Tanks stolen from military training ground in Poland

Tank thieves arrested in south east Poland
thenews.pl
12.02.2009
Two men aged 25 and 35, suspected of having stolen tanks from a
military training ground are being detained by police in £ukow, Lublin province.
One of the tanks was found by the police officers near Radzyñ Podlaski, while it was being carried by a car transporter. The other three were being kept in private property in Lublin, next to a metal scrap yard. The thieves were trying to sell the WW II dated

vehicles, believe police.
But how was it possible that four large tanks went missing? "The military training ground is a big area and it's not monitored," says Anna Smarzak from the Regional Police Headquarters in Lublin.

The tanks were stolen on Tuesday night when about ten men equipped
with bulldozers and cranes entered the area. The tank thieves stole T-34 and T-55 tanks which were used for training. The police established that one of the witnesses saw the

tanks leave the ground but they were convinced that this was a part of normal military training.
The tanks are worth an estimated at 60,000 zloty or 13,000 euro.
The police are continuing their investigation.

tvn24.pl/-1,1585833,0,1,zniknely-czolgi-z-poligonu,wiadomosc.html

Dam...! don,t suppose i will get my deposit back on the tank i ordered...?

is this a step up or down from BMWs?

Not sure , but if they drive the tanks like they drive the BMW,s there will be carnage on the roads.....!

frightening, huh?

Not really!! Those tanks wore used as targets on the training field for Polish Military training!! And these tanks are old; they don't work any more they are from 1940, 50s and 60's. The plan was to scrap them/ recycle and make a quick buck! The people accountable for that got stopped and arrested and there is an inside military investigation going on!! It's so bad/poor that people will do any thing to make money to survive!! But it’s funny how the military protect their training field, god forbid it was a real life fire exercise gaining on that some on could have gotten hurt/killed!!

They are training in T-34???

Probably not i think.....most likely they were going to be used as target practice...

It is eastern europe !

Of course not. Read Lotnik`s explanation. It is correct.


Apart from being targets, the tanks also made a nice decoration of the field. You know, like in real warfare, wrecks of burnt out tanks hinder the path/way and tank drivers must watch out for them, especially at night.

Nice target practice! :)

I have to say that until they got caught one has to appreciate the guts to pull that stunt.
We shoot up old tanks in the U.S. as well; it is interesting that someone would just take one for recycling. Those things weigh quite a bit, I imagine that there would be considerable income just from the scrap metal.

Yes, it is also feasible that someone could just take one with a crane and a truck. That's how they probably got there in the first place...

Still I get a chuckle out of this story.

John P.

No, it is a serious matter. Those thieves should be acquitted. They are fervid environmentalists, they just couldn`t bear the sight of metal lumps littering their romantic forest.

ahhh.
environmentalists. So much for my theory of mischievious old ladies running a criminal recycling ring....
:D

John P.

Exactly. But I didn`t copy your idea, believe me. I am not like that.

Come to Poland your tank is already here.

Waiting for them to fix the things up...

You are thinking cars, Sokrates ;) ;)

This is the first thing that came to mind when I read the title of this thread:

almost a free association. The Poles stole that tanks because they probably wanted to make some money, this guy is just plain crazy.

nope. they are used as target during training. the same situation is in other armies (well... not wit t34 but with their old tanks)


since where poland is in eastern europe?

Then someone is not a very good shot because I can't see any damage to the tanks :)

Imagine that there are some 122 mm guns firing to tank from WWII. After few shots there wouldn't be nothing except big hole;) Soldiers are using shells with paint or only with laser targeting.

Well for some the "Berlin bauer" still excist!

Really, how hard is it to get that something like: South-Eastern, North-Western, North-Eastern, South Eastern & Central Europe excists?

Would you place Greece in West? Would you place Greece in East?!
Balkans is it own category too...
There is more to the story then 2 sides

I remember in Greece some years ago a soldier visited his gf and with no car available he came to her home with his tank.

It happened in Germany too...a British soldier went on the run with a stolen tank...he didn,t get so far though...they are not very economic on fuel...

if the price of scrap metal will rise in U.S. we will see it as the tanks sit on U.S. military bases where everyone can access them.

Your eyes are in perfect order, then. They shot at them with blanks.