© RuptlyScreenshot from video
A team of amateur archeologists, devoted to recovering remains and artifacts from WWII sites, made the discovery when they unearthed the trench in one of the city's suburbs.
In autumn of 1941, it was the site of fierce battles as the Russians tried to prevent Nazi troops from entering Rostov-on-Don.
The camera was tucked away carefully in a bag, probably by a Red Army officer whose remains were discovered in the trench along with a helmet and machine gun shells.
"He was defending his position and died when the Germans hit him with a frag grenade", says Andrey Kudryakov, a search brigade chief.
The camera itself is a legendary Leica A model, one of the world's first portable small cameras, created in Germany in 1925. The film inside was mostly damaged beyond restoration, except for one frame which miraculously remained intact. Experts carefully applied various methods to develop the surviving frame piece by piece.
© RuptlyScreenshot from video
Historians believe that this could be the last photo of a local volunteer battalion that was one of the first to face Nazis during the opening phase of the war.
© RuptlyScreenshot from video
Reader Comments
@blackwolfpaul:
You forgot to capitalize.
!!
ned
Germany had by then realised it faced 35,000 tanks and all the fuel they required.... They declared war on the USA!!!! Afterwards, the got the Marshall plan.
USA rescued Europe from complete Soviet domination.
Just rememeber who encouraged Germany to rearm. Germany attacked the USSR. Not the other way around.
BTW, did the photographies show one of the NKVD officers, ready to shoot any of their own soldiers hesitating to "die heroically for his country" ?
As for the comment about amassing troops near Germany-USSR border: Stalin knew Hitler would betray him by attacking, so was preparing for it (maybe Stalin was even aiming for preemptive strike, but a counter-strike is more likely, in any way he wasn't ready), but Hitler attacked earlier than anticipated, and the Soviets had their butts kicked by Germans. The first real roadblock was Moscow, when Hitler was forced to order defence for the first time in this operation - it was one or two days before Pearl Harbor.
I think this could be reason the Japanese faction willing to attack USA (and not USSR) prevailed - they remembered their loss in August 1939 against USSR, and thought that Germans are losing their steam, so it's not worth joining them actively. The Japanese continued diplomatic relations with governments in exile of some countries invaded by Germans (like Poland) so it's clear they weren't 100% sure the Germans will win their war. Still, they overcalculated.
Soviet wouldn't be able to completely dominate Europe in any possible set of circumstances. They struggled against Germany which was fighting on multiple fronts, and were not attacked by the most dangerous Germany ally. They needed help from other countries. How could possibly they dominate Europe? This is a myth, which is still used today, but Russia is inserted in place of USSR, for propaganda purposes. Now, Stalin himself maybe had his dreams, but he was a psychopath, and they are always too optimistic.
And the only reason the were able to dominate part of Europe were agreements with USA, UK, and nominally with France. Basically part of Europe was sold to them by these countries (mostly USA, because UK was already subservient to the US, and France was for looks).
nedlud= FUCK OFF!!