Some GTI 2500 finds from recent hunts in Germany

[Thorsten]

Hi all,

as we are currently experiencing a golden Autumn here in Germany usually I am out and searching at the weekends. Winter will arrive soon enough. But this weekend it was enough searching on Friday and relax Saturday and Sunday. Maybe some pictures from the last hunts might be interesting for somebody.

My searches brought me to battlefields of the 1500s and the 1800s. As so often, on both occasions much more WW2 stuff was found than contemporary pieces.

Here is a US WW2 Garand ammo clip
<img src="http://www.adventurehistory.com/tmp/AmmoClip6mm85.jpg">

followed by some WW2 ammo boxes of unknown nationality
<img src="http://www.adventurehistory.com/tmp/20061022/Blechbehaelter.jpg">


These pieces were found on a hang so not too many people went there after WW2.
<img src="http://www.adventurehistory.com/tmp/20061022/Hang.jpg">

German K98k ammo bag
<img src="http://www.adventurehistory.com/tmp/20061022/K98MunTascheUndPatronen.jpg">

Among the most unpleasant remains of WW2 are 2 cm grenades, either duds...
<img src="http://www.adventurehistory.com/tmp/20061022/Blindgaenger.jpg">

... or complete cartridges. This ammunition is considered unstable, especially the duds, and photos is all I take.
<img src="http://www.adventurehistory.com/tmp/20061022/2cmPatrone.jpg">

Besides musket balls and fragments of hollow cannon balls I found a personal first. This lead item
<img src="http://www.adventurehistory.com/tmp/20061022/Schrapnell.jpg">

was probably used to fill hollow cannon balls of around 1800 for additional splinter effect.

Also, some non-military items were found. This bronze object
<img src="http://www.adventurehistory.com/tmp/20061022/TierGriffEvtl.jpg">

is not identified yet. It is broken and shows an animal with an open mouth, probably a fish. Zoomorphic pieces like that are sometimes part of a strike-a-light.

To finish this small finds panorama, here is a chunk of bronze weighing 126 g. It was found in an area that was settled in bronze age times and indeed I hope the item is some 3000 years old bronze raw material waiting to be re-melted into a spear head or whatever. Unfortunately, most likely it will not be possible to date this item. Could be 100 or 3000 years old.
<img src="http://www.adventurehistory.com/tmp/20061022/BronzeBrocken.jpg">

Greetings from Germany,
Thorsten


www.adventurehistory.com

 

[DavHut]

I never did get my questions answered Thorsten:

Why are the 30-06 rounds, still corroded into their clips, empty?

And how did the Wehrmacht, the only ones to use portable 20mm guns AFAIK, get them way the heck up on the side of that steep hill?

 

[Uncle Willy]

Thorsten old bud where have you been? We have missed you. Don't stay away so long. Thanks a bunch for the great pics. Those are some great finds.

Bill

 

[Thorsten]

Hi Dave,

the questions you asked a few hours ago were answered in the forum they were asked. I tried to insert a link into this post but this does not work.

The Garand clip, which was found at a different spot than the 20 mm round, did indeed contain blanks. So maybe it originated from a post WW2 manouvre.

If the area of the 20 mm cartridge saw a 20 mm gun it was brought to higher positions over small forest ways, if these exist. The examination of the area has just begun.

Greetings,
Thorsten

 

[Thorsten]

Hi Bill,

thank you very much for the warm re-welcome. I did not post much the last time on any forum since the finds were somewhat meagre and I wanted to wait until I had at least some finds to show.

Greetings,
Thorsten

 

[Uncle Willy]

Hey any of your finds will be interesting.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

Thor,
Do youever run into any old pill boxes over there or have they all been demolished. Any areas around there where they kept and tested their buzz bombs, V-2's, etc.?

Bill

 

[Mick in Dubbo]

Digging up some of those finds with a pick, could turn into an interesting experience Thorsten!
Mick Evans.

 

[Terry 2500]

n/t

 

[Thorsten]

Hi Uncle Willy,

if I understand correctly a pillbox is a defensive structure weaker than a concrete bunker but much more elaborate than a foxhole.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_hardened_field_defences_of_World_War_II

No, so far I only encountered foxholes. The area is primarily a Napoleon era battlefield re-used for some skirmish in WW2. It is not a WW2 testing ground. With a LOT of luck it might produce a single cannon ball.

There are of course former testing and construction grounds for special WW2 weapons in Germany. Some 50 km from my home there were subterranean facilities to produce the Me 262 jet plane. Several thousand people were forced to work there. The construction was delayed by allied bomber raids and the facility never went into production as far as I know.

Greetings,
Thorsten

 

[Thorsten]

Believe me, I find a lot of rubbish no one likes to see. But I will keep trying. Yesterday afternoon I hiked through the woods to a new site. On an old map there was a small settlement which has vanished in the 19. century. So I fed my GPS with the position of the former church and homesteads and went to that place. Not a single trace of a former settlement was to be seen. A quick and superficial detector search produced just several horse shoe fragments, two ox shoes, a muzzle loader lead ball and a possble WW2 bomb fragment. Not worth a picture but at least there was some historic activity and maybe future outings will yield better finds.

Regards,
Thorsten

 

[Thorsten]

n/t

 

[Thorsten]

Yup, first it becomes very bright and then very loud.

Regards,
Thorsten

 

[Uncle Willy]

Some of those sites might be worthy of a hunt. A pill box is a concrete bunker with a slit in the front of it for the occupants to fire a machine gun through. THey were generally round. Hard telling what one might find inside some of those. To bad you couldn't hit some of the test facilities for the ME jets, V-2, and buzz bombs.

Bill

 

[DavHut]

...As I understand it , such sights were "smeared" after the war and many ended up in Soviet controlled territory - which amounts to the same thing. Much of the actual work and logistics sights were just forest clearings and such off of the autobahns, so those offer some chance, I suppose - if you can locate them.
Too, most Europeans want to do little more than pass over the "episode." Probably best, I should think. Thorstens approach , ie WWII stuff is trash, albeit interesting, while Napoleonic, Teutonic and Roman stuff is worth the effort of searching is best.

Look forward to more Thorsten.

 

[ehsan_aman]

hi
I paln to bue a garret gti 2500 .
I want to know that how deep it detects metals ?(how deep with eagle eye loop ?)
is there is any conflict with its operation and misture of ground ?
thank you it advance

 

[Uncle Willy]

There is no set depth for any detector because there are to many variables but the 2500 goes quite deep. The Treasure Hound is for large objects and will detect several feet. Moisture enhances a target's conductivity so makes for better detecting.

Bill