Late last season I discovered the ruins of the hospitalbuilding in a Luftwaffe camp. The hospital consisted of several more buildings, but a neighbourhood has slowly been taking over the area so I think the wall foundations I did some searching around is the last visible remains.
Now, the last two weeks it rained more or less constantly, and 1st june it even snowed quite heavily, but the other day it was quite nice, the snow had gone and one could even see some patches of blue sky. Lunch and snacks was organized, and I put on some music in my newly repaired van as it is a bit of a drive to the Luftwaffe camp. I arrived before nine, and sitting in the door of the van, gazing out into the forest I enjoyed an extra morning coffee which I had grabbed from a nearby roadside cafè. Last autumn I had already located what was possibly a dumping pit, but took the detector around for a stroll to warm up and to see what else the relic gods could offer this morning. Under a large rock I found a whole pile of nails and other than some food- and candywrappers I found nothing that could lead me to believe this was a WW2 site. Continuing searching would probably have given such finds, but I was impatient and went to check out if it really was a dumping pit I had over by an old fallen birch a few meters away from the concrete wall.
Just under the soil was a large coil of wire and some bottles. Then it was empty for 20-30 cm, only sand and a few rocks, but the detector and pin pointer told me to keep digging. After a little digging I hit metal again. Three shovels. No, four! Then from the wall of the ditch I had opened up was the corner of a rusted box sticking out. Oh, how I love to find boxes. It is always such a rush. Will it be complete? Closed or open? Is there anything inside? Possibly the most exciting things to come across when digging are intact and closed containers. This box was in poor condition and inside it was boiled out tubes of frostbite cream. I found a couple of such boxes. In the leftovers of other more or less rusted away crates was different glass jars and tubes. I dug very carefully as it is scary digging medical pits. It is often lots of sharp items such as needles and glass. I ve injured myself more than once searching through such dumps. I began finding ampoules, and soon I had a decent pile of both broken and intact ones. It was possible to read text on a few of them. "Novocaine" and " Camphor Forte", and who knows what elses can be in the rest. The ditch had been burned and sometimes a nicely melted bottle or tube surfaced. I found the bottom of the ditch and there I dug out a handfull of medical tools and instruments. But it was late afternoon by now and I had to get on my feet and find the car, so the rest of the pit will have to wait for another day, maybe tomorrow :)
Now, the last two weeks it rained more or less constantly, and 1st june it even snowed quite heavily, but the other day it was quite nice, the snow had gone and one could even see some patches of blue sky. Lunch and snacks was organized, and I put on some music in my newly repaired van as it is a bit of a drive to the Luftwaffe camp. I arrived before nine, and sitting in the door of the van, gazing out into the forest I enjoyed an extra morning coffee which I had grabbed from a nearby roadside cafè. Last autumn I had already located what was possibly a dumping pit, but took the detector around for a stroll to warm up and to see what else the relic gods could offer this morning. Under a large rock I found a whole pile of nails and other than some food- and candywrappers I found nothing that could lead me to believe this was a WW2 site. Continuing searching would probably have given such finds, but I was impatient and went to check out if it really was a dumping pit I had over by an old fallen birch a few meters away from the concrete wall.
Just under the soil was a large coil of wire and some bottles. Then it was empty for 20-30 cm, only sand and a few rocks, but the detector and pin pointer told me to keep digging. After a little digging I hit metal again. Three shovels. No, four! Then from the wall of the ditch I had opened up was the corner of a rusted box sticking out. Oh, how I love to find boxes. It is always such a rush. Will it be complete? Closed or open? Is there anything inside? Possibly the most exciting things to come across when digging are intact and closed containers. This box was in poor condition and inside it was boiled out tubes of frostbite cream. I found a couple of such boxes. In the leftovers of other more or less rusted away crates was different glass jars and tubes. I dug very carefully as it is scary digging medical pits. It is often lots of sharp items such as needles and glass. I ve injured myself more than once searching through such dumps. I began finding ampoules, and soon I had a decent pile of both broken and intact ones. It was possible to read text on a few of them. "Novocaine" and " Camphor Forte", and who knows what elses can be in the rest. The ditch had been burned and sometimes a nicely melted bottle or tube surfaced. I found the bottom of the ditch and there I dug out a handfull of medical tools and instruments. But it was late afternoon by now and I had to get on my feet and find the car, so the rest of the pit will have to wait for another day, maybe tomorrow :)
Luckily all the nails had been collected under this rock.
Shovels peeking out from the sand.
Broken unmarked porcelain, so I am hoping there will be unbroken marked items down there.
The corner of a metal box..
Intact box. This one was empty.
Medical cream.
Intact ampoules.
Pieces of metal from flattened crates was difficult to dig out sometimes.
Fruit and water breaks were taken frequently.
More medical cream.
Syringe.
Wound dressing.
One of many empty ampoules found.
Tools for the Juwel burner.
Box full of frostbite cream, one tube was very nicely preserved.
Tools.
Still working tool.
Dug up this nice enamelled tray.
Frostbite cream.
The suncream tube was full and still smelled nice.
A small ampoule had its paper label still on, "Strophan....."
Intact ampoules.
Tools. That hammer-like thing is a bit of a mystery..
Melted glass.
Bottles.
It is fun to find intact labels.
Broken ampoules.
A small spool of thread.
Two glass catheters.
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