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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

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22 posted on 08/20/2015 4:43:17 AM PDT by SJackson (C Matthews: should NY State recognize gay marriage? Sen Clinton: "No!" The crowd booed, 2002)
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To: SJackson; SunkenCiv
Assuming there really is a train, it could have had anything in it, not necessarily loot. Breslau was the major city of the then German province of Silesia. During WWII it was considered "safe" in that it was too far east to get the regular British and American bombings Berlin and other cities were getting. So, the population swelled.

The great Operation Bagration drove the Germans out of all Russia and half of Poland, but stopped on the Vistula line in August 1944. The Germans lulled into a false sense of security. Suddenly, in January 1945 the Russians jumped off the winter offensive that would take them to within 40 miles of Berlin. Konev was headed straight for Breslau and fast. A panicked evacuation of civilians began.

So, who knows what might have been on that train? Could have been loot from the East. Could have been machinery; that was a German industrial region. Could have been valuable stuff senior administrators and rich people were taking. Or, opening that tunnel might be another Al Capone's Vault moment.

The epilogue is the Wehrmacht designated Breslau as a Festung, or strong point. It was completely surrounded by mid-February and did not fall until after Berlin fell. Most of the city was destroyed in bitter fighting.

28 posted on 08/20/2015 4:56:46 PM PDT by colorado tanker
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