The Second World War left its mark on the world, as it was discovered by accident in Russia a few years ago, in a region called Nevsky Pyatachok.
The signs of this war can still be found today, into the fully grown trees of the region. The pictures below are depicting trees that have literally grown over the years and swallowed weapons, grenades, artillery shells and pieces of equipment which are decades old.
The forest is carrying deep scars of history and war, which time has decided to keep.
A Maxim machine gun sticks out of the ground and through the tree trunk. Image credits: dasBILD
One might even say that the trees are memories of the events surrounding this place. During WWII, between 1941 and 1944, the Nevsky Pyatachok area was known as a staging ground for the numerous assaults made on Leningrad (the neighboring city) by the German army, during the Siege of Leningrad.
The conflict between the German soldiers and the Soviet troops left behind a large number of weapons, bombs, grenades and other pieces of equipment from both armies. An estimated 260,000 Soviet troops died while attempting to restore a land route with the city of Leningrad and another 160,000 German soldiers died by trying to fight them off.
The mystery behind these Soviet helmets is that they were probably dropped during a firefight on the young sapling trees that have now grown. Image credits: dasBILD
Most of the weapons and equipment are Russian, as the casualties count would have us already guess, although the once staging German army also left behind many weapons. Such as this Mannlicher Carcano rifle and the Maxim machine gun that stick out of tree trunks.
A grenade (most probably still live) was swallowed by the tree trunk over the passing decades. Image credits: dasBILD
Image credits: dasBILD
Image credits: dasBILD
