Haven`t had much time for digging the last week but yesterday I managed to get a few hours out there. I went to the "Gasmask Mountain" to have a peek for treasures under some rocks and soil. I found the spot I was digging last time I visited here and went to work. I had to cut my way through a large coil of barbed wire because behind it I could see several gasmask cannisters and losantine bottles sticking out. It took a while and a few cuts on my fingers before I was free from the barbed wire, but it was worth it. I could just pull out relics from between rocks and a thin layer of soil. A few of the gasmask cannisters was in decent condition, and some had rusted too much. I even found a few gasmasks in not too bad condition and a filter with the inkstamps still visible.
 Behind the first layer of relics was a small ore of MG bits. I found several ammo drums which willl clean up nicely, a few of them had MG ammo belts inside. I also found a MG 34 cradle mount and a muzzle flash hider. I was happy with the flash hider as I always wanted one, and now finally I found one. In the hole was also some medic and perfume bottles, a Nivea tin and a small pile of Losantine bottles and boxes.
When I had filled the bags and refilled the hole I strolled around in the area enjoying the beautiful weather, taking photos and listening to the ravens screaming from above. I was also lucky enough to get a glimpse of the Harbour Porpoise that live in the Fjord.
I hope to make a trip back to the Wehrmacht camp in the forest on Thursday and Friday for more digging, so until then,Stay Happy :)

Blue sky and sun today so I was quickly done with breakfast and coffee this morning and rushed out to the old Wehrmacht camp. Despite the sunny weather the forest was a bit chilly and it smelled of autumn. I bet the first night of frost will be tonight or one of the next nights. Luckily I have a large stash of uncleaned relics to keep me busy through the long winter months. But, we are not there yet, there is still some time for digging.
I strolled into the forest making some noise to scare any hungry bears away and the Fisher gave off a good signal just a few steps in between the trees. I removed the moss and tore away some roots and saw the oval shape of a German Erkennungsmärke. I lifted it out into the sunlight and just had to accept that it was a blank unissued tag. I looked around for more of the same signal but found only a pair of stirrups and three shovels.
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Next I found a small dumping pit which I spent an hour digging, but it wasn`t much interesting stuff in it. A perfume bottle, a small hammer, a ruptured K98 casing and some aluminium food tins. 
In the surrounding area I could see where some of the barracks had stood and searched in and around them. Naturally it was a lot of nails there but I also found some tools, more K98 rounds, a brass comb, some uniform buttons and a couple of horseshoes. Between two of the barrack foundations was another dumping pit which I had to check out. It was a hard dig, full of large heavy rocks and lots of broken bottles and glass. It was few relics worth saving in it as well, a couple more food tins, a bakelite losantine tablet box and some more Mauser casings.
The rest of the day I walked around digging signals and one more dumping pit. In the pit was nothing other than rust and glass, but I dug out a pioneer axe, a stripper clip, a small knife, a 9mm round and a cover for a lantern.
The last signal I dug today was a orange smoke box with most of its text still intact.
Tomorrow I might not have the time to go digging, but hopefully the rest of the week will be spent searching for more rusted treasures:)
​Keep Smiling :)

Finally back in the forest. The weekend was busy with family visits and two 3 year old nephews,, energy eaters! So it was lovely being alone in a quiet forest this morning. Other than the beeps from the detector and pinpointer the only sounds I heard was from flocks of birds resting in the tree tops before continuing their flight south. Oh yes,and the humming from the hoards of midges trying to eat me alive.
I dug a lot of signals today but didn`t have very much luck. The first couple of finds I think is field kitchen related, a long spatula of some sort and a large hanging scale. By a tree I had a great signal, but it was a bunch of horseshoes in all sizes,from huge to tiny. By the next tree there was another great signal, but when I saw what it was I decided to leave it for another day. It was a fuel barrell with some thick roots growing across it. I filled back the hole and searched my way deeper into the forest.
 I found a German tent peg, a nice padlock and a speaker piece from a field telephone. Then I had a interesting mixed signal and dug out another field kitchen bit, a long thin box marked "Gewürz", it was in reasonable ok condition except a rusted hole towards the bottom of it. Next to it I pulled out a horse shoe tool and some chain from horse harness.
For a while I didn`t have any signal but when I did it was a nice surprise, the bottom part of a K98 rifle holder from a vehicle came out from the soil, and a K98 round about a meter away from it.
The last signal I dug today was a small dumping pit with some more horse shoes, tin cans and some cloth bits. 
So nothing much today, but maybe tomorrow will be better :)

The last couple of days I didn`t find anything interesting but today I had some more luck. I went relatively early out to the Wehrmacht camp, armed with my Fisher and my shovel. The weather was grey but it didn`t rain. I had decided to only dig strong mixed signals today, which means dumping- and burn pits. The area is full of signals so it ll take a lifetime to pick them all. The first signal I opened up was a mix of rotted enamelled pots, food tins and a ton of boot heel irons, I didn`t count them all but for sure it was more than 50 of them down there. I also found a lid from a messkit in the pit. 
The second place I dug held mostly nails and wire bits but also a tent peg and a helmet liner band. I dug alot around to try find the helmet but I had no luck with that.
The third little dumping pit gave a handfull of horseshoes and a large piece of a ceramic pipe and a zink bit which I think is from a French ammo box.
I moved a bit further into the forest and had a great and deep signal which had to be investigated. Ca half meter down was a large kettle or cut down fuel drum. It lay upside down and to make things easier I tunnelled under it from the side, but it was nothing more there. Prehaps it came from one of the camps toilets.

A little after lunchtime some dark low hanging clouds, ripe with rain babies moved in and just a few moments later I was soaking wet, but I didn`t mind that because I had a new massive signal from the Fisher to check.  I pulled out horseshoe after horseshoe, some single ones and some bundled together. It must have been horshoes for half the Wehrmacht in the ditch! Some tools and rusted tins also came out from it. On the bottom of the ditch was a large and heavy piece. It took some fighting to get it to the surface and I was a bit stumped as I brushed the sand from it. I wonder if it might be a large air raid siren, but some research will give a definite answear. I placed it by a tree, refilled the ditch and went further into the forest. I didn`t stroll for long before I had another good signal that had to be dug. This time it was mostly rubbish in the pit, but I picked out a screwdriver with the wooden handle still intact and a cut down signal flare. 
By now I was all wet, hungry and getting tired, and both the backpacks was full, and I had a long way back to the car. It was a bit of a struggle getting back there with all the stuff including the heavy siren looking thing, but after a while I could start the car and drive home towards a warm shower and dry clothes.
Lets hope its better weather tomorrow and new treasures to be found.
​Stay Happy my friends :)
*EDIT* I just found out that the siren looking thing is actually a blower from a forge :)

I managed to dig three dumping pits in the Wehrmacht camp today. It was rather large pits and hard work so now Im exhausted. The first pit was full of tree roots going through it and some large heavy rocks and very little interesting bits. I had to dig through it all because the very first item to come out of it was a nice Erkennungsmärke, a German EKM stamped "KGF" (Kriegsgefangenenlager) a great find that fits right into my EKM collection. I found the steering from a bike cycle, another French soldier drinking cup, lots of boot heel irons and a large piece which I think is a field made scale. As I moved around the pit it was only junk, except the lid of a mess kit. When I checked the sides of the pit after having refilled it I got a interesting signal. I tore away the moss and used the pinpointer to locate the signal. It was another EKM!! A field made Stalag tag! Wonderfull!
The second pit was also large but held nothing but food tins and wire bits.I spent one and a half hour digging it and didn`t find a single relic worth saving.
In the third pit it was strong and good signals from the detector so I had big hopes when opening it up.  This was by far the most difficult one to dig. Wire bits zig zagged through it and it was a burn pit so the rusted stuff was like cemented together, but somehow I managed to complete it in the end. It was lots of melted glass in it, nails, some burnt up field batteries, no less than 7 shovels in different sizes and a whole bunch of Norwegian made 7.62 casings. I was drenched in sweat when I finally reached the bottom of it after a few hours and could refill it. 
Now it was time to detect my way back to the car and I used the last of my energy to pick up a few signals and do some probing on some strong mixed signals. There is more dumping pits to dig another day. It ll be next week coz tomorrow I ll just stay home and relax and prehaps clean some of the relics I ve found this week.
When I got home I rinsed the two EKMs and had a nice surprise on the KGF one. On the backside o it was two small flowers engraved, really nice.
So my friends, until Monday, Keep Smiling :)
​

I am back in with the Relic Gods it seems. Went back to search more in the Wehrmacht camp and the first signal I had today was a spoon, which I belive is a Russian soldier spoon, and next to it I found two K98 casings, one of them an exploded one. The next few signals was the usual rusted trash but then I spotted a sunken in square in the forest floor. The Fisher beeped hard when I swept it across and I hoped it was a dumping pit, not filled with large rocks and broken bottles.
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It sure was a dumping pit, with lots of broken glass, but no rocks and it was alot of rusted stuff in it. I had to work carefully so I wouldn`t slice my fingers on the sharp glass and kept pulling out some interesting bits. Some of them I have no idea what is but it ll be fun researching them. As I scooped out a handfull of soil I saw a square shaped aluminium bit. It was a nice trench art matchbox cover with some ship, mountains and sun engraved. 
A thick towing cable was coiled in and around the pit which made digging a bit more difficult, and I couldn`t get it removed before the whole pit was dug out. I found a gas mask cannister, a rotted mess kit, a pair of soldier boots and a French soldier drinking cup. I kept finding small bottles, ink pots, medical bottles and perfume bottles, a whole collection of them. 
Underneath a large cast iron plate from a stove was a radiator fan from a vehicle, and under that one I dug a nice Notek light. I am looking forward to cleaning that one up, I have the oxalic acid ready. A enamelled pee pot saw daylight again, together with another trench art item, a nicely made ashtray with a matchbox holder.
When I finally had completed the dumping pit I had spent nearly four hours on it, and again both my backpacks was filled to the brim.
I decided to do some recce in the nearby area for tomorrows trip, and I got great signals all over the place, and at least three or four more dumping pits with a few meters between them.  On my way home I drove to a POW camp and went to the memorial there to make some pics and a little video of it, and then stopped by the shop to get some food and snacks for the evening.
So tomorrow we ll see what more can be found:)

The Relic Gods must have noticed that yesterdays dig was great and easy, so today I was punished for it. The first signal I got was large, several meter big and in a circular shape. I was sure it was some barbed wire or fence wire but when I dug it out it was kind of a mystery. I wonder if it might be a part for roofing on a horse drawn carriage or prehaps for some farming equipment.
I picked up some other good signals, a metal cup which I think belongs to a shaving kit, if Im lucky there is some engravings on it, a horse bit and some harness buckles. I also found a "needle" that fits one of the karbid lamps I dug out yesterday. It was now the Relic Gods put their punishment into effect.
I found several small dumping pits but all of them was full of large heavy rocks, broken glass and rusted trash, not a single good item. I spent several hours digging those. 
I found a nice spot by a small river and took a lunch break before I strolled around finding a few more of the glass and rock pits. One of them was pretty large but really difficult to dig. The signals from it is very good so I ll get back to that one each time I am searching this camp, I didn`t feel I had the energy to spend hours finishing it today. But I might as well have done it coz the next two signals I dug was also just full of glass and rust. 
I had reached the edge of the camp and found a few porcelain lamp holders from the fence that had surrounded the camp, and lots of electrical wiring. Together with those was a nice sledghammer head. 
It was late afternoon and I was tired and hungry so I did one more sweep with the Fisher before calling it quits. I got a nice and strong brass signal and just beneath the moss I pulled out a weird little trench art thing. It was a cut and carved figure, looking like a mix of Santa and Kohlenklau, like a drunk gangster-santa. I wonder if anyone have ever seen one like it before. ( pics on the bottom of the blog post)
I guess I ll get back tomorrow and see if I can`t find more broken glass, I ll be setting the world record on it :D
Have a nice evening my friends. Stay muddy.

Directly after the morning coffee I loaded the digger stuff into the car and drove towards the forest and the Wehrmacht camp. Weather was windy and grey, but no rain and the temperature was quite comfortable. I headed off into the forest , brushing moss in front of me with the metal detector, it gave off signals all the time and it soon felt like a spinning class digging them all. Except for a couple of K98 rounds it was all rubbish, but soon it was a spot where the Fisher gave some more interesting beeps. Two cm under the surface I found a German coin, then another one, and another. They kept coming and in no time I had found 31 coins!! I ve never before found so many at once, it was very fun. I checked the surrounding area like a detective, but I had found them all, only wires and nails and a few horse shoes was around the coin spot.

The next 100 meters of strolling yielded more bits of wire, nails and horseshoes but then I had some strong and good signals where the ground had sort of sunken in a little. A dumping pit!! I threw away my backpack and started removing soil and large rocks and soon the soil was rust colored. I pulled out Karbid lamp after karbid lamp, lots of different types. Some was rotted but a few was in very good condition with all the original paint left. Some bolts, tools and horse harness hooks came out along with them and two bottles. I kept digging and found two Daimon torches, quite rusted and some brass nozzles of some kind. I dug out a nice oiler, but the tip of its nozzle broke when I a bit too eager pryed it loose from between a few rocks.
I had been digging for a few hours by now so I took a rest and grabbed something to eat before I went back at it removing more rocks and sand. I found a large intact field battery, a rubber tarpaulin or rain poncho and a heavy part from a iron cast oven.

The soil began smelling like fuel, or gun oil, I scraped away some more soil and pulled out a nice RG34 rifle cleaning kit, and under it was another one, also in very nice condition. A few more large rocks had to be removed and then I saw the corner of what had to be a MG ammo box! and beneath it was a third cleaning kit. I dug it all free and got both the items up to the surface, both was intact with most of the paint still on. Under the ammo box was two rifle barrel cleaning chains and some k98 rubber muzzle caps.
The ammo box was heavy so something was inside it. I took off some of the sand and got it open with no problems, the hinges and lock was like new. I hoped for it to contain a greased up gun, like my friend Jonny Bay found in Kurland, digging out a box like it, but I wasn`t that lucky, Im not of Leprechaun heritage like him. Inside was two small 5 litre cans, one unmarked and the other was marked "Petroleum". I lifted the cans out and they was both full, but the unmarked one had a hole in it and out flowed clear water. Even though it was no gun I was very happy with this awesome find.
I kept digging the pit for another hour but the rest that came out of it was rubbish. A shoe polishing brush, a large metal plate, some rubber from a tyre, a padlock and some other crap. I made sure there was no more metal or anything else down there before I sorted out the bits I wanted to keep and then refilled the hole and covered it up so it looked nice and tidy.
It was late in the afternoon and both my backpacks was full so I found it best to get back home.
It ll be an early evening for me tonight coz guess what Im doing tomorrow,,yepp, more digging :)

The last couple of days I ve tried to locate the remains of a Wehrmacht camp in a forest. Yesterday I roamed around for a few hours and saw to trace of it, but today I went further into the forest and after a good hour walking I found it! The Fisher made signals all over the place. By a small ridge must have been the camps stables coz I found lots of horse shoes and horse harness, plus a ton of wire bits strewn over the area. I strolled deeper into the forest to what must have been the camp. Here ovens and some barrells was scattered, and it looks like the place holds lots of small dumping pits.
I marked my position on the GPS and began searching, and tried to do it systematically and digging every signal. The first thing I dug out was a single spurr, but the other one was no where to be found between the small cluster of young sapplings I had gotten myself tangled into, it was just a lot of nails, some k98 casings and wires. When there was no more signals given by the detector I managed to get out of the shrubbery and searched another little grid. Here I found a few tent pegs, some 9mm casings, a crushed signal flare shotglass and a piece of shrapnel. The shrapnel might be from the fighting that happened in the area in 1940. 
​In a tree stump I found a k98 casing grown into it. Im always amazed by relics eaten by trees and roots. When I had checked all the signals in my little grid I decided it was time to check out one of the dumping pits. It wasn`t big, it just looked like a 50cm diameter dug hole but the Fisher gave off a nice strong mixed signal. Here was some shoepolish tins, a bunch of broken bottles, some cream tubes, a few uniform buttons and skin cream tins. I also picked up a small piece of aluminium that looked like a SS rune and stuck it in my pocket.
The hours had flown by and I hadn`t more time today so I had to stroll back to the road and on the way I dug up a few more k98 casings, stripper clips, a large crate handle and another tent peg which was quite bent.
Later when I was at home and emptied the pockets, I cleaned up the tiny aluminium piece and it looks like a fieldmade rune for a SS collar tab, ca 2,4 cm tall and the prongs broken off. In 1944 and 45 there might have been SS troops in this camp as the army having fought in Finland and the Murmansk front retreated parts of it stayed in the valley for a while and some capitulated here.
I ll try to get back there tomorrow to continue the search.
Now its bedtime so sleep well my friends :)

It has been raining hard the last few days but today it had cleared up and I hurried out to the forest after some food and coffee. I continued my search on the Gebirgsjäger capitulation site and had to check out a nice deep signal I had last time I was here. I swept the detector in front of me as I walked towards the place and every now and then it gave off signals I had to dig. The three first signals was very good but all turned out to be modern rubbish. When I reached the place where I had had the deep signal I had already dug out a bunch of war time rubbish, horseshoes and ice cleats, bolts, barbed wire and a pioneer axe.
I took a small rest before I began digging, having alittle to eat to get new energy and then started digging. Luckily it was sandy soil and no big roots covering the signal but still it was a bit of a job. Some 50-60 cm down I found the corner of something massive and corrugated and understood that it was a stove from a barrack. I ve dug enough of them earlier to be familiar with how they look. It took a while to free it from the soil and to get it out of the hole, luckily it wasn`t filled with sand, then it would have been a damn hard job to get it out. I ve found these stoves in two sizes and this was the larger version. Sadly it had no Org. Todt markings and both the doors were missing.
I searched the side walls of the hole and then found the bottom of it. It held mostly rusted trash and a lot of charcoal and ashes, but also a few items worth saving, like the lid of a mess kit, an ink pot and three medical bottles and a nice enamelled candle holder. 
By now all the clouds had dispersed and the sun was shining and if I hadn`t had an appoinment for free dinner at my parents I would have stayed searching some more hours , but  free dinner at Moms is a luxury one can`t refuse.
Tomorrow is reported to be nice and sunny and I have a new forest I am going to check out, a place I didn`t know about before and supposedly it was a German camp there.
​So until then, be nice, and try stay muddy :)