The Four missing US Army soldiers

[Igel]

17. The default hypothesis has to be that they sank in the muck.

Some sources say "sinkhole"--if even nodding towards accuracy, then it's likely to be a place that the planners thought safe for the behemoth of a vehicle to transit but were mistaken. Or maybe the crew/passengers were mistaken.

Assumption is that they're in the vehicle. No foul play. Just a mistake. Probably can't even blame a mechanic for screwing up.

Yes, Pabrade isn't far from the BR border, but you know, Belorus' and the Smolenshchina are known in Russia for two things: their funny dialects and their swamps. Hitler and his armies hated them--it was horrible, in the winter you could pass but it was cold, miserable, and food was limited; in the summer you would get bogged down, literally. But if you watch many Soviet-era WWII movies, many of them (those not placed in Stalingrad) very often tended to feature swamps, at least in places. And the sheer number of rusted out tanks in those bogs and swamps is stunning.