The Mother of All Luggage Tags
- Inka
- Sep 8, 2022
- 4 min read
Last Friday morning the world had become frosted. The grass was white and we had to scrape ice off the car windshield before heading out to the forest. On the way I noticed fresh snow covering the highest mountain tops, so we have arrived at the point of no return, winter is coming.
The first couple of hours it was quite terrible searching. My fingers felt like they were about to fall off, but when the sun got its blasters set on full it became quite comfortable.
I was in the Gebirgsjäger camp where I have spent much of the summer and by chance I went with the detector straight on a small dumping ditch.
Except the usual rubbish I found a nice tent peg, an empty leather EKM pouch and a green plastic coffee cup, produced in Norway probably before the war. In the edge of the ditch I found lots of metal fittings for a variant of the Schu Minen, which probably had been produced in the camp and sent to the front in Finland.
The last items to come out from the ditch was a wooden bit in the shape of a shield. I wonder if it could be from the production of Lappland Shields as it has roughly the same size and shape. A meter away from the ditch I pulled out a metal piece that really looked like an oversized Lappland Shield, but I suspect it is just junk.
During the weekend me and the Girlfriend went for a small expedition to find berries. We didn`t get the best haul but it was lovely being outside in the nice weather, and we did pick enough to make some syrup and jam for the cold winter months.
One of the next days I joined my friend Jimmy to search in his Gebirgsjäger camp. An enormous camp filled with signals in the ground. That was very exciting. He have done some stunning finds here earlier so I had hopes that we would find some treasures.
We discovered a ditch near the foundation of a barrack and went to work as we got some big signals from it.
Since it was late afternoon we only dug about two meters of it but had a very nice and rare find. First we dragged up a soup container, but it had several holes in it from being hit with a pick axe.
Then a nice and empty M24 head before we started uncovering a large piece of metal. At first we thought it was a small wagon or hand cart, but when Jimmy managed to tear it loose from the ground and get it to the surface we realized we was dealing with a mystery part. I sent photos around to some guys working on German vehicles and soon after Morten G. came up with the answer. It was a Pak wheel holder for a Krupp Protze vehicle. Not many of those around thats for sure.
We closed the ditch up to complete it a day we have more time, and began searching for signals again. Then Jimmy began digging something, and soon after he called me over, having problems hiding his grin. He had found a pistol! And in quite good condition. What a lucky bugger!
I am not sure what type it was but it looked a bit like a Browning. We will know for sure when he has cleaned it up a bit. We didn`t find much else before we were back at the parking place, where I ca 30 meters from the car dug up a Notek lamp in nice condition. Hopefully we`ll be back there soon to finish up the ditch though.
Yesterday I did a short morning trip to another camp I`ve been searching many times. The first signal I opened was a small hole full of radio parts, a smashed bakelite radio, lots of bottles and several flashlights.
Soon after I found a nice looking Göffel, and then a very good signal grabbed my attention.
The piece of metal was stuck under a rock. I got it loose and thought it was just some scrap, but then I turned it over and it was full of text. I had in my hand the largest luggage tag I`ve ever seen. It read: "Heinz Gelbstrauss In Kittlitz Kreis Angerburg Ostpr" and on the back side his unit "I. GD. N.A. 91". Back home I tried to find Kittlitz in Ostpreussen and it is the small village Kietlice in todays Poland. I am very happy with this find!
Later on the morning I began digging another good signal. It was food tins, but next to them was porcelain! A tea plate, almost intact and nicely stamped with eagle and producer, but two bits were missing and couldn`t be found. I emptied all the junk out of the hole and on the very bottom was a bunch of buttons. Kriegsmarine buttons, both metal buttons and some made of glass! Also a very nice and interesting find, specially since the site is almost on the mountian. It must have been the Gebirgs Marine :D
Weekend is once again upon us and who knows what the next days will bring of weather and activities. For sure I will be doing my best to enjoy life, and hope you guys are doing the same.
Until next time, Keep Smiling, and if you can ,stay muddy :D
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