My friend is still holidaying up North so yesterday morning I loaded up the car and went for a visit. I met him and his son by the roadside and we drove a kilometer down the valley to check out the remains of a German ammo camp. Just a few hundred meters in, we saw a pile of rust near some large boulders. It was lots of carrying racks for M24 stick grenades, M39 egg grenades, mine parts and a ton of boxes that had contained detonators. We spent a while there searching through the piles , picking out some nicer looking ones worth saving. Following the old road we found bunker after bunker, not the concrete ones but earthen dug outs, some walled up with natural stones. Most of the signals we dug here was wires, nails and rests of crates, but around one of the bunkers we picked up a good handfull of signal flares.
It was a light rain all the time so after some hours we went soaking wet back to the piles of racks for lunch and to carry our rusted treasures back to the car. It had become dinner time but we decided to keep going. Baard showed the way a few kilometers more down through the valley to a site where it had been a Heer camp. On our stroll towards it we spotted a close defence trench where we dug out three mortar grenade boxes and a few other relics. After that we went down a slope to where the camp had been. Here relics laid everywhere on the surface and we found large dug outs in the slope sides. Between two such dug outs it was a huge ditch with several barrack ovens sticking out from the ground. We began digging from each our corners. Time flew and relics kept pouring out like water from a faucet. All the usual bits was present, cutlery, porcelain, bottles of all kinds, food tins, bolts, a book, uniform parts, mystery bits and those ovens in the middle of the ditch. Baard had a really surprising find, an American coin from 1892! How on earth did that find it`s way there?? Finds like that really fuels the imagination. Another mortar grenade box got dug out next to a 20 litre fuel can and a steel coffee box from a field kitchen.
To Baards growing frustration I kept pulling out belt buckles, two Heer buckles and a denazified DLV, Deutscher Luftfahrtverband, (German Aviation Association) buckle, and I found a nice "trench-art" ring. We reached the ovens and dug out all four or five of those heavy beasts and underneath them we found a whole bunch of chess and dam game pieces. We had been searching and digging since before lunch time and the clock crept close to 21 when I removed the last relic for the day, a aluminium field kitchen box in exellent condition. We stretched our old knees and backs, loaded up our finds and closed the ditch back up. It had been an awesome day and Baards son might have become bitten by the rust-hunter bug being out with us for all these hours.
Until next time, stay muddy and keep smiling :)
It was a light rain all the time so after some hours we went soaking wet back to the piles of racks for lunch and to carry our rusted treasures back to the car. It had become dinner time but we decided to keep going. Baard showed the way a few kilometers more down through the valley to a site where it had been a Heer camp. On our stroll towards it we spotted a close defence trench where we dug out three mortar grenade boxes and a few other relics. After that we went down a slope to where the camp had been. Here relics laid everywhere on the surface and we found large dug outs in the slope sides. Between two such dug outs it was a huge ditch with several barrack ovens sticking out from the ground. We began digging from each our corners. Time flew and relics kept pouring out like water from a faucet. All the usual bits was present, cutlery, porcelain, bottles of all kinds, food tins, bolts, a book, uniform parts, mystery bits and those ovens in the middle of the ditch. Baard had a really surprising find, an American coin from 1892! How on earth did that find it`s way there?? Finds like that really fuels the imagination. Another mortar grenade box got dug out next to a 20 litre fuel can and a steel coffee box from a field kitchen.
To Baards growing frustration I kept pulling out belt buckles, two Heer buckles and a denazified DLV, Deutscher Luftfahrtverband, (German Aviation Association) buckle, and I found a nice "trench-art" ring. We reached the ovens and dug out all four or five of those heavy beasts and underneath them we found a whole bunch of chess and dam game pieces. We had been searching and digging since before lunch time and the clock crept close to 21 when I removed the last relic for the day, a aluminium field kitchen box in exellent condition. We stretched our old knees and backs, loaded up our finds and closed the ditch back up. It had been an awesome day and Baards son might have become bitten by the rust-hunter bug being out with us for all these hours.
Until next time, stay muddy and keep smiling :)
A beautiful sight, M24 and M39 racks.
Many of the racks had both paint and text intact.
In one of the racks the detonator was still in its wooden box.
Part from a anti personell mine.
One of the racks was unusual,,maybe WW1 or very early WW2?
The little stream was also full of relics.
Insert for a Norwegian Madsen MG ammo box.
Signal flares.
Beautiful nature.
Video below :
In a trench we found three mortar grenade boxes together with a few other relics.
Skin- and hairoil bottles,lid from messkit, a spoon and a file.
Käro syrup.
In the camp relics was scattered around on the surface.
Gearbox.
A plate from a Telefunken radio.
German messkit lid with engraved initials.
Working in the large dumping ditch.
American One Cent coin from 1892.
Small enamelled measuring cup.
The camp keys?
The first Heer buckle of the day.
A tiny ashtray.
A new ring found it`s way into my collection.
Hot food container.
Ammo box and jerrycan.
We found several tubes of toothpaste.
A shoulderboard from a German uniform.
Kriegsmarine porcelain.
A pair of spurrs was found.
Typewriter ribbon.
Horse from a chess game.
Three pairs of Göffels came out from the ditch.
Melted glass jar.
The three buckles. The steel ones looks shoddy but will clean up nicely.
The fieldkitchen box.
" E. Sch. 1943"
The denazified buckle will get a new home in my collection.
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