Any future human endeavours to colonise the planet are to be subverted, and if necessary, sabotaged.
A destroyed tank encountered on 2209-Sierra
Item #: 8849⠀
Level 2
⠀
Object Class:
neutralised
Disruption Class: dark
Risk Class: notice
Special Containment Procedures: The area of SCP-8849 has been cleared of foreign articles by Foundation personnel and extensively recultivated with native flora. Regular patrols equipped with metal-detecting devices have been instituted, aiming to eliminate all remnants of extraplanetary origin in the upper soil layer by the end of March 2098. Due to the extreme isolation of the anomaly, the lack of observable anomalous phenomena, and the projected end date of clean-up efforts; no further containment has been deemed necessary.
Description: SCP-8849 was the Battle of Vorhomansk, fought in eastern Poland in 1944 between military elements of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Accessed historical reports confirm that on November 9th all armed combatants, manned military vehicles, crewed artillery pieces, and all piloted aircraft in a ~5 kilometre radius suddenly dematerialised through unknown means.
Evidence of the disappeared materiel and individuals was eventually found on 2209-Sierra, an Earth-like exoplanet situated approximately 52 light hours away from the outer boundary of our Solar System. The condition and position of certain human remains and vehicle wrecks, as well as the presence of ostensibly man-made structures on 2209-Sierra, suggests that a significant portion of individuals survived their transportation and initial re-appearance.
Foundation Department of Archaeology Notice
Information in this SCP-8849 file is outdated.
The current version is appended to the end of this document.
Dr. Seb Ellis, Senior Researcher: Site 12
Discovery: SCP-8849 was discovered by a Foundation Department of Interplanetary Research expedition team in February of 2095. Sierra was targeted by them for its innate similarity in water coverage, climatic conditions, and atmospheric composition to Earth. Encountering objects extrinsic to the planet upon their arrival, the team reported to launch site command and the matter was eventually brought to Foundation liaisons in the contemporary Russian and German branches of the Global Occult Coalition - who confirmed the cover-up of SCP-8849 from 1944 onward.
Due to the Foundation's lack of understanding on the event, an archaeological study was conducted in-situ by a team of specialist researchers, lasting for several months under the lead of Site 12 senior research archaeologist Dr. Seb Ellis. A log of its most significant findings is included below (Addendum 8849-A).
Addendum 8849-A: Notable and illuminatory artefacts catalogue- Close Addendum 8849-A
Artefact #: 8849-B5
Description: Man-made structure. A German self-propelled assault gun had its main and ancillary armaments removed and was used as the base of a large tent-like construction. Materials employed included native hardwood trunks for an outer palisade, Soviet telogreika winter jackets used as padding within and on top of the vehicle's hull, and camouflaged German shelter quarters forming the canopy of the structure. Bedding and personal effects were found within the vehicle. The main cannon of the gun was repurposed as a chimney flue for a makeshift stove.
Notes on Discovery: This artificial structure was one of many encountered on-world. It was located around 7 kilometres from the theorised epicentre of SCP-8849, on the bend of a stream in a small valley. Numerous signs of neglect suggested that the encampment had been abandoned for considerable time.
Additional Information: A small fenced-off area next to the structure was identified as a graveyard, with embedded rifles serving as grave markers. Notable was the fact that both Soviet rifles carved with Slavic names and German rifles carved with German names, were present.
Artefact #: 8849-C27
Description: Handwritten letter. Ink on ration paper. Russian language. One edge of the paper is burned.
Notes on Discovery: The letter was uncovered in the remains of a jacket worn by a corpse identified as a soldier of the 2nd Soviet Guards Tank Army by uniform scraps and badges. The corpse was skeletonised and its bones severely charred. The paper was discovered just outside of a destroyed T-34 tank hull, displaying both expected wear from ageing and evidence of penetration by tank shells. The letter has been translated verbatim into English below.
Dear Miyra,
I am, as always, thinking of you on the evening before a battle. We are waiting behind a ridge outside Vorhomansk. Waiting and waiting, and hoping tomorrow does not come. The Hitlerite bastards have dug themselves into the village deeply. Yesterday: Aleksandr, Kuba, Leonid, Tabor, Havi, Illya M, Ivanov, Milchik, Illya K, Oleksiy, and Tyronov, with so many others, were lost before their lines. We pulled back, only 7 tanks of the 57 that advanced. It hasn’t been so bad since Rzhev.We caught one fascist dog trying to cross our lines afterwards. How he begged and pleaded Miyra! But what he said troubled us all. If he spoke true then they will attack us early tomorrow with a full corps’ strength. He talked of strange divisions in the line along Vorhomansk. Green and purple uniforms, queer insignias, large machines hidden under black tarpaulin, wh-[TEXT RENDERED ILLEGIBLE BY FIRE DAMAGE]-nt. We laugh it off as nonsense. Fearmongering of the kraut bastards. But there is a chill in the air, sharper than it was before. We will meet them in the dawn my love, and prevail over their devilry.
Give my love to young Alina and Valentin. May God save us tomorrow Miyra.
With love, your Vitaly
Additional Information: Analysis of the boundary between the paper and ink supports the artefact's provenance as a pre-transference object. It has been catalogued and was removed to the Archaeological Storage Wing at Site 12.
Artefact #: 8849-C9
Description: Munitions box, nominally for the transport of 7.92x57mm Mauser cartridge ammunition. Instead containing a set of black and white photographs, several of which are captioned in German.
Notes on Discovery: The box was found upturned with its contents partially spilled out into a heavily shelled trench near the research team’s landing site. The entrenched position was situated on top of a hill, overlooking a sparsely wooded meadow filled with destroyed Soviet tanks. Some of the photographs are described below.
Photograph depicts a middle-aged couple in simple dress and a young man in German army field uniform standing in front of a house and smiling. Translated, the caption reads, “Leaving home, and Mother and Father.”
Photograph shows an army unit standing posed in two ranks for the picture. All are smiling and two men hold musical instruments. The young man from the previous photograph is present in the foreground. Captioned, “The cheery comrades of the 44th.”
Photograph depicts two women in traditional peasant garb being executed by soldiers with bayonets whilst kneeling in a ditch. The ground around the ditch is covered by blood, snow, and by corpses. The caption under the photograph is, “Minsk.”
Photograph is severely blurred by falling snow. In it, a long column of military vehicles are back-to-back along an iced-over road, with a large swarm of infantrymen moving next to them. The captioner has written, “The Retreat” at the bottom of the picture.
Photograph shows the back view of an intricate defensive position in a field. Multiple earthworks, anti-tank guns and machine gun nests are visible. A camouflaged tank sits behind a hay-bale left of centre. On the back of the print is written, “Our stand at Vorhomansk.”
Photograph is significantly dimmer than the others. It contains a landscape with inordinately tall trees, dense foliage, deep black soil, and a dark sky. The photograph seems to have been taken from a vantage point, and a few German soldiers are seen in dense undergrowth at its bottom. Scrawled across the face of the photo is “WHERE ARE WE?” In considerably degraded handwriting.
Photograph is of very poor quality, suggesting the deterioration of the photographer’s camera. In it, a vaguely avian creature lays on the ground with numerous bullet wounds inflicted. Three service rifles have been laid in parallel with the carcass, presumably as a size reference, indicating a length of over 3.3 metres. This photograph was found last, further away from the munitions box. The caption is small and written neatly on the front of the picture, reading: “Is this Hell?”
Additional Information: After this finding, research expeditions maintained at least one armed sentry during any extended archaeological work. All photographs have been archived at Site 12.
Artefact #: 8849-A56
Description: Human skeleton. Extreme degradation apparent, likely from exposure. Autopsy revealed none of the typical bone-splintering associated with bullet strikes but found a severe fracture between the fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae.
Notes on Discovery: These remains, and several other skeletal corpses, were discovered in a ravine of considerable depth roughly 1 kilometre from the theorised epicentre of SCP-8849; most with a multitude of bone fractures. Uniform fragments denote them as Wehrmacht soldiers.
Additional Information: The disposition and injuries of the remains imply that mortality was preceded by a fall of consequential height.
Artefact #: 8849-S3
Description: Man-made monolith. Rectangular in shape. 7 metres in height with vertical faces 1 metre wide. It is topped with two crosses: one Latin and the other Orthodox, and is constructed from disparate plates of steel welded together. Inscribed crudely around the top of the monument is the phrase “To the heroes of peace” in German, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kashubian and Polish. The numerals “MCMXLIV” are marked below on each face.
Notes on Discovery: The monolith is near to what is theorised to be the epicentre of SCP-8849. The surrounding area, even at present, is heavily cratered and densely populated with vehicle wrecks - all in a state of pronounced destruction and decomposition. Edaphic analysis shows a high concentration of organic matter in the soil of this zone, and both distinct and indistinct human remains endure above the ground layer. The deepest and oldest corpses found during the study were uncovered in a 500 metre radius immediately around the erected structure, with the monument succeeding them in age by at least 6 months.
Additional Information: The placement of this memorial, and the intensely disorganised nature of the fighting around it, suggest this site as the forefront of the battle of Vorhomansk at the time of its disappearance on the morning of November 9th. A rudimentary study of the units here match the suppressed military records accessed in 2095. The construction material was later confirmed to have been repurposed from the armour-plating of several tanks, aeroplanes, and other military vehicles. The monolith was left standing on the decision of the survey team.
Artefact #: 8849-GOC-C1
Description: Digital copy of diary entry. Dated 10th November 1944. German language. Extracted from the extensive diary writings of Nazi Party minister Joseph Goebbels.
Notes on Discovery: These pages were not discovered by the survey team but were supplied to the Foundation by a liaison in the historical division of the Global Occult Coalition due to their utility to the SCP-8849 investigation. An excerpt of the entry has been translated into English below.
November 10, 1944 (Wednesday) -
There was nothing new in the newsreels yesterday. Everywhere the fighting is exceptionally sharp and we are the ones most heavily cut. As the untermenschen continue into our rightful Eastern lands we continue to dissolve before them, while the Western enemy makes to climb right through the heart of duplicitous Italy. Despite woes, the Führer’s speeches in front of the Feldherrnhalle and Bürgerbräu are met warmly. I am moved by his resolute oration.Production of Vengeance weapons has decreased 50% since last Winter, as more and more of our factories are being struck by the hateful bombs of the English. The Wonder-weapon programmes too are meeting with nothing but failure. I am beginning to fear our only hope is what Himmler conspires with the Führer about in hushed tones. I see him and his grotesque cronies about the Reich Chancellery all the time, whispering of pagan magick and ancient spells to win the war. But this great empire cannot fall to such mysticism and absurdity, not at such desperate times as these.
I too hear whispers. Whispers from east of the occupied territories. Ghosts of reports and phantom intelligence that something dark has happened to one of the armies in Poland. That his Obskurakorps is behind it. I myself, after a meeting a few months ago, saw a column of their luridly-coloured trucks leaving the city. The officer in charge had little to say to me but smirked in their usual ugly smug manner. He said he expected all bolshevik opposition to simply disappear before him. And I, who could think of nothing to say to this, turned from him and walked away. The delusion of these men is both astounding and dangerous, trifling in matters that none, not even of our master race, should trifle in.
Whatever was on those infernal trucks, whatever way those nefarious, malignant, scheming wretches came by the implements they employed in that battle; I hope it served them well. I hope they are just so smug about it now - wherever their damnable souls are.
Additional Information: See Foundation literature on the SS-Ahnenerbe-Obskurakorps. The particular device, or exact mechanism by which the mass-transference of SCP-8849 was affected is still unknown. Investigations are ongoing into Obskurakorps activities across history.
- Close Addendum 8849-A
Update 13/1/2096:
17 days before the planned end date of the archaeological survey, two members of the research team encountered a human-populated settlement over 15 kilometres from the proposed epicentre of SCP-8849. While further investigation was prohibited the researchers did note signage above one entrance to the community, denoting it “Novaya Vorhomansk” in a syncretic intermixture of Latin and Cyrillic characters. The survey was summarily concluded, and Ellis’s team stood down.
Addendum 8849-B: Updated SCP-8849 information- Close Addendum 8849-B
Item #: 8849⠀
Level 3
⠀
Object Class:
euclid
Disruption Class: vlam
Risk Class: notice
Special Containment Procedures: The 2209-Sierra clean-up operation has been suspended as of 13/1/2096. Any future human endeavours to colonise the planet are to be subverted, and if necessary, sabotaged. Likewise any effort of those on Sierra to migrate to populated worlds, should they achieve such a degree of technological ability, is to be similarly discouraged. Otherwise a policy of strict non-interference towards inhabitants of 2209-Sierra has been ordered and adopted.
Description: SCP-8849 is the disappearance of an estimated 2,000 active combatants; as well as all manned military vehicles, piloted aircraft, and crewed artillery pieces from within a ~5 kilometre radius near the village of Vorhomansk, in eastern Poland. This event occurred suddenly on the morning of November 9th, 1944, when heavy fighting around the village between Soviet Red Army, Soviet-aligned partisan and Polish Home Army, and Hungarian and German military forces appears to have reached its peak. Evidence found on 2209-Sierra, a habitable exoplanet approximately 74 light hours from Earth, confirms it as the terminus for all materiel and persons transported.
A population of ostensibly non-anomalous Homo Sapiens (hereby designated SCP-8849-1) are extant on 2209-Sierra. This fact, combined with the findings of prolonged archaeological study, confirm that a significant portion of individuals survived their initial transportation and re-appearance; eventually concluding hostilities between each-other to an undetermined extent. SCP-8849 is assumed to have been manifested intentionally by elements of the paranormal wing of the Nazi party, the SS-Ahnenerbe-Obskurakorps - though the exact means by which it was affected, and the specific intent of those who did so remain unidentified.