Budapest, January - February 1945.
Pay attention to the right lower corner of the phtograph.
Is that theft?
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_Og9bGnISHBg/SV4afDGITuI/AAAAAAAAGZ4/KkCESnaD9ZQ/s800/Будапешт-2.jpg
Igor
Looks like somebody salvaging something useful from a pile of scrap.
Either that or he’s a very optimistic repair man :mrgreen:
Richie
He is “appropriating” materials for military use.
That one is Soviet soldier.
do you think that it is a theft that he is taking the wheel of that - hhm-hhm - bus.
Either that or he’s a very optimistic repair man :mrgreen:
Richie
:mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:
He is merely a disappointed bicycle thief acquiring materials for an off-road unicycle. 
Seriously, what is the point of the original question when we don’t know anything about the context which enables us to offer any useful opinion?
Or is this just a thread for fun?
Fun is good.
But as someone said on the Internet: “I love how in the second photo the Russian is ALREADY stealing the wheel from the bus.”
So I was curious how other people think of that?
It doesn’t look like anyone else will be using the bus. Why not get the scrap parts?
How do we know he’s Russian?
How do we know he’s taking the wheel?
How do we know he’s not doing it with the owner’s permission?
How do we know that what appears to be a wheel brace isn’t two pieces of metal, or something else, involved in doing something other than removing a wheel?
We’ve been here before in another thread, but without context a photgraph often tells us nothing more than we see, and everything else is speculation.
Because of the hat. And because the OP said so. 
The Internet would never lie to us!
He is already busy removing it…:neutral:
Looking at the Bus, the owner is most likely pushing up the daisies…:mrgreen:
Right, he’s trimming the Hedge that’s growing under the bus.
Isn’t that the Beauty of it all :mrgreen::mrgreen:
On-Topic:
Judging by the condition of the town, etc, I assume that Martial Law is in effect. So if the guy working the bus, or hedge, is in fact a soldier, he should have the right to do so if he was ordered by an officer, IIRC.
Also, who knows, maybe he’s not even removing a wheel, but rather adding one, in a (probably useless) attempt at fixing it up again…
Yes, we have.
I am not fully agree that it has no merit at all to look at the photos and think of what we can conclude. We just should not make too bold judgements, that is it.
Any way… lets now say that that is in fact a Soviet soldier taking a wheel off…
What then???
Hard to imagine the soldier takes the vehicle’s rim for personel needs. What is he going to do? Haul the damn thing throughout the rest of the war and later back to Omsk (or wherever:D)?
Maybe he found some stuff? Like a Stein mug, or a luger…
Obviously it is an act of random kindness and selfless benevolence! He is obviously changing the flat tire on the bus as part of a total restoration and repair for the good citizens of Budapest.
Thats exactly what i was thinking!!
but honestly i am pretty sure that the bus is not moving no more
so i think its safe to take the tire.
Until now I’ve never thought to consider the legal system, if any, applying to an occupied area soon after a battle.
My understanding of martial law as a term is that it is usually declared by a legitimate (or illegitimate) government to alter the usual state of affairs to meet a real or purported emergency within the jurisdiction.
I have no idea what law applies when soldiers invade a town or area in the course of an advance. In WWII, and off the top of my head, I suspect it was just the Hague Conventions at best.
Could be an interesting research topic to pursue in a separate thread, if anyone’s interested.
Well, I just translated Martial Law from the German “Kriegsrecht” (literally “Rights in War”), which, if I am not totally wrong, applies as soon as an area is under military control during a war. Maybe FTG can clear that up…
Of course it would have had to be called out first, but at least in this case I’d be surprised if the Germans hadn’t already done that when Budapest was under siege. And the Russian commander would have most likely repeated this, up until the town and it’s closer area are all pacified and the Front moved away far enough to return to a normal order.
I cannot tell you 100% what Martial Law included for the Germans or the Russians (I’m not lawyer), but I’m sure that it included things like that soldiers are allowed to take anything necessary from the civil population, curfews, harsh punishments for disobedience, etc…
Sure this is theft, mate.
This is well known fact- Soviets always stealed the Wheels from everything that move;)
But honestly …they didn’t all time stealed the wheels.
Once one has stealed the …Henkell:) And has moved to USSR on it.
:mrgreen:
BTW the old GErmans anecdote.
-Why do Russians always steal TWO car in GErmany?
-Becouse they have to drive back to Russia…through Poland:)
Yeah, there’s a lot of these kinds of cynical jokes in Germany…
Here’s a politically correct one for a change
Two Submarines meet in the middle of the Atlantic. One is Russian, the other one is American.
In an attempt to impress the American captain, the Russian says:
“We Russians build the best submarines! We’ve been underwater for 3 months, and we dove under the North Pole!”
Of course the American captain can’t let it rest like that and responds:
“Ha, that’s nothing! We’ve been underwater for 6 months, and we dove under the North Pole twice!”
Suddenly, bubbles show up next to them, and an old German submarine appears next to them. Waving the White Flag, the captain leaves the ship, and asks the other two:
“Is the war over yet?”
The Russian and the American both laugh and tell him that it’s over, and that Germany lost.
The German, in a mix of sadness and happiness yells towards his sailors:
“Men, we lost the war, get rid of the Kaiser’s portrait!”
Aha hahha ha ha:mrgreen:
Nice one
:mrgreen: