It is August already. Luckily this month still counts as summer, which the weather-departement seems to have gotten a notification about coz they delivered today. Blue sky and sun, and temperature around +20 Celsius. Usually I would spend such a day around the house and relaxing in the hammock, but I was in need of a bit of digging. Around 10 o`clock I was on place in the Gebirgsjäger camp, ready to score a little rust. I chose a patch of open ground as my starting point so I could detect and at the same time let the sun fill up my vitamin D reservoirs. I am glad I did, because after digging up the first few rifle casings and nails I found a nice little Reichspfennig coin. A mixture of signals from the Fisher F5 led me to a small dumping pit where the good finds were a German mess kit, a food tin and a bottle. What could have been a nice find too was a M24 grenade head, but it disintegrated when I pulled it out from the ground. I searched around the foundations of a small building and found maybe all the nails they had used when setting it up, but a few meter from where the entrance had been I dug up a small fishing lure, possibly more modern. Searching in the sun gets too hot, so I went into the forest again and walked to a pre-discovered ditch. I have known about this ditch for a couple of years but now it was apparently time to open it up. But first I needed water, lots of water, and food :)
The ditch is actually a row of three ditches. Each 4-5 meter long, with a fair amount of varied signals in all of them. Of course I began digging in the end of the ditch that had rusted food cans. Boring and annoying to dig, but maybe something could be under them all. Forty minutes later I knew. It was nothing under them. I continued down the ditch and even if the food cans were present, other relics had been thrown into the mix. There were also more rocks and roots so digging was not so easy as with the cans. Parts from wagons or vehicles, cream tubes and bottles piled up on the side. I saw a needle, like the one a doctor would use. And I knew I had to be extra careful now. Some years ago I dug in a pit in a field hospital, and struck an ore of those needles and one of them stuck itself under my finger nail. Not extremely pleasant. I found some rusted metal flakes near the eight needles so I hoped that was from the box they had been in. A little funny find was the tube of Wehrmacht mosquito repellent. I should test if it is still effective. Next I wrestled out a large piece of rubber that had been like a trousers,boots and suspenders in one. But it was all rotted and destroyed. Tucked into it though was a Notek lamp bracket that had been preserved perfectly.
I removed more rocks and soil and felt the corner of a box. As I scraped away the soil around the item, wooden bits came of it. It was a wooden box that fell apart, but it had a metal box inside! It was neatly placed on a couple of rocks in the bottom of the ditch. Not thrown in like all the other stuff. So I became very intrigued.
I lifted the lid and looked into a painters kit. The lid was actually the paint palette. Brushes, a scissor, lots of oil paint tubes and a box with water paints were in it! What a cool find!!
Using the cutter on roots and the bayonet to pry loose more rocks before scooping out soil I advanced into the ditch. I found a field torch, and what I first thought was a helmet or a lamp turned out to be a perfectly preserved enamelled bedpan! I dug out several wrenches, files and tools, some mystery parts, a vehicles rear light, a small engine and a ceramic part with a logo, I think it reads "Steyr". Almost on the bottom there were two bakelite items. A canteen drinking cup, and a karbid box for the Einheitslanterne. I check again with the pinpointer and with the help of the bayonet I uncover a real nice air pressure gauge with German text. I scraped a bit more with the blade and used the pinpointer. No signals. I got up on my feet and checked with the Fisher. It was silent the next half meter or so in the ditch, before it was full of signals again. A perfect place to end the digging for today.
I think I will be continuing here soon..
The ditch is actually a row of three ditches. Each 4-5 meter long, with a fair amount of varied signals in all of them. Of course I began digging in the end of the ditch that had rusted food cans. Boring and annoying to dig, but maybe something could be under them all. Forty minutes later I knew. It was nothing under them. I continued down the ditch and even if the food cans were present, other relics had been thrown into the mix. There were also more rocks and roots so digging was not so easy as with the cans. Parts from wagons or vehicles, cream tubes and bottles piled up on the side. I saw a needle, like the one a doctor would use. And I knew I had to be extra careful now. Some years ago I dug in a pit in a field hospital, and struck an ore of those needles and one of them stuck itself under my finger nail. Not extremely pleasant. I found some rusted metal flakes near the eight needles so I hoped that was from the box they had been in. A little funny find was the tube of Wehrmacht mosquito repellent. I should test if it is still effective. Next I wrestled out a large piece of rubber that had been like a trousers,boots and suspenders in one. But it was all rotted and destroyed. Tucked into it though was a Notek lamp bracket that had been preserved perfectly.
I removed more rocks and soil and felt the corner of a box. As I scraped away the soil around the item, wooden bits came of it. It was a wooden box that fell apart, but it had a metal box inside! It was neatly placed on a couple of rocks in the bottom of the ditch. Not thrown in like all the other stuff. So I became very intrigued.
I lifted the lid and looked into a painters kit. The lid was actually the paint palette. Brushes, a scissor, lots of oil paint tubes and a box with water paints were in it! What a cool find!!
Using the cutter on roots and the bayonet to pry loose more rocks before scooping out soil I advanced into the ditch. I found a field torch, and what I first thought was a helmet or a lamp turned out to be a perfectly preserved enamelled bedpan! I dug out several wrenches, files and tools, some mystery parts, a vehicles rear light, a small engine and a ceramic part with a logo, I think it reads "Steyr". Almost on the bottom there were two bakelite items. A canteen drinking cup, and a karbid box for the Einheitslanterne. I check again with the pinpointer and with the help of the bayonet I uncover a real nice air pressure gauge with German text. I scraped a bit more with the blade and used the pinpointer. No signals. I got up on my feet and checked with the Fisher. It was silent the next half meter or so in the ditch, before it was full of signals again. A perfect place to end the digging for today.
I think I will be continuing here soon..
50 Reichspfennig.
Bottle and upsidedown mess kit.
Small fishing lure.
Lids for the food tins, and a vinagre bottle.
Needles.
For wagons and vehicles.
Some kind of heater?
A nice little tool.
Mosquito repellent.
Notek bracket.
Field torch.
The painters box.
Bed pan.
Looks like a gas tank lid.
Small engine.
Rear light.
Mystery part.
Tools.
Ceramic part.
Drinking cup.
Bakelite.
Thimble.
Air pressure gauge.
The blueberries are getting ready :)
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