Early yesterday morning I was on the road heading south to meet my friends. The weather had finally cleared up a little so we had to take the opportunity and go searching some more in the large German camp. Roadworks and tourists sightseeing while driving slowed me down a bit but I arrived only a few minutes later than Baard and Skule. I gave Baard some small relics and a scabbard for the close combat knife from last trip and then we loaded the digger gear into my van and took off towards the forest roads. Mr.Weatherman had promised us clouds with no rain but the clouds dispersed and soon the sky was all blue and sunny. The ground was a little wet from the last days of raining but that is just good coz the detectors will pick up signals better in such conditions.
Baard still had his bolts and nails dumping pit to finish up so I found another quite good signal to dig. Directly under the surface was a german messkit lid waiting for me, and next to it another lid, possibly from a Norwegian messkit (those were often used by POWs) and then I pulled out a scabbard for a close combat knife :D So I had very quickly gotten a replacement for the one I gave away half hour earlier. On the wall of the dumping pit I began to see white porcelain shining through the soil, that is always very exciting. Would it be intact, and with stamps?? I carefully used my bayonet to get it loose from the soil. It was a small teapot, the lid was missing but I might have found one some years ago so I ll need to go through the porcelain crate in my storage, and it only had Norwegian producer markings. A great find anyways. I kept digging the small pit and found a handfull of gaming pieces and some K98 ammo. After filling back the spoils I checked the surface around the pit. There was a not so good but very clear signal. I tore away some of the moss and ripped my way through a fine webbing of roots before I saw metal. From the centimeter of visible metal it could be a file or a bayonet! Exciting! I took away some more of the roots and soil and saw a bakelite grip! As I held up the lovely find I shouted over to Baard "Are you ready to hate me again??!!" and expected a barrage of bolts flying towards me, but he is luckily a peaceful fellow :D
He had dug through half his pit and pulled up two rather large bakelite lids, which I have seen before but cannot remember what they belonged to, he also found more soldier boots and skeleton bits of probably half a horse.
I kept checking the area around and found a few fieldkitchen related bits. A metal dish, the lid from a coffee container, a few spoons and a enamelled soup bowl, but soon I wanted more dumping pit rather than single signals. Last time I had begun digging a possible dump, so I decided to give it another go. It was difficult because of the hard and heavy clay that held a large kettle in a firm grip so I moved to the other end of it and opened it up from that direction instead. After getting rid of the initial layer of rotted food tins some goodies peaked out. The first item was a really nice one. A medical scissor like tool, for bones or muscles probably. It was in an amazing condition, like new with only some clay stuck to it! Then some bottles and gaming pieces came out from the pit, followed by an intact coffee cup and tea plate of civillian types. I kept working on the pit for a couple of hours. Some large rocks had to be brought to the surface and relics kept coming. More gaming pieces, candles, bottles, two condoms, a really nice crystal ashtray, another medical tool and some personal hygiene items like toothpaste and razors. In the end I managed to get the large kettle out of the way but that was the end of it, the flow of relics from this pit dried out so I filled back the scrap and moved my finds to the relic pile.
Now Skule had discovered the K98 rounds and was feeding his pyromaniac tendencies and what is better than enjoying lunch in a cloud of cordite smell. :)
Baard had closed the bolt pit and went around looking for more treasures. I did the same but found nothing more than an axe head, 14 or 15 k98 stripper clips, a toothbrush and a couple of large pegs possibly for a huge tent tarpaulin.
The day rapidly moved towards evening so we decided to move a bit around to take a quick look at other parts of the forest before calling it quits. A small hill next to the forest road had a lot of signals and under a big birch tree was a small dump in the ground that looked like a two man foxhole. Here I got a strong signal. I had to check it of course. I dug down a bit, removed some rocks, cutted my way through some thick roots but still could not find the reason to the signal. After getting a new coil for the Fisher it really picks up deep stuff! I kept at it and almost a meter deep down I finally saw metal. A roundish shape..could it be a helmet??!! I had high hopes. I expanded the hole, got rid of the clay and finally I saw that it was a gasmask container I had in front of me. Then suddenly it was a second container there, and then a third!! I brought them up to the surface, happy that the three of us would get one each, and they looked to be in good condition, all had gasmasks inside and some color showing through the rust. But there were more. A strange looking gasmask I have never seen before, and then some more metal poked out from the side of the hole I had dug. And a small leather piece..chinstrap for a helmet??! Could it be? I dared not hope and just continued working at it, but soon I knew that I was about to pull out a German helmet! I was laying down to be able to reach the bottom of the pit and my legs were covered with ants. They would have pulled me away to their hive if I hadn`t stopped a moment to brush them off, and then I lifted the helmet out. It had liner and leather intact and I think this one can clean up well. With the two helmets I ve already found this season, and last summers big haul of lids I figured this one was for the boys and threw it at Skule who was busy fighting the ants as they had finally found a worthy opponent. I checked the pit and still there was strong signals down there. I laid back down and began pulling out cardboard box after cardboard box with wooden tipped exercise ammo for the K98 rifles. Hundreds of rounds. The other half of the pit also had some strong signals that very well could be helmets, and we thought there was a chance since it was 3 gasmask cannisters, why not three helmets.. While I had been doing this, Baard had been testing my detector and began picking up other things than nails and horseshoes so next time he ll be borrowing my spare Fisher as he is considering an upgrade from his old basic Garrett.
Since I was exhausted by now I let the guys dig the rest in case it was helmets there and they haven`t dug lots of that sort, but sadly it was just some scrap metal. I really wished it had been helmets, it would have been so awesome. They dug down till they also found boxes of the training ammo and we think the whole floor of the pit is covered by this in several layers, but that we will know for sure next time coz now it was late and we had to stop and get back to our homes.
Back at our starting point we made loose plans for the next trip, we just have to wait till the weather improves because the coming days will be seriously wet :)
Until then, Stay muddy and keep smiling:)
Baard still had his bolts and nails dumping pit to finish up so I found another quite good signal to dig. Directly under the surface was a german messkit lid waiting for me, and next to it another lid, possibly from a Norwegian messkit (those were often used by POWs) and then I pulled out a scabbard for a close combat knife :D So I had very quickly gotten a replacement for the one I gave away half hour earlier. On the wall of the dumping pit I began to see white porcelain shining through the soil, that is always very exciting. Would it be intact, and with stamps?? I carefully used my bayonet to get it loose from the soil. It was a small teapot, the lid was missing but I might have found one some years ago so I ll need to go through the porcelain crate in my storage, and it only had Norwegian producer markings. A great find anyways. I kept digging the small pit and found a handfull of gaming pieces and some K98 ammo. After filling back the spoils I checked the surface around the pit. There was a not so good but very clear signal. I tore away some of the moss and ripped my way through a fine webbing of roots before I saw metal. From the centimeter of visible metal it could be a file or a bayonet! Exciting! I took away some more of the roots and soil and saw a bakelite grip! As I held up the lovely find I shouted over to Baard "Are you ready to hate me again??!!" and expected a barrage of bolts flying towards me, but he is luckily a peaceful fellow :D
He had dug through half his pit and pulled up two rather large bakelite lids, which I have seen before but cannot remember what they belonged to, he also found more soldier boots and skeleton bits of probably half a horse.
I kept checking the area around and found a few fieldkitchen related bits. A metal dish, the lid from a coffee container, a few spoons and a enamelled soup bowl, but soon I wanted more dumping pit rather than single signals. Last time I had begun digging a possible dump, so I decided to give it another go. It was difficult because of the hard and heavy clay that held a large kettle in a firm grip so I moved to the other end of it and opened it up from that direction instead. After getting rid of the initial layer of rotted food tins some goodies peaked out. The first item was a really nice one. A medical scissor like tool, for bones or muscles probably. It was in an amazing condition, like new with only some clay stuck to it! Then some bottles and gaming pieces came out from the pit, followed by an intact coffee cup and tea plate of civillian types. I kept working on the pit for a couple of hours. Some large rocks had to be brought to the surface and relics kept coming. More gaming pieces, candles, bottles, two condoms, a really nice crystal ashtray, another medical tool and some personal hygiene items like toothpaste and razors. In the end I managed to get the large kettle out of the way but that was the end of it, the flow of relics from this pit dried out so I filled back the scrap and moved my finds to the relic pile.
Now Skule had discovered the K98 rounds and was feeding his pyromaniac tendencies and what is better than enjoying lunch in a cloud of cordite smell. :)
Baard had closed the bolt pit and went around looking for more treasures. I did the same but found nothing more than an axe head, 14 or 15 k98 stripper clips, a toothbrush and a couple of large pegs possibly for a huge tent tarpaulin.
The day rapidly moved towards evening so we decided to move a bit around to take a quick look at other parts of the forest before calling it quits. A small hill next to the forest road had a lot of signals and under a big birch tree was a small dump in the ground that looked like a two man foxhole. Here I got a strong signal. I had to check it of course. I dug down a bit, removed some rocks, cutted my way through some thick roots but still could not find the reason to the signal. After getting a new coil for the Fisher it really picks up deep stuff! I kept at it and almost a meter deep down I finally saw metal. A roundish shape..could it be a helmet??!! I had high hopes. I expanded the hole, got rid of the clay and finally I saw that it was a gasmask container I had in front of me. Then suddenly it was a second container there, and then a third!! I brought them up to the surface, happy that the three of us would get one each, and they looked to be in good condition, all had gasmasks inside and some color showing through the rust. But there were more. A strange looking gasmask I have never seen before, and then some more metal poked out from the side of the hole I had dug. And a small leather piece..chinstrap for a helmet??! Could it be? I dared not hope and just continued working at it, but soon I knew that I was about to pull out a German helmet! I was laying down to be able to reach the bottom of the pit and my legs were covered with ants. They would have pulled me away to their hive if I hadn`t stopped a moment to brush them off, and then I lifted the helmet out. It had liner and leather intact and I think this one can clean up well. With the two helmets I ve already found this season, and last summers big haul of lids I figured this one was for the boys and threw it at Skule who was busy fighting the ants as they had finally found a worthy opponent. I checked the pit and still there was strong signals down there. I laid back down and began pulling out cardboard box after cardboard box with wooden tipped exercise ammo for the K98 rifles. Hundreds of rounds. The other half of the pit also had some strong signals that very well could be helmets, and we thought there was a chance since it was 3 gasmask cannisters, why not three helmets.. While I had been doing this, Baard had been testing my detector and began picking up other things than nails and horseshoes so next time he ll be borrowing my spare Fisher as he is considering an upgrade from his old basic Garrett.
Since I was exhausted by now I let the guys dig the rest in case it was helmets there and they haven`t dug lots of that sort, but sadly it was just some scrap metal. I really wished it had been helmets, it would have been so awesome. They dug down till they also found boxes of the training ammo and we think the whole floor of the pit is covered by this in several layers, but that we will know for sure next time coz now it was late and we had to stop and get back to our homes.
Back at our starting point we made loose plans for the next trip, we just have to wait till the weather improves because the coming days will be seriously wet :)
Until then, Stay muddy and keep smiling:)
German messkit lid.
Close combat knife scabbard.
Tea pot.
Late war Rosodont toothpowder box. Made in flimsy plastic.
Messkit lids, ammo and gaming pieces.
Mauser bayonet. My third this season.
WH axe.
One of the bakelite screw lids. Please let me know if you can ID it :)
Fieldkitchen coffe box lid.
Enamelled food dish.
Some kind of clip in perfect condition. We are thinking it belongs to a photo- or x-ray developing kit.
Medical scissors in near mint condition.
Horse from a checkers game.
Porcelain, glass and gaming piece.
Nivea bottle.
Enamel plate and tea cup set.
Markings on the plate.
Razor and candles.
Ashtray.
Condoms.
Some more gaming pieces.
Another medical tool.
Flames, flames, flames :)
The guys.
The three large pegs whatever they belong to.
Yet another toothbrush for the collection.
Digging a deep signal.
A lovely sight.
Three full conatiners and a strange gasmask.
The eyelet does not look like it belong to this mask.
Helmet!!!!
Cardboardboxes with exercise ammo.
Nice brass with wooden tip.
Sadly there were not more helmets there,but who knows, maybe they are beneath the layer of ammo. We ll check that later.
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