A hiker in Germany could not believe his eyes when he spotted a Soviet grenade that looked as if it was being eaten by a tree.
The bizarre discovery was made by the man walking in the forest surrounding the rural community of Rothenstein, which after 1945 ended up under Soviet control. When Germany was reunified in 1990, it became part of the newly created state of Thuringia.
The hiker called police, and the bomb squad were quickly on the scene and confirmed that appeared to be a Soviet army grenade that was probably left over from a shooting exercise.
A police spokesman told local media: “According to the bomb squad experts, it turned out to only be a practice grenade which the tree appears to have grown into. It is apparently a remnant of a shooting exercise carried out by the Soviet army when they were in the region.”
They said that the grenade was located in what was previously the Soviets Rothenstein military training area.
Declassified American satellite photographs show that the area included shooting ranges and a military helicopter pad all of which was closed after reunification.
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Story By: Michael Leidig, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
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