Recovery after the battle is one of those misc. tasks that is written in the books. As long as the area is reasonably safe, smart armies send out salvage parties. Besides looking for bodies and signs of missing soldiers, a lot of valuable equipment can be gathered for reuse or recycling back into the supply chain. What the Germans lost in Eastern Europe, you can bet the Russians put to good use one way or another.
An old shooter friend talked about recovering Shermans in Italy to reuse the final drives. He never sent his men into burnt tanks because he didn't want them also to live with what he'd seen and found. In Normandy, Maj "Rad" Radley Walters (Sherbrooke Fusilier Regt) made all his replacement crews do battle runs on German hulks to refine their combat shooting to his satisfaction.
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Terry Warner
- 74-????? M151A2
- 70-08876 M38A1
- 53-71233 M100CDN trailer
Beware! The Green Disease walks among us!
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