Steel Flower & Iron Hats
- Inka
- Jun 13, 2022
- 4 min read
One evening before the weekend I went to hang out with two friends in the forest. It is always great to meet up with likeminded weirdos and tell tales about great finds and hidden valleys where you have to wade through the relics.
Nothing much was dug up that evening, only a few Notek parts, rifle casings, M39 Eggs and buttons, but something funny happened when we were about to leave. We got close to the parking lot and one of the guys ran up on the walls of a earthen dug-put exclaiming "Just one more sweep. I want a medal before I go home!" "BleepBleep" goes his detector, and he falls to his knees and rips up the moss and just starts laughing as he pulls out a beautifully preserved Wound Badge in Black!
The next day I went back there hell bent on also bringing home a medal. I spent some hours searching and digging but it did not result in any medals. The closest I got to one was a speedometer plate from a German vehicle. A very cool find so I was not too sad about not finding any awards.
The other things I found was a single leg from a MG bipod, a broken Notek lamp, a mystery part that looks like a cover for a bike or motorcycle chain and a dataplate with a scheme about adding something to oil or fuel for vehicles.
During the weekend me and the Girlfriend did some relaxing and we also planted a field of potatoes so naturally my back has been destroyed the last couple of days. That did not stop me from bringing my backpack and detector out to the forest this morning. The only thing to do really was to teach the back a lesson so it will cooperate at least a couple more decades. Fight pain with pain :)
I was gonna continue in the Gebirgsjäger camp and found a nice place to set up base for the day and threw down the backpack. The first signal I got from the detector was a bit weak or strange but I dug it anyway. I am so glad I did! I had to use the cutter on a root but when that was out of the way I saw a flowery shape. Finally an Edelweiss!! I think the last time I found one was back in 2015 so I was pretty happy. I put it back on the ground and double checked the signal and went hunting for more steel flowers.
An hour later I returned to the backpack and hadn`t found any more Edelweiss badges. I had picked up one more of the small shoulderboard pips, a Finnish coin, some rifle casings and I had dug up half an iron cast oven.
After drinking almost a litre of water I began checking out what I thought could be a dumping ditch which I had discovered on one of the previous trips here. Under the moss and top soil was a layer of rocks that took some effort to clear away. Now I got to a layer of relics. Bottles, food tins, and all the usual junk. But in between was a few gems like gaming pieces, bakelite razors, ashtrays, buttons, porcelain plate, goggles, a few toothbrushes and tent pegs. Having dug down to the bottom in the section I had started with I noticed something in the edge of the ditch.
Even if I knew what was in front of me it felt a little bit unreal. It always does when I find these actually. I grabbed it and yanked out a very nice looking German helmet! It was missing the leather liner but was otherwise in great condition.
I filled all the small finds into it and turned back to the ditch. I removed a rock from the edge and THERE WAS ANOTHER HELMET!! This one even better looking. Lots of color showing and at least some of the leather liner intact. Unbelievable!
Now I needed a little break. I ate my food while listening to the birds and scouting the treetops for squirrels. For two,three hours more I kept removing rocks, cutting my way through roots while trying not cut myself on all the broken bottles that had been filled into the ditch. In the dark soil I spotted some black bakelite. An item I had wished to find since I began this hobby so many moons ago. A Wehrmacht whistle for NCO or Officer.
I couldn`t help imagine and wonder about what battles this item could have taken part in. Super happy with that find. I dug up some more gaming pieces and rifle ammo and a civillian porcelain cup with some cool design on.
I had gotten almost half way through the lenght of the ditch when it was time to wrap it up, collect my toys and head home. I did a quick check around the edges and the area around before I filled the ditch and strolled tired and happy towards the car. I couldn`t feel the back pain all day working in the forest, but 5 minutes after sitting down in the car seat it was there, so I hope there will be time for another trip very soon :D
Stay muddy :)
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