On September 26, Ukraine’s Border Guard Service posted images on its Facebook page of a large cache of guns it discovered near the border with Poland. The decaying munitions were uncovered after officers began investigating what appeared to be outlines of several rifles on the surface of the ground.
With the aid of Ukraine’s National Police and National Security Service, excavation began. In all, they recovered 75 Mosin-Nagants, ammunition and hand grenades, all believed to have been manufactured and “lost” sometime around World War I. The 7.62x52 mm R ammunition was still in stripper clips.
The wood stocks, on what appears to be Mosin-Nagant M1891 rifles, had largely rotted away. The skeletal remains of rusted receivers and barrels were primarily all that remained, along with the bayonets affixed during storage more than 100 years ago.
Ukraine’s Main Department of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Zakarpattia Oblast posted a follow-up on its webpage announcing, “Specialists of the pyrotechnic work group of the Special Forces Emergency Squad, who arrived on call, inspected the area and seized three hand grenades from the First World War and 4,500 rounds of ammunition” [Google translation]. The munitions were later safely destroyed.
A variety of skirmishes took place in Ukraine’s Zakarpattia Oblast region during World War I, including the battle of Rafajlowa. It began just after midnight on Jan. 24, 1915, when 4,000 Russian forces attacked Polish army positions. Backed by artillery, they quickly secured the first trenches, but were ultimately repelled when the defenders mounted what became close-quarters counterattack that included fixed bayonets.
The village of Rafajlowa, which is now known as Bystrytsia, was considered of strategic importance during World War I. It occupies a pass in the Carpathian Mountains that would have allowed Russian forces to advance more easily through Poland.
