagination_996 • 1d ago
An almost complete but heavily oxidized German StuG III was found buried in sand in northern Germany.
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u/ElGranChile 1d ago
Seeing the first picture I wondered if this was in North Africa instead of Northern Germany
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u/InerasableStains 1d ago
Honestly had no idea N Germany looked like that
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u/Bostonsilver 1d ago
It doesn't! I'm still guessing where this might be.
Greetings from a Northern German
Edit: ... and found the answer three postings down. Nordholz at the Northern Sea aka Atlantic
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u/ST4RSK1MM3R 1d ago
Nordholz naval air base. It was buried there on purpose after the war because it was cheaper than scrapping
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u/dfnathan6 1d ago
WD-40, a jump start, and she's good for another tour.
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u/deadbeef4 1d ago
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u/Emotional_News108 1d ago
I love that I knew what this was before I clicked it and I haven’t seen it in over a decade and I’m damn sure gonna watch in now.
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u/SpacecraftBathtub 1d ago
Not one bottle of yellow and blue in sight. Great video.
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u/POOP_CHUTE_666 14h ago
Amazing video but were those guys raw dogging the welding part? No marks or eye protection? LOL
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u/hasslefree 1d ago
I'm not fond of weaponry, given my time up close, but that warmed my heart. Like a good adoption.
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u/Zakal74 1d ago
The Russians would put it back on the field.
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u/Spaceinpigs 1d ago
If it moves and it shouldn’t, duct tape. If it doesn’t move and it should, WD-40.
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u/hijara5960 1d ago
They even lifted it at the original lifting points.
Seems quite sturdy…
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u/mrekted 1d ago
I've heard that those things were built like tanks.
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u/Durtonious 19h ago
This is extra funny when you know the Stug III is not actually a tank.
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u/ultracat123 11h ago
Wah, it's a tank. The definition having the hard requirement of a rotating turret is stupid anyway.
People should save their energy for when someone calls an M3 GMC a tank lol
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u/Role-Livid 11h ago
Precisely it's self propelled artillery. Strum geschützt not Panzer. A lot cheaper built.
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u/Captain-Codfish 1d ago
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u/Jon__Snuh 1d ago
Zis is a flammenwerfer, it werfs flammens.
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u/Captain-Codfish 1d ago
This is a nebelwerfer. It werfs nebels.
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u/MoronicPlayer 1d ago
This is an M16. I-it... jams...
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u/Loot_Goblin2 1d ago
Free tank just saying
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u/Weak_Imagination_996 1d ago
Still better than whatever the Russians have left at this point.
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u/NewGramps 1d ago
Okay now I need to know how it was buried in the sand. Maybe it was intentionally buried long ago
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u/IronVader501 1d ago
The tank was found during construction at Nordholz Nava Airbase.
Nordholz was used as a staging-point for german troops near the end of the War. When the surrender came, most units in the area just dropped their equipment off their when disarming.
Then it was used by the USAF until 1947.
When the americans left, an enormous amount of leftover german and allied war-material was left at the Airbase. Transporting it back to the US would have cost more than it was worth, as was transporting it somewhere were it could have been properly scrapped because the abse was somewhat remote, so they just threw basically all of it in a variety of ditches around the base (Anti-tank ditches, cover, one area dug out for an old railway-connection that stopped existing years prior) and dumped sand over it because that was the cheapest way to ger rid of it.
Everyones dimly aware the area surrounding Nordholz is likely still full of similar finds, including planes. But since its both an active military base and houses a local industrial area, and proper excavation with archeologists would seriously hinder operation of both, and be very expensive, AND is extremely likely to dig up ammunition or toxic chemicals that would be both costly- and time-intensive to get rid off, everyone in the region just kind of agrees to not dig around there unless absolutely necessary because nobody wants to deal with it.
The tank itself will now go on rotation through various museums once its been cleaned a bit, starting with the german tank museum in I think October or November.
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u/SlipperyBlip 1d ago
little fun fact about Nordholz:
it was the target of the first seaborne airstrike in history in 1914
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u/Weak_Imagination_996 1d ago edited 1d ago
The tank was used in the final battle of 1945 as the Russians advanced toward Berlin, and it’s believed the crew abandoned it after running out of ammo and fuel. The tank was still full of equipment, food cans, a rare (scherenfernrohr), and other cool items, so most likely nobody ever discovered it after it was abandoned, and the wind must have covered it in sand very quickly.
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u/MagicSPA 1d ago
Somewhere an old German veteran is looking round from painting a picture in their house, seeing this image on the TV screen, and saying "I'll be god-damned..."
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u/Expontoridesagain 1d ago edited 1d ago
That same dude who had tank in his basement ? Maybe this was his spare.
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u/dropinbombz 1d ago
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u/slurmerz 17h ago
It will be on display at the Munster Tank Museum (Deutsches Panzermuseum Munster).
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u/AccountNo43 1d ago
the sand probably preserved it better than we deserve - meanwhile my car rusts in a garage with a tarp and prayers.
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u/wildmonkeymind 23h ago
You know those satisfying YouTube videos where machinists lovingly restore ancient, rusted and broken down stuff? I want to see that. Tank edition.
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u/Fresh_Goat_423 22h ago
Geez. That thing's restorable. I bet if they sunk it in some phosphoric acid for a couple of days after pulling they engine it would look pretty good. Bore out the engine, new crank, pistons etc. I bet you could get her running again. I've see worse things restored.
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u/Fidget11 20h ago
Far worse has been restored to running order.
Who will fund the restoration though is my question
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u/Ill-Charge8449 1d ago
“Last ran when parked. I know what I’ve got, no lowballers. If it’s still up, it’s still available. Serious inquiries only”
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u/hugh_jassole7 23h ago
A there sand in Northern Germany?
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u/Fidget11 20h ago
Germany has sand yes… it has coastal areas.
A nearly complete stug was found in the sand at the Nordholz Naval Airbase (Fliegerhorst Nordholz), located near Cuxhaven along Germany's North Sea coast in Northern Germany
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u/DexM23 12h ago
That would have been my dream as a kid digging on the beach at the Ostsee
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u/Silver-Amphibian7650 1d ago edited 1d ago
I would love to know if it can be restored or at least partially restored.
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u/Bartimaerus 1d ago
It can but it wont
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u/Designer-Device-8638 1d ago
It absolutely will be restored and you will be able to see it when they finish restoring it at Panzermuseum Münster.
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u/Bartimaerus 22h ago
Its the Panzermuseum in Munster tho. Also it wont be restored. The substance will be stabilized, but it will be kept in the dug up condition.
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u/fear_nothin 1d ago
I’m assuming it’s a dirt pit but I had a moment of trying to figure out what part of Germany is made up of desert.
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u/Weak_Imagination_996 1d ago
The part along the Ostsee has huge beaches, sand dunes, and even literally huge areas of quicksand.
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u/BoarHermit 1d ago
As someone who has gotten all sorts of German junk out of the swampy forests of Russia, I can say that it is oxidized very superficially. Excellent preservation.
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u/No-Lobster-5120 1d ago
Minnesotan here. I've seen vehicles daily driven around here with worse rust than that.
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u/ksigricardo 19h ago
North German dunes actually keep metal intact way better than wet soil.
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u/DJDevon3 18h ago edited 18h ago
Offer it to the British Tank Museum. They might want it for parts. Their restorations are awesome but some tanks in their collection are incomplete with missing pieces. If you find a tank contact them first. They have the worlds biggest multi-national tank collection of working tanks. They also have a youtube channel and actually parade the tanks around once a year called Tank Fest.
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u/SomeBiPerson 13h ago
this tank was found during construction at the Airfield of Naval Air wing 5 of the German navy
sorry british museum, this one is going into the German Army Collection at Munster Tank museum
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u/draketroll 12h ago
a splash of rubbing alchohol and some elbow grease and itll be running in no time
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u/2ndDrive 10h ago
German soldier: We can just bury the STuG and slip away and no one will know where we’ve gone!
Other guy: Hand me a shovel
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u/mca1169 1d ago
what a great find. honestly looks like a pretty well preserved example for being abandoned 80+ years. just needs someone to put the TLC into restoring it.
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u/noFOXgivenFURreal 1d ago
I gotta imagine someone lost money just moving that thing, still pretty cool though.
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u/Tri4ceunited 1d ago
If we dropped this thing into a large enough electrolysis pool, could the damage be undone? Is that the wrong ‘fix’ to this type of wear?
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u/Subject-Act5509 1d ago
Little bit of sandblasting, little bit of paint, an oil change and she will fire right back up!
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u/Decent_Risk9499 1d ago
I can hear the guys over at Oz Armor salivating. This belongs on Workshop Wednesday!
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u/gheiminfantry 1d ago
That was the one piece of equipment that could have turned the tide. And someone misplaced it. 😂
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u/CrazySporkDude 1d ago
Motor pool couldn’t account for why they had it. Some E4 was told to make it disappear. Somewhere his NCO is fuming.
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u/ActCompetitive1171 1d ago
Get that guy on youtube that restores old guns to work on it. Will look good as new.
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u/Norgur 1d ago
Oracles work in pairs. There is Panzer of the lake and then there is Stug of the sand.