I made two more trips to the small Gebirgsjäger forest this week, just before the weather turned bad. The last days its been windy, snowing and raining, and cold with only +2 Celsius. Not very perfect for digging so I am staying indoors today. But, a few days ago it was still +10 degree and liveable, so I greased up my boots and went rusthunting. I spent some time scanning around in the northern part of the little forest, but it was quieter there so I went back to where it was more metal in the ground. The first two nice finds was a single key, and a set of keys which had a small tag attached to the key ring. It read "M.H 380 679". The set of keys lay on the side of a fireplace, and together with it, unharmed by the fire was a pair of field made rubber suspenders. But that morning my detector seemed like it wanted me to mainly dig trash and did its best to steer me away from the good finds. A few ones slipped through though, like the empty m24 head which I found partly stuck under a root. And the group of uniform buttons together with a toothbrush under a empty blueberry bush.
I walked past a Juniper shrubbery when a hare jumped out centimeters in front of me and ran off. One could say it woke me up a bit.. Then the detector picked up interesting signals I needed to check out. I removed the top layer and a bit confused I scooped up a big handful of rusted paperclips. It was hundreds of them. But they couldn`t have been the reason for the signal the detector had given. I took out "the carrot" and the pinpointer went off like mad in the clay-like sand. Before any more metal could be spotted I found a small clay pot and a porcelain milk jug. After a few more scoops with the shovel I saw a wire, and the top of a larger metal object. Minutes later I could lift out a German field radio. I found one of these before, but this one looked to be in better condition. The pinpointer wanted me to scratch some sand away from where the radio had sat. I did, and was rewarded with a small stack of Erkennungsmarken. I rubbed the sand away and it looked like it had been burnt, but it was a stamped one. I dug around some more and four other tags came out, 8 in total! All from the same unit; "STAB NZ.GEB.PI.BTL.91" (Stab Nachrichten Zug Gebirgs-Pionier-Bataillon) but none had the blood group punched in.
The next morning I was back on place. It had been a windy night and it had removed nearly all the leaves from the trees. The ground was an endless blanket of yellow. Very beautiful, but it also hid all signs of messed-with ground, so I risked checking a lot of signals already checked. I tried to minimize those chances by focusing on the edges of the forest where I hadn`t done so much searching yet. Here it was more modern trash from the neighbourhoods, but it didn`t take long before I found something from the wartime. A frame of some kind, probably from a wagon or vehicle. And I found a small hammer, and a ashtray with a viking ship and "Norge". Later an interesting signal turned into an hour-long fight with rocks and roots only to free several cast iron stove parts. Together with some rubbish was a nice bakelite lid for a charge tin belonging to a Gebirgsgeschutz 36. I was hungry so I took direction towards my backpack but soon I had another signal to check. "Rifle casing, stripperclip or piece of wire.." my mind went, as I opened a small hole in the moss. "Nordfrontkreuz!!" Wow! It was just laying there! I grabbed it before a bling-hungry crow had the chance to swoop in and rob me from it. The two last crosses I ve found had both been destroyed, but this one was in good condition. A few bits of missing enamel, a minor bend to one of the arms, but clear and nice colors. I wasn`t sure, but I suspected it was a variant new to my small collection of these.
After lunch I spent another couple of hours roaming around, still high on the great find. I dug interesting signals while trying to locate any other "hot-spots". I found two-three possible dumping pits,probably for next season, and one area with a lot of signals spread around. There I opened up a few signals and the first was a battery together with a vinagre bottle, the next was an aluminum luggage tag, slightly cooked by flames. It was unfinished and read "UFFZ Goldbacker". Man, I love such finds! The last one I dug up that afternoon was a close combat knife, also a bit burnt in a fire.
Thanks for reading. Have a great day :)
I walked past a Juniper shrubbery when a hare jumped out centimeters in front of me and ran off. One could say it woke me up a bit.. Then the detector picked up interesting signals I needed to check out. I removed the top layer and a bit confused I scooped up a big handful of rusted paperclips. It was hundreds of them. But they couldn`t have been the reason for the signal the detector had given. I took out "the carrot" and the pinpointer went off like mad in the clay-like sand. Before any more metal could be spotted I found a small clay pot and a porcelain milk jug. After a few more scoops with the shovel I saw a wire, and the top of a larger metal object. Minutes later I could lift out a German field radio. I found one of these before, but this one looked to be in better condition. The pinpointer wanted me to scratch some sand away from where the radio had sat. I did, and was rewarded with a small stack of Erkennungsmarken. I rubbed the sand away and it looked like it had been burnt, but it was a stamped one. I dug around some more and four other tags came out, 8 in total! All from the same unit; "STAB NZ.GEB.PI.BTL.91" (Stab Nachrichten Zug Gebirgs-Pionier-Bataillon) but none had the blood group punched in.
The next morning I was back on place. It had been a windy night and it had removed nearly all the leaves from the trees. The ground was an endless blanket of yellow. Very beautiful, but it also hid all signs of messed-with ground, so I risked checking a lot of signals already checked. I tried to minimize those chances by focusing on the edges of the forest where I hadn`t done so much searching yet. Here it was more modern trash from the neighbourhoods, but it didn`t take long before I found something from the wartime. A frame of some kind, probably from a wagon or vehicle. And I found a small hammer, and a ashtray with a viking ship and "Norge". Later an interesting signal turned into an hour-long fight with rocks and roots only to free several cast iron stove parts. Together with some rubbish was a nice bakelite lid for a charge tin belonging to a Gebirgsgeschutz 36. I was hungry so I took direction towards my backpack but soon I had another signal to check. "Rifle casing, stripperclip or piece of wire.." my mind went, as I opened a small hole in the moss. "Nordfrontkreuz!!" Wow! It was just laying there! I grabbed it before a bling-hungry crow had the chance to swoop in and rob me from it. The two last crosses I ve found had both been destroyed, but this one was in good condition. A few bits of missing enamel, a minor bend to one of the arms, but clear and nice colors. I wasn`t sure, but I suspected it was a variant new to my small collection of these.
After lunch I spent another couple of hours roaming around, still high on the great find. I dug interesting signals while trying to locate any other "hot-spots". I found two-three possible dumping pits,probably for next season, and one area with a lot of signals spread around. There I opened up a few signals and the first was a battery together with a vinagre bottle, the next was an aluminum luggage tag, slightly cooked by flames. It was unfinished and read "UFFZ Goldbacker". Man, I love such finds! The last one I dug up that afternoon was a close combat knife, also a bit burnt in a fire.
Thanks for reading. Have a great day :)
A key.
Set of keys.
Field made suspenders.
M24 head.
Buttons and toothbrush.
Paperclips.
Clay and porcelain.
Field radio.
STAB NZ.GEB.PI.BTL.91" (Stab Nachrichten Zug Gebirgs-Pionier-Bataillon)
Anyone recognize this ?
Hammer.
Ashtray.
Stove bits.
Bakelite lid.
Treasure :)
Fungi and lichens.
A small pit had this crushed stove.
Battery.
Luggage tag. "UFFZ GOLDBACKER"
Close combat knife.
Yellow forest floor.
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