# US tank from WWII found under French road **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 6, 2008, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-tank-from-wwii-found-under-french-road/451962 "2008-06-06T01:48:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2008, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-tank-from-wwii-found-under-french-road/451962/1 "2008-06-06T01:48:14Z")
[Link to story](http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23819856-5012895,00.html) Interesting. I wonder if it could be restored? And how many others are out there, still buried? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-tank-from-wwii-found-under-french-road/451962/2 "2008-06-06T01:56:37Z")
Now you see right there is camouflage (it protects from observation) and cover (it protects from fire). I thought it would be a Sherman, but this is a less-common M5. It would be quite a bit rarer. Europe is covered with this stuff. (Or more accurately, Europe covers this stuff.) After war, priority was on getting things back to normal as quickly and cheaply as possible. Lots of artifacts of war were just tossed aside. Even dud bombs were just covered up. (It is worth note that WWI munitions are still uncovered in France by the ton.) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2008, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-tank-from-wwii-found-under-french-road/451962/3 "2008-06-06T10:45:45Z")
The M5 was a variant on the M3, the Stuart tank. > **[M3 Stuart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_tank)** > > The M3 Stuart/Light Tank M3, was an American light tank of World War II. An improved version of the tank entered service as the M5 in 1942 to be supplied to British and other Commonwealth forces under lend-lease prior to the entry of the U.S. into the war. Afterwards, it was used by U.S. and Allied forces until the end of the war. > The British service name "Stuart" came from the American Civil War Confederate general J. E. B. Stuart and was used for both the M3 and the derivative M5 Light Tank. U... And… in DC comics, it was The Haunted Tank. > **[Haunted Tank](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Haunted_Tank)** > > The Haunted Tank is a comic book feature that appeared in the DC Comics anthology war title G.I. Combat from 1961 through 1987. > The Haunted Tank was created by writer and editor Robert Kanigher and artist Russ Heath in G.I. Combat #87 (May 1961). The feature centers on the ghost of 19th-century Confederate general J. E. B. Stuart, who is sent by the spirit of Alexander the Great to act as a guardian over his two namesakes, Lieutenant Jeb Stuart (named Jeb Stuart Smith in the early stories, event... A TPB collection of which I have 12 inches from my left elbow as I type this. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2008, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-tank-from-wwii-found-under-french-road/451962/4 "2008-06-06T10:57:05Z")
I hope they don’t open it and let the zombies out. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2008, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-tank-from-wwii-found-under-french-road/451962/5 "2008-06-06T13:38:41Z")
Technically, who owns such recovered vehicles? ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2008, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-tank-from-wwii-found-under-french-road/451962/6 "2008-06-06T15:00:18Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Technically, who owns such recovered vehicles? [/QUOTE] The zombies. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2008, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-tank-from-wwii-found-under-french-road/451962/7 "2008-06-06T17:29:04Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Technically, who owns such recovered vehicles? [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=vibrotronica] The zombies. [/QUOTE] Who would you get to Repo them, Indiana Jones? ---
**Author:** ![Spiny\_Norman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Spiny\_Norman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiny_Norman)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2008, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-tank-from-wwii-found-under-french-road/451962/8 "2008-06-06T18:39:28Z")
Back when I wore green (well, mottled camo) in Denmark, the tankers from our regiment had a “friendship regiment” in (then) West Germany - they’d go there to train quite often, and a bunch of traditions had sprung up, as tends to happen when soldiers congregate - one of them being a gift exchange at the end of the deployment. One year, a WWII relic had been uncovered at a nearby Danish Air Force base: During the occupation of Denmark, the German commander of the base had apparently improvised a pillbox for close defense by mounting the turret from a Panzer Mark1 on a concrete fortification. After liberation, the gun had been removed and the pillbox had been forgotten for 40some years. The turret was moved to our tank repair facility and brought back to near-mint condition over a few weeks, crowned by a gleaming layer of Wehrmacht Field Gray paint. And then gift-wrapped. At the end of the next deployment in Germany, the Danish CO made the traditional speech expressing gratitude for hospitality and cameraderie, ending in him hinting that this year’s gift was more of a return of lost property, really. And stepping aside with a wicked grin. It appears that there’s no standard procedure for accepting a WWII tank turret in the West German Army regulations. The German CO went through an array of facial colors and expressions, until he managed to sputter something about yesterday’s enemies being today’s allies and thanking for a most unexpected present. Much beer was consumed and presents henceforth had to be cleared on the regimental level. (The turret incidentally turned out to be rather rare variant and is now displayed in a German armor museum.) ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-tank-from-wwii-found-under-french-road/451962/9 "2008-06-08T18:09:35Z")
There is a Churchill AVRE on display at Graye-sur-Mer which was dug out of a hole in the road in the 1970s [Chuchill AVRE](http://statisticseng.bravepages.com/CHURCH.jpg)