I too have heard stories from friends who were tasked with similar jobs at the end of the war. My family knew an old soldier who used to pop round and help with the garden. As a kid I used to hound him for stories about his time during the war. I was always asking him where could I find a Tiger tank, to which he would answer look in the dunes in North Africa if you want to find a German tank.
Anyway, he told me that after the war he was he stationed in Essex, one of the duties he performed was to help bury a tank on Galleywood Common in Essex. Story goes that the vehicle had had engine troubles, the engine was removed, war ends, tank gets forgotten about, and then buried a few years latter without its engine.
This would sound like a wild goose chase if it were not for the fact that other local residents remember the tank being there. Still have not tracked down where exactly the vehicle is, and still have not been able to find any hard proof of its being there, yet I have heard there was a photo taken of it which was printed in a local newspaper.
I also know of an WW2 American jeep in a pond on private land in the same area, but thats another story...