From time immemorial, in any military conflict, the victorious side had the opportunity to take numerous trophies. In the old days, military booty was one of the sources of enrichment. But how did things stand with this already in the 20th century, when multimillion-dollar armies converged on the battlefields? What did they do with the numerous captured weapons, equipment, equipment in the Soviet Union, and is it really true that every second soldier of the regular army carried a captured MP-40 with him, like in the movies?
You can't just take and appropriate a trophy of war, especially when it comes to the wars of the 20th century. Collecting trophies and looting are two different things. The first is the organized command of the process of collecting things that are valuable primarily for the army. The second is the disorganized grassroots initiative of soldiers and officers, which is naturally punished by the army's law enforcement agencies.
After the end of the battle, special sanitary, funeral and trophy teams worked at the battle site. If everything should be clear with the first two, then many citizens do not even know about the existence of the latter. A trophy team is soldiers of supply units or specially designated soldiers of line units who collect weapons, ammunition, equipment, equipment and even clothing on the battlefield after the end of the battle.
All collected trophies are subject to the strictest accounting and inventory. In addition, trophy teams are engaged in work with the local population, offering them cash or food incentives during the war for the trophies found and donated to the state fund. After collection, all valuables were sorted.
Some of the least suitable are sent in echelons to the deep rear for processing into secondary raw materials. Garments, mainly footwear, are used for the needs of the army and the rear. Trophy cars, trucks, trains, planes are most often repaired and taken for the needs of the army. Armored vehicles in most cases are sent to be melted down.
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As for weapons, after sorting, they are either sent to warehouses in stock or distributed between line units. Light small arms: machine guns, rifles and pistols in most cases are taken to the rear. Some of this equipment is used to strengthen assault and reconnaissance units. Most often, samples of heavy weapons are still left at the front, since they are never superfluous (machine guns, mortars, anti-tank rifles and hand grenade launchers were distributed among the units).
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After the end of the war, all captured equipment was removed from the army and sent to warehouses for stockpiling, as well as for disposal.
Continuing the topic, read about how the irreplaceable fighting girlfriend was createdthat saved so many lives - a soldier's helmet.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/080820/55599/