The A-frame was used to carry the messkit, zeltbahn, tent pegs and other small items. Below is a link to follow if you want to read more about this piece of kit:
www.mp44.nl/equipment/a_frame.htm
On this page you`ll find pick ups I made from the battlefields and ww2 sites. Please note that none of the objects is found alongside soldiers or remains,all such finds is returned to Grave Commissions together with the remains.
This German A-frame recently came out of an old barn in Northern Norway. It is in rather nice condition, showing some signs of wear and a hint of surface rust on the metal parts. The valley in where it was found had a large number of German combat troops withdrawing from the Finnish front in 1944, so this one might well have been brought by some of those troops.
The A-frame was used to carry the messkit, zeltbahn, tent pegs and other small items. Below is a link to follow if you want to read more about this piece of kit: www.mp44.nl/equipment/a_frame.htm
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Searching a couple of Gebirgsjäger camps the last two seasons has yielded a lot of finds, but three or four of the finds stand out and I thought I should collect them in one post. By the end of the war these camps were used by German troops retreating from the Finland- and Eismeer front and many of the soldiers capitulated in the camps in spring 1945. Here some of them emptied their backpacks and pockets and threw the contents into pits and ditches for me to find it nearly 80 years later. In the autumn 2019 I dug one such pit and found a beautiful Finnish/German badge, the Nordfrontkreuz, awarded to soldiers fighting on that frontsection. It is a quite rare award and the one I had in front of me was in very good condition. One year and one day later I was in another Gebirgsjäger camp and searched through a place a lot of stuff had been discarded and set fire to. Between the rubbish I found a Lapplandfrontkreuz. This is very similar to the Nordfront version, but this one was in slightly worse condition. These awards came in 12 different variations so with this speed and a lot of luck I might have the full set in about ten years. Searching through another dumping pit I found a Eismeerfront medal, sadly not in great condition and in a pit nearby I dug out a trench-art cigarett case engraved with "1944" and "Zur erinnerung an die Eismeer front", a very nice and personal find. Below is photos of the different finds and videos from finding the Nord- and Lapplandfront crosses. Nordfrontkreuz and Lapplandfrontkreuz. The Eismeerfront medal. Trench-art cigarett case from the Eismeer front. Videos: Here are two items I found in a shed this autumn, a winter parka and a sheepskin vest.
The parka is reversible, white on one side and mouse grey on the other side. It is in quite good condition, it has wear from use and I was lucky to find it when I did because some mice had begun nibbling on a very small patch of it. All buttons and drawstrings are present. I will make a nice torso set-up with this one. The vest has pushbuttons sewn around its edges so it had doubled as a liner for a jacket or coat. This type of vest was often used by drivers and officers. I found this on top of a cabinet and it is in very good condition but showing a little wear and use. Recently I added this cool item to my collection, a German foldable map table. It measure 70cm x 70cm and is ca 75cm tall. It is well made with brass edges, spikes on the legs and it has a slot underneath to place a ruler, which sadly is missing. On the underside it is stenciled "Nicht magnetfrei" which means it is magnetic and might disturb compasses and certain maptools. I really like this table and when I get more space I will use it for a map related display :)
Here are a few Panzerfaust tubes from my collection. The first pair is a Panzerfaust Klein and a Panzerfaust 30. Both found in Northern Norway. These cleaned up beautifully and their sights are working. Both are painted in camo. The Klein is painted dark brown/grey with three panzeryellow squares. The 30 is painted dark green and has the yellow sprayed mainly on the upper side of the tube and around the firing mechanism. The other three were found on the battlefields of Kurland, Latvia and have some nice battledamages. They are two Panzerfaust 30s and one Klein.
A few days ago I saw an add in a sales forum here in Norway and instantly bought the item. It was a small POW art box. I was amazed to see this item because a few years ago when I worked at the garbage dump I one morning rescued a POW art wooden box from the container, and they must have been made by the same guy. The one I bought came out from the neighbour town and is a bit smaller and more well kept. In the spring and early summer of 1945 Soviet POWs was waiting to be sent back to Soviet and they produced souvenirs and items like these to offer to the local population either as a trade for food etc or as a "thank you" to people who had risked their life helping the POWs. I am a bit gobsmacked to have these two boxes in front of me now and they ll find their place in a display cabinet soon. The box I found in the garbage container: Both of them together:
A few days ago I cleaned up the last helmet I found this season. A nice M35 Single Decal with lots of original color left, also the liner is intact on this one so Im happy with this find :)
Earlier this autumn I found three German helmets. The first one had been in a fire and didn`t have much paint left under the rust. With this helmet, the second one I found, I was a bit luckier. After a nice and long bath in oxalic acid I wasn`t able to get off more rust , but most of it had come off and revealed original paint. It was camo painted with black lines going across it, and it looks like it at some point had a Heer decal. It is stamped ET64, the other stamp is not possible to read.
I got these two "Ostmeidallen" with me back home from Latvia. They are part of a hoard find of unissued medals. I got one which was still stuck inside the paper bag, and I ll keep it like it, and the other one was free from its bag and can be displayed in a nice way. Great little finds which I am thrilled about.
Here is a new relic wall decoration. A Pz.Faust tube and two barrells mounted on some old and patinated wooden planks. This will look awesome on the wall :)
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