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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.

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.

The finds were worse. Rifle casings, most often rotted steel casings, and food tins. We searched a spot for a while where we had a tiny bit more luck, finding uniform buttons and coins. There a silver topped salt shaker also came out of the soggy mud.

Over the years I have collected a small pile of such tags which were attached to the soldiers backpack. All of them looks to be "field made"

Relics peeked out from between the broken roots, so I just began removing rocks and a few remaining roots. There were a layer of wine and