After a long night fighting with mosquitoes I woke up early after getting a few minutes sleep between the battles. My friend Baard had gotten a hot tip about a Wehrmacht/Gebirgsjäger camp in his friends forest so we had some digging to do. I met up with him and his son by their cottage and we raced to the forest. It had been a rather large camp and in the May days of 1945 near two thousand soldiers capitulated there. We pulled the detectors out of the van and headed in between the trees. Almost immediately we found proof of German activity as we began digging out horseshoes, some leather dispatch rider goggles and lots of the typical aluminium food tins. On the surface by a tree I found a mystery piece, a grenade shell where someone had pressed a metal tube with a coned top over. I bet a week long soak in WD-40 will get it loose enough to open without damaging it so we ll know what is inside.
We spent some time checking signals which mostly was nails and the usual rubbish before we found a more interesting corner of the camp. I found myself a small ditch where I dug out a well rusted Daimon torch, some small bottles and a denazified Heer buckle. Then I heard Baard and Skule, his son, calling for me so I got up and rushed over, and then I saw the tables had turned. On our last digs together I ve been having the luck, but now it was Baards. He and Skule had dug a single iron signal in a trench on the outskirts of the camp and found an amazing piece of history. A blacksmithed very well made sign reading "Stab 199 J.D", a sign for the stab of the 199th Infanterie Division, which in Norway is a bit of a legendary unit as it was part of the invading forces fighting the Norwegians in 1940. A spectacular find one do not see often!! I felt a hasty sting of jealousy of course, but I am very happy for him and glad I could take part in the joy of having such a find.
We had a lunch brake and continued searching. We dug up a big pit holding 99% broken bottles, and the next ditch was much the same but at least it kept more metal and we had a few great finds here. Baard picked a German Erkennungsmarke and I finally found a German toy soldier made from Elastolin which I needed for my kunststoff collection.
We had spent nearly 8 hours out there when we finally closed up the ditch and made a halfway plan for yet another dig together before his holiday is over.
Keep fighting those biting midges and mosquitoes my friends:)
We spent some time checking signals which mostly was nails and the usual rubbish before we found a more interesting corner of the camp. I found myself a small ditch where I dug out a well rusted Daimon torch, some small bottles and a denazified Heer buckle. Then I heard Baard and Skule, his son, calling for me so I got up and rushed over, and then I saw the tables had turned. On our last digs together I ve been having the luck, but now it was Baards. He and Skule had dug a single iron signal in a trench on the outskirts of the camp and found an amazing piece of history. A blacksmithed very well made sign reading "Stab 199 J.D", a sign for the stab of the 199th Infanterie Division, which in Norway is a bit of a legendary unit as it was part of the invading forces fighting the Norwegians in 1940. A spectacular find one do not see often!! I felt a hasty sting of jealousy of course, but I am very happy for him and glad I could take part in the joy of having such a find.
We had a lunch brake and continued searching. We dug up a big pit holding 99% broken bottles, and the next ditch was much the same but at least it kept more metal and we had a few great finds here. Baard picked a German Erkennungsmarke and I finally found a German toy soldier made from Elastolin which I needed for my kunststoff collection.
We had spent nearly 8 hours out there when we finally closed up the ditch and made a halfway plan for yet another dig together before his holiday is over.
Keep fighting those biting midges and mosquitoes my friends:)
Goggles.
French tooth powder.
A piece of film.
The mystery grenade shell.
Field torch.
A padlock and a wrench.
The tiniest salt shaker I ve ever seen.
Denazified Heer buckle.
Baard with his amazing find.
Video below:
Small bits saved from the glass pits.
Some french beer or drink.
Norwegian porcelain and a enamelled plate.
Shoe polish.
Skule hard at work.
Shotglass made from signal flare.
A new toothbrush.
Lid for a small barber soap jar.
Broken porcelain.
Plate with Trondheim Cathedral on, the Nidarosdomen.
The EKM.
Elastolin mortar crew.
The big ditch covered up after our digging.
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