Ever wanted to see a World War II era Soviet tank pulled out of a lake? Surely it would just be a heap of rusted metal, virtually indistinguishable as a piece of machinery. When you wash the mud off it you certainly wouldn't expect to be able to still see the markings on its turret etc?

Well - that is what I had assumed (incorrectly it turns out). Here are a couple of videos of tanks being rescued in remarkable condition. They have been floating around on the internet for a while (I certainly recall seeing the second video a couple of years ago) - but when someone sent them across to me a few days ago I couldn't help but watch them, and figured it would only be fair to share them all with you.

This first video shows a level of engineering skill and disregard for health and safety that is pretty impressive, backed up with some rather jolly martial music that had me dancing at my desk*.

 

Whilst this second video shows a tank emerging from an Estonian lake.

 

 

*That may be a slight exaggeration.

 

In related Tank news - our bumper book Tiger is out this month. The best tank-related pun in the comments below will win a copy of Tiger. Tanks for that!