Looking for the Great Patriotic War machinery in the lakes of Pskov Oblast

The search expedition of the Russian Geographical Society and the Expedition Center of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has finished in Pskov Oblast. Specialists studied the local forests and four lakes, hoping to find military equipment from the time of the Great Patriotic War, lost during the fighting in 1944. The expedition participants debunked the myths that there could be wrecked tanks and planes in the places they examined, but they found other traces of military operations and plan to continue work...

Professional search squads from the “Forgotten Battalion” organization, the “Panther Trail” association and Voronezh Underwater Operations Center, “Peter”, were brought in to participate in the expedition of the Russian Geographical Society and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Specialists carefully examined Lake Sviblo , Lake Pustoye Mogilno, Lakes Sutokskoye and Nevedro with the help of modern equipment. They carried out magnetometric, radar and visual searches to exclude by 99.9% the possibility of missing any technical object

According to local residents and some archival data, the Soviet tanks and planes hit by the Germans should have been in the lakes, but the scouts did not find any signs of iron machinery in the reservoirs.

“I would not call the result negative, because dispelling the legend is also work,” said Vladimir Bumakov, commander of the “Forgotten Battalion” search squad in Sebezh. “We did not find anything in Lake Sviblo, although locals said that there could be two of our tanks, which fell through ice because of German explosive shells. In Lake Pustoye Mogilno, there could have been a T-34 tank, which tried to move across the ice of the lake to break into a German stronghold in the village of Aleksandrovo, but there is no equipment at the bottom. We searched for planes in Lakes Sutokskoye and Nevedro, but didn’t find anything. Perhaps the equipment was pulled out immediately after the war."

At the same time, the remains of a crossing, most likely created by by Soviet troops, were found at the bottom of Lake Sviblo. Its wooden poles were preserved. In addition, in Lakes Sviblo and Pystoye Mogilno, search squads found a huge number of fragments of air bombs and artillery shells.

“The Germans worked here very seriously, in large calibers. Our troops had a hard time,” said Vladimir Bumakov.

The exploration is planned to continue in the fall. The experts will explore other lakes in Pskov Oblast. The search squads are sure that sooner or later military equipment will certainly be found, because there were active military operations in the area; and local residents continue to claim that tanks and planes are left under the ice.

"We want to find equipment and put it on a pedestal in the village of Idritsa - in the homeland of the Banner of Victory in the Great Patriotic War; or in the city of Sebezh. These cities deserve such monuments. They would remind people nowadays and their descendants of the price at which the independence of our country was won," added Vladimir Bumakov.