Nazi-Era Sub-Machine Gun Found in a River by Magnet Fishers

The Second World War may have ended more than 75 years ago, but its impact can still be seen across Europe, and the wider world.

In some places the land remains indelibly scarred from warfare, while buildings carry bullet holes from long-forgotten battles, and memorials commemorate the lives lost between 1939 and 1945.

Unexploded bombs are still uncovered today, forcing the evacuation of residents as specialists are called in to diffuse them.

Another piece of weaponry was recently discovered, after a German sub-machine gun thought to be from World War II was detected by magnet fishers.

The historical relic was brought up from the murky depths near a town called Stroud, in the U.K., in the River Frome.

The extremely corroded gun was shared to the Gloucestershire Police Specialist Ops Twitter account, @GlosPolSpecOps, on Wednesday.

It shows the distinctive firearm—with the strap still attached—which has been weathered by decades underwater. It was found alongside a few bullets.

Explaining more about the find, and its age, the post said: "OF63—called to help out a fisherman today who pulled something a bit different from the river! This German sub-machine gun is a piece of history which could be as old as 1940."

They went on to explain both items were found by magnet fisherman, who alerted the police to their find.

The police account tweeted: "No we wouldn't advise eating this one! This was found on a stretch of river in Stroud. The weapon is going to be examined by our force armourer."

One eagle-eyed poster spotted the bullets didn't match the weapon, as Sam Coupland wrote: "There's probably more down there. Those bullets don't go with that gun."

To which the cop account replied: "We are aware the ammunition found is a different calibre to that of the weapon, just showing both the items found by the fisherman."

Declan Rogers also commented on the find, saying: "Wow how weird to think it's been sitting there all those years."

Richard Smith joked: "That'll polish up."

While Ken Goodwin added: "A splash of WD40, sorted."

In related news, a former Nazi concentration camp secretary was due to stand trial last week, but fled instead. According to Agence France-Presse, she was detained hours later and remanded in custody. On Tuesday, a court ruled that she could be freed under certain conditions, still according to the news agency.

Irmgard Furchner failed to show at the Itzehoe court, north of Hamburg, Germany, on Thursday, September 30. The next hearing has been scheduled for October 19.

The 96-year-old is set to be the first woman in decades to stand trial in Germany for the atrocities committed under the Nazi regime. She is charged with aiding and abetting 11,412 murders committed between 1943 and 1945.

Furchner was 18 when began work as a typist at the Stutthof camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. Christoph Rückel, a lawyer who has represented Holocaust survivors for years, said Furchner had "kept all the correspondence of the camp commander" while working for said commander Paul Werner Hoppe.

Newsweek reached out to @GlosPolSpecOps for comment.