Trench-art from the Tundra
- Inka
- Jul 12
- 4 min read
We are still waiting for some decent summer weather here in the north, but it is so wet that one is risking getting Trench foot when going out searching. The bugs are loving it though, and the wet ground is more conductive so the metal detector is catching signals better so it is not all terrible. Well, the insect situation can be a bit challenging at times to be honest.
This week I met up with a friend from the internet, or Germany actually. He and a buddy passed through the area on their summer expedition and we met up for a hunt in the woods together.
He wished to find a helmet, but instead he ended up with a nice field made Gebirgsjäger EKM and a rare Finnish made scope mount for a Soviet Mosin rifle and a AA sight for MG, while I dug up a small bronze anchor, possibly from a Kriegsmarine cap or career insignia, and a M24 shrapnel sleeve.
After a few days where I had to work I made it back out there to check if I maybe could find more EKMs or other interesting things.
The first day was supposed to be sunny, but as I arrived to the site heavy and grey clouds sailed in across the sky, but from time to time the sun managed to drill some holes in them so the day ended up being kinda nice and dry.
Just next to base camp I struck upon a small dumping pit where I dug out a Wound Badge. It was made of steel, caked in rust, so it was only its shape that made me realize what it actually was. Also in the pit were two aluminum Göffels and some bottles.
Another item I saved from the teeths of Time was a tiny blue pistol. I thought it was a toy or perhaps a lighter, but when I rinsed the soil of it I could see it was a pencil sharpener, way cooler than a rusted badge.
Roaming around the site I picked up parts of a compass, a shaving cup with nice trench-art, several Finnish- and German coins and a rifle cleaning kit.
Back home the GirlfriendWife surprised me with the first strawberries from our field. They were super tasty but I fear the wetness will make for a very bad harvest this year.
Yesterday was grey and the world was wet, but I insisted on making another trip. The weather report had hinted about some sun so I brushed off GirlfriendWifes ideas about bringing rainwear to stay dry.
The joke was of course on me since even before reaching the place I was soaked from the wet undergrowth, and ten minutes into the detecting I was dripping from top to bottom and my old worn out army boots held deciliters of water.
I dug many signals and a handful of them were pretty good. The first one was an Austrian ULLR badge. ULLR is the Patron of Skiers and winter sportsmen and seems to have been popular amongst the Austrian Gebirgsjägers.
This is my third ULLR badge and all three have different designs.
Together with it was an unfinished luggage tag made from a plate of brass. Only a surname had been punched in, Haugenhofer.
After a while I saw my phone was about to drown because of all the wet, so I went to the backpack to find a plastic bag for it. Only a few meters away from the backpack I picked up a signal and had to lift away some rocks to get to it. There was the find of the day, a InfanterieSturmAbzeichen! Finally a nice combat award from this site littered with junk! One can never find too many of those.
I kept searching although my clothes were so full of water that it had become heavier to move around and under a tree I found a binocular rotted to bits, but its leather straps and sling were intact and nicely preserved.
I had begun walking back to the base camp to collect my stuff and go home when I dug a good signal. It was a fragment of a Nahkampfspange! The needle was twisted, so force had been used to break it in parts.
I spent the next hour trawling the spot, piling any finds onto a rock so as to not dig them twice, but the rest of the badge was nowhere to be found. So I will spend an hour there on each trip from now, although I dont think I will ever find the missing piece..
The weather report is promising a lot more rain in the coming week, but I hope for some dry days or new waterproof boots, because my friend Baard has arrived to the area and we have some interesting sites to follow up :)
Thanks for reading. Have a nice week, and stay dry :)
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