The BT-7 the team helped bring back to life is the only working specimen in the world. It is not easy to sell them abroad. Many tanks lie in the vast expanses of swamp and forest in Belarus (Credit: Denis Aldokhin), There is a different problem in the summer. When they are not gathering dust they are participating in parades or filming. news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_9450000/newsid_9451800/9451850.stm Some of them settle on plinths as monuments (practically every Belarusian town has one), while some become museum exhibits in Belarus or Russia. Sometimes, he is the only person who knows how to fix a spare part or understand why the tank won’t start. “From the very beginning we worked without a salary. But the tank renovators do not play favourites. Vladimir drives an old Soviet Niva four-by-four. Inside there were Soviet hair brushes and shaving razors. The second team, an amateurs club called Poisk, which is where Vladimir and Mikalutski started to learn their trade almost 20 years ago. On the wheels it can go 70km/h and on its tracks 55km/h,” says Vladimir. Now Vladimir works as the chief mechanic and renovator in a historic and cultural complex called the ‘Stalin Line’ near the country’s capital, Minsk. As the Soviets reeled under the surprise attack, the most powerful German formations swept through what is now Belarus. It seems mosquitoes will overturn the van.”. Calling all adventurous aged five to seven join some of history's most exciting explorers as they travel the The Germans were especially good at it. ’ se ct i o n i n f o rmi n g p u p i l s a n i n t ri g u i n g , l e ss we l l -kn o wn f a ct a b o u t t h e ‘ ke y mo me n t ’ i n q u e st i o n . The Marshall Plan binds the Allies together The KV-1 we have followed in this story was restored to help mark the 75th anniversary of Kolobanov’s battle. If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called “If You Only Read 6 Things This Week”. With photographer Anton Skyba, I was able to witness one heavy Soviet tank, a KV-1, being restored after its recovery – and its participation in a re-enactment of a World War Two battle. It could fly across bridges.”. When it is very deep they put on chemical protection suits. Mikalutski is a former marine engineer, who worked in the navy search and rescue service for eight years. Two days later, Britain declared war on Germany and World War Two began. “Almost intact,” Vladimir says. long-buried World War Two tanks back to life, The world’s biggest plane may have a new mission. The KV-1 was feared by the Germans because its armour was too thick for their standard shells. Vladimir was trained as mechanic. This was almost 20 years ago. Read about our approach to external linking. Learn about and revise World War Two and how it changed history like no other event in the modern era with BBC Bitesize KS3 History. He was absolutely right – the BT-7 was discovered 10 metres (33ft) away from the current spring. “It is easy to hunt when you are shown a definite point,” says Mikalutski. A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Earth, Culture, Capital, and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday. When working for the club, they sold a German armored vehicle, an SdKfz 252, to a collector in Britain, and a Soviet heavy tank IS-2 went to a private collection in Latvia. From its inception during But it doesn’t match,” says Vladimir. However, recovering such finds is time-consuming and the license for searching and recovering military equipment is only issued personally by the country’s president, Alexander Lukashenko. “All our tanks are our favourites, even the German ones,” says Mikalutski. It is not just shells that see the light of day. Now, more than 75 years after the fighting, both Soviet and German tanks are being lifted from the marshes in Belarus. You’ll find everything from the story about the world’s greatest space mission to the truth about whether our cats really love us, the epic hunt to bring illegal fishermen to justice and the small team which brings long-buried World War Two tanks back to life. Now the team works for an official fixed salary. “But to get to the point you may have to go five kilometres through marshes or snow. “If you want to change one spare part in a German tank you have to dismantle half of the machine,” says Vladimir. And hide inside your house on wheels, ” says Mikalutski unique discovery when they recovered a German III... From a T-34 launched in 1942 to put it on the War escape. 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