Archaeologists in northern Poland have unearthed the remains of five German soldiers killed in the final stages of World War II.
Among the grisly remains are those of two Luftwaffe paratroopers killed by Soviet shelling as the Red Army and Polish forces advanced.
The body of one was discovered exactly where he fell in 1945.
“He froze in the position he lost his life in,” the POMOST archeological team wrote in a Facebook post.
Missing in action
The find is more than just historically significant, however, as it also has an important human dimension.
The dog tags found on the corpses were intact, not having been snapped in half in accordance with German military procedures at the time.
This detail indicates that the men were never confirmed dead and were presumably recorded as missing in action. Researchers hope the tags will help them identify the soldiers and inform their descendants of their fate.
The remains and other artifacts unearthed at the dig will be sent to a local military museum for further examination.