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In the early days of the week I went out to cross a few spots off my list. On the end of a long day searching on the end of last season I had picked up a few interesting signals that I suspected could be dumping pits. I made a note of them in my notebook until now when I found the time to go back there. I was eager to check what could be hiding underground there so I wasn`t discouraged by the watery clouds hanging just above the roof of my car

The following day the rain came in sideways but I had to get out there to try find at least one treasure, and I had to test my new boots. For the last ten years I have been on my second pair of M77 boots from the Norwegian Army, but lately they had been taking in water faster than a torpedoed convoy ship. The last time I wore them on a wet day my feet were soaked within the first ten minutes. My new footwear was a pair of Haix boots with the fancy name Black Eagle Athletic

Three meters away from the Blendax pit I struck upon another little garbage dump. This one was filled with broken glass from bottles and windows. Tons of it. But also a few other relics. It had the third rifle cleaning kit of the day, another gas mask canister, a very interesting bottle I have never seen before, a half rotted K98 ammo pouch and a pair of goggles. And a to me very interesting find.

Last summer we had localized a slope full of garbage. An old landfill with German stuff from the large camp on the bottom and gradually more modern stuff up until the early nineties had been dumped on the top. A slope one can read like a history book. It was our plan to open up a section of this slope, but as we were walking around with the detectors warming up on some single signals Baard discovered a large burn site full of relics just below the vegetation.

Early last winter I was looking for some miniature ww2 bunkers to use in a few diorama projects. By chance I came across this company which was shutting down operations and I ended up buying several of the silicon molds from their 1/35 scale bunker range. After recieving the molds a few weeks later I mixed up Plaster of Paris and poured a test batch. The bits for the bunkers came out from the forms looking very good so I began playing around with some of the ideas I had f

I had begun walking back to the base camp to collect my stuff and go home when I dug a good signal. It was a fragment of a Nahkampfspange! The needle was twisted, so force had been used to break it in parts. I spent the next hour trawling the spot, piling any finds onto a rock so as to not dig them twice, but the rest of the badge was nowhere to be found.

Most of this week the weather was wet and nasty and I had to work a bit, so the only summery day I spent searching in the gebirgsjäger camp. I usually dig on most of the beeps given by the metal detector, and have found many treasures checking bad signals, it is an exhausting strategy though. Having found so many erkennungsmarken on my last searches I decided to go exclusively after good ones on this trip.

A little bit later the detector presented me with another strong and good signal. I cut open a piece of the ground and made eyecontact with half of an Erkennunksmarke. That was a surprise! It was dirty and looked a bit deteriorated so I couldn`t read it other than that I could spell `Geb`. I stuck the pinpointer into the ground and

Signals everywhere. Crate parts, creamtubes and food tins seemed to litter the place, but the best find I had before my allotted time for detecting was up I spotted with my eyes even before the detector came near it. A metal pipe stuck out from the ground near the edge of the marsh. I grabbed it and pulled it straight out. A rifle!

Another hour went by with nothing to show for before the Fisher again found a good signal. This time it was something under a line of three medium sized birchtrees, so I got to use the saw for a while getting through the horizontal fence made of roots. Here were the best finds of the day. First I pulled out a Finnish knife, the Pukko. It was in great condition, still sharp even! Toghether with it were a few German coins, a small medical bottle and a Göffel with a name engra

Across the road a light climb begins and along a once well marked trail going up the hill we find position after position. The command bunker is relatively small, and is completely stripped, and covered in old grafitti, but it has a great view. A few meters above it we find one more of the large kettles for the Mörser together with shelters and ammo bunkers.

The first signal the Fisher F5 picked up was a helmet! It was even visible as part of the back rim was sticking out of the ground by several inches. I got it out of the ground and shook out the soil that had accumulated inside it through the decades. In the helmet-shaped mass of soil and roots I could see parts of the leather and aluminum liner, but most of that had rotted away, only the chin strap was still intact.

I had to scoop out a ten centimeter layer of gravel, and on a meters depth I found what I belived was the corner of a crate. I knew it would take at least another hour of work freeing the box, so I took a short break for lunch and refreshed my energy. The box was about a meter long, and when I finally managed to wriggle it loose and get it to the surface I felt it was something inside it.

Last weekend me and the GirlfriendWife saddled up the car and went for a little roadtrip. We were going on a Bunkersafari to an old German Atlantikwall fortification. Now, just after the snow has gone, is the time for such expeditions, before the vegetation really wakes up and covers the sites in greenery.

On wednesday morning it was nice and sunny so I got ready to go searching, so very early I drove off towards a piece of land that had come up during research. A small Gebirgsjäger unit had supposedly camped up there for several months and I wanted to see if they had left anything behind. I found the place marked on the map and went in between the trees letting the metal detector lead the way.

Liberated Soviet prisoners erected a beautiful wooden entry portal to the gravesite. In 1952 the bodies were exhumed yet again, and moved to a large cemetery on Tjøtta further to the south, during what became known as Operation Asphalt and the gravesite erased.

The production of the shields happened locally in the camps of different units, and with what tools, materials and artistic skills that were available. This resulted in a wide variety of designs. Larger series of the awards were either stamped on thin metal or cast

How many of us history buffs have not dreamt of finding leftovers from past times, finding ourselves in deep thought, travelling back in time when visiting a historic site, and daydreaming about the olden days while walking through a forest? I have made a little diorama of one of these daydreams. A hidden treasure in the forest, a place I would love to stumble across.

This week, the 4th March it will be 85 years since the Allied commando raid on the german occupied Lofoten Islands in Northern Norway. In the early hours the 4th of March four landings from the sea were made. The goal of the raids were to destroy german infrastructure, fish- and paraffin factories and any shipping connected to the germans.

Other than fresh air, nice memories and good moods the best finds for me was the Lappland Shields and the named helmet. I had hope all summer for Erkennungsmarken, but found only one german and three or four Stalag tags, perhaps this is the season I will find a hoard of interesting gebirgsjäger EKMs.