14 September 2000, a Komatsu D375A-2 pulled an abandoned tank from its archival tomb under the bottom of a lake near Johvi, Estonia. The Soviet-built T34/76A tank had been resting at the bottom of the lake for 56 years. According to its specifications, it’s a 27-tonne machine with a top speed of 53km/h.
From February to September 1944, heavy battles were fought in the narrow, 50 km-wide, Narva front in the northeastern part of Estonia. Over 100,000 men were killed and 300,000 men were wounded there. During battles in the summer of 1944, the tank was captured from the Soviet army and used by the German army. (This is the reason that there are German markings painted on the tank’s exterior.) On 19 September 1944, German troops began an organised retreat along the Narva front. It is suspected that the tank was then purposefully driven into the lake, abandoning it when its captors left the area.
At that time, a local boy walking by the lake Kurtna Matasjarv noticed tank tracks leading into the lake, but not coming out anywhere. For two months he saw air bubbles emerging from the lake. This gave him reason to believe that there must be an armoured vehicle at the lake’s bottom. A few years ago, he told the story to the leader of the local war history club “Otsing”. Together with other club members, Mr Igor Shedunov initiated diving expeditions to the bottom of the lake about a year ago. At the depth of 7 metres they discovered the tank resting under a 3-metre layer of peat.
Enthusiasts from the club, under Mr Shedunov’s leadership, decided to pull the tank out. In September 2000 they turned to Mr Aleksander Borovkovthe, manager of the Narva open pit of the stock company AS Eesti Polevkivi, to rent the company’s Komatsu D375A-2 bulldozer. Currently used at the pit, the Komatsu dozer was manufactured in 1995, and has 19,000 operating hours without major repairs.
The pulling operation began at 09:00 and was concluded at 15:00, with several technical breaks. The weight of the tank, combined with the travel incline, made a pulling operation that required significant muscle. The D375A-2 handled the operation with power and style. The weight of the fully armed tank was around 30 tons, so the tractive force required to retrieve it was similar. A main requirement for the 68-tonne dozer was to have enough weight to prevent shoe-slip while moving up the hill.
After the tank surfaced, it turned out to be a ‘trophy’ tank, that had been captured by the German army in the course of the battle at Sinimaed (Blue Hills) about six weeks before it was sunk in the lake. Altogether, 116 shells were found on board. Remarkably, the tank was in good condition, with no rust, and all systems (except the engine) in working condition.
This is a very rare machine, especially considering that it fought both on the Russian and the German sides. Plans are under way to fully restore the tank. It will be displayed at a war history museum, that will be founded at the Gorodenko village on the left bank of the River Narva.
Was riding with Crazy Scooter guys today (my two friends, three times older than me). They have a habbit of riding at the side of the road, not sure why. I ask them and they say it’s a bad habbit they need to get out off. I am in the middle of the road like you should be.
Car driver right up my backside swerving all over the road telling me to move to the left so he could pass. I don’t, I stick to where I’m supposed to be. He overtakes e but cuts me up, out side mirrors hit and he causes me to wobble all over the shop, I nearly went!
He’s sticking his fingers up at me and calling me all the names under the sun. I pulled up beside him and I state ‘your f&&cki dead when I next see you.. fat fu&&& cu&!. Don’t ask why, I were mad at the time.
Going into town today and went passed this (already happened when I turned up). I stopped and asked if the bikers were OK. The bike was a Bandwit 1200 with a pillion on the back.
Biker said Lass in red car saw the biker coming but still pulled out in front of them. Biker hit front wheel then went down. Lass in red car didn’t move, stayed in her car, she wasn’t going anywhere. What a bitch.
Link to the picture: http://i42.tinypic.com/2823tds.jpg
I got a handful of @replys on Twitter regarding the dashtube1 account being registered. (Thank you for bringing it to my attention!).
Tonight, someone has registered dashtube1 (it’s registered in low chars) on Twitter. This account is not me, I would fully recommend you blocking this person from contacting you.
A few of you guys have asked me why I haven’t registered this account before.
Well, I did register the account months and months ago. I didn’t use Twitter much and I deleted my account. A few months down the line I decided to give Twitter another go. I contacted Twitter to ask if they would give me access to the account I already had (DashTube1). I got no reply from them and I created 1DashTube. They have obviously deleted the account but they did not contact me and let me know what they had done.
I think I know who the person is who has registered the account. A 12 year old kid who lives in my area who has a very unhealthy love for me and my videos. He follows me around when I walk to the shops and takes photos of me and my bike.
I have contacted Twitter regarding this issue and lets hope they take appropriate action towards this member.
Like I said PLEASE block this person from contacting you. Here is the link to the account you need to block.
http://www.twitter.com/dashtube1
And here is MY account you can follow if you wish.
http://twitter.com/1dashtube1
Again, thank you so much for bringing this to my attention!
Got this from The Sun. Link to the video is posted at the bottom.
What are your thought on this?
170mph death biker is freed
A MOTORCYCLIST who chased and filmed his best friend at up to 170mph before he was killed in a horror road smash walked FREE from court today.
Dad-of-four Fred Bowden, 42, strapped a camera to his bike and followed Andrew Prowse, 46, as the pair clocked up some of the fastest speeds recorded on a British road.
The pair broke the speed limit 30 TIMES in twenty minutes as Bowden filmed his mate Andrew for 25 miles on A-roads in Cornwall.
But their reckless ride ended in tragedy when Andrew clipped a hatchback car on his Kawasaki ZX10R and was thrown under an oncoming camper van.
He died instantly when his legs and head were ripped off and the horrific smash was caught on camera by Bowden.
Bowden was then knocked off his own Kawasaki 1000cc ZX10-R by the flying wreckage of Andrew’s bike.
It later emerged Bowden was clocked at a top speed of 156mph — but his speedometer had reached speeds of 170mph, Truro Crown Court heard.
Bowden was caught speeding 30 times – riding 70mph in a 40mph limit, 100mph in a 60mph limit and 124mph in a 70mph limit.
Bowden, of Helston, Cornwall, had previously pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving but escaped prison.
He was given a 51 week jail sentence suspended for two years, fined �190 and disqualified from driving for three years.
The sentence was suspended after Andrew’s family asked the court to show lenience because he and Bowden were close friends.
Judge Christopher Elwen told him: “This wild ride came to an end with the tragic death of your long time and close friend Andrew Prowse.
“What has been seen on the video was a prolonged course of dangerous driving with grossly high speeds and inappropriate overtaking.
“Motorists were alarmed and afraid for their lives. You will have to live with this for the rest of your life.
“In view of exceptionally powerful mitigation I will suspend the prison term for two years.”
Bowden, a car mechanic, was riding a 1000cc Kawasaki ZX10-R on July 12 last year.
He had intended to take his son for a ride but Andrew, his mate since school, arrived at his house and suggested they go for a ride.
Andrew then fitted his video camera to Bowden’s petrol tank and the pair raced along the A30 in Tolvaddon, Camborne, Cornwall.
One witness, who was overtaken by the speeding pair, told his passenger: “those idiots are going to die if they carry on driving like that”.
During the chase Andrew, of Helston, overtook a Ford Mondeo at 100mph and clipped a hatchback and was thrown under a van.
He became “tangled up” in the vehicle’s wheels and was decapitated and lost both of his legs – as the entire scene was caught on film by Bowden behind him.
Off-duty cop James Gallienne found a scene of “blood and unrecognisable body parts” and immediately called 999.
The officer told a previous hearing: “I could see a small video camera mounted on the fuel tank of the black bike – I could see it was still running.
Defending, Robert Linford said: “Nobody can punish him as much as he has punished himself. They had ridden together a lot.
“Mr Prowse was known to the defendant since their school days. They were best friends and their family were close. He must now live with the knowledge of what happened to his friend.”
Bowden was given a suspended sentence after Andrew’s parents told the court he hadn’t meant for the ride to end in tragedy.
Sidney and Daphne Prowse said: “What happened was not his fault. He is a man who would do anything for anyone. He is an extremely good man.”
The lady and the dog who were attacked last night has been been round to the house and let us know that everything is OK. She is going ahead and reporting the dog to the Police & the RSPCA. Hopefully the dog who attacked them will now be put to sleep.
We have a group of Chavs living down the road from us, they are surprisenly quiet to be honest. They have an American Pit Bull what they show off, it’s a very mean dog.
This old lady were walking her dog down our backstreet this evening. The Pit bull jumped over the fence and starting attacking the other dog, the old woman were screaming for help, whilst the dog it was attacking were yelping.
A lot of the neighbours ran out of their houses and helped the situation. Eventually they got the dog off the other dog, I ran up and picked the little dog what was getting the attacked and walked down to my house.
I held the old ladys hand and told her to come down to my back yard. I give her a cup of tea and a ciggeratte. I then started to cry, the dog was so scared and was very injured. The old lady had a big gash where the dog bit her too. I give her a tea towel and rapped it round her hand. Chav walked down and walks straight into my yard to see if everything was OK, he states that the dog has been in trouble before as it attacked a sheep. I’m like, ”mate, not being funny or anything but that dog of yours needs to be put to sleep asap”. He didn’t say anything.
Just wondering what you guys think about this? you agree that the dog needs to be put to sleep? I walked the lady up to her home and I told her to go to the hospital tonight and take the dog to the vets tomorrow. She said she would, I do hope so does!
Please leave me a comment and let me know what should happen now?
It was my friends 30′th birthday at the weekend, he invited he over for a few drinks. He’s a very good friend of mine, been friends for many years. Here is a video of me dancing. I’m wearing the green top of course!
