German relic hunter.. new to this forum

Hello Thorsten -

I too applaud your efforts concerning your willingness to share the history of your area that you have unearthed. I for one, would love to read anything and everything that you have concerning the topic of World War II history.
Thank you.

Bill

 

Hi to all,

the stories are posted.

Please read them in the suggested sequence, since they are partly referring to one another.

Title "A hint in an US forum and a German WW II site hunt (very long and many pics)"

http://216.194.97.71/cgi-bin/config.pl?read=1746


Update with further information

http://216.194.97.71/cgi-bin/config.pl?read=1747


Title "A journey to relic land "

http://216.194.97.71/cgi-bin/config.pl?read=1748


Bye,
Thorsten

 

Interesting finds... wow.

 

Thorsten--these are totally fantastic and very well documented stories. I sure hope that you have many more of these to tell and more expeditions planned.

 

Welcome at these forums Thorsten! Great pictures on your site. I searched for wwii relics myself once but didn't fuind anything. I searched in the Seelow area with a hired metal detector.

I collect german militaria, especially infantry but also some SA and NSDAP. Besides that I focus on dutc NS organisations like NSB and Jeugdstorm.

 

Hello,

thank you for your appreciation! In the next future there won't be any new WW II stories from me, though. The searches they describe require a lot of work in terms of research, actual search in the field, cleaning and identifying the found items, select and trim prictures, write the search report etc.. Therefore, ususually I cannot write more than 2-3 per year. But it is nice to know that they are appreciated!

There is something in the pipe, though. I can't go into details now but last year I found a small forest where Volkssturm people abondoned their equipment. Besides a hoard with 15 pieces of equipment I found aluminium debris from a plane crashed on a nearby field. Also, two dud grenades were found so I had to call the police who in turn informed the EOD (?) (explosive ordnance disposal) who fetched the duds.

http://520083239907-0001.bei.t-online.de/SonstigeBilder/Granaten.jpg

One is a Russian 8.8 cm mortar grenade. The other is - so I was told - of US origin. Calibre around 1.5" or 1.6".

Finds of the undesired kind.

So, thank you again and bye for now,

Thorsten

 

Nice finds at any rate and i'll have something to look forward to in your future reports.

 

*BUMP*

 

To keep this thread going, here's a link which I often browse through and daydream over........... ( ) :

http://www.lerenfort.fsnet.co.uk/page3.html

 

Interesting site, Martin. I am amazed how much gear is still being pulled from rivers!

Interesting to read about the American MIA's that were found. I have just been reading about the fighting around Kommerscheidt, Vossenach and Schmidt, so I read these pages with a lot of interest!

 

Duhhhh - I don't even know where those places are !

What have you been reading, Stevin ?

 

R W Thompson's The Battle For The Rhineland. He discusses the battle for these towns. The Americans attacked these towns without realizing the importance of the nearby dams that would enable the Germans to flood the low lying plains from there up to Koln (Cologne). When flooded this would definately delay any attack on the Rhineland and Ruhr and would leave the British/Canadian Armies to fight for these areas without much support of the US Armies. Monty had seen the danger, but the Americans never seem to realize the importance of the dams until it was too late.

Thompson describes in some detail the battle for these three towns and the following, devastating counter-attack by the Germans. An verocious artillery barrage followed by close operating Infantry and Panzers of, I think, the 116th Panzer Div. The 112th Infantry Regiment of the 28th US Infantry division was pratically anihilated and the survivors were shell shocked beyond believe. Irony is that they where brought up north to a 'quiet' sector to recuperate, when the might of the German army ran over them again a few weeks later.

This battle, together with the one in HurtgenWald was instrumental in the preparations for the Rhineland battle up north. Once the German did opened the dams, the US Armies were basically stuck behind the Siegfried line and the water and the Germans brought as many divisions north to counter the attack of 21st Army Group, from Nijmegen to Wesel.

Interesting campaign gents.... I find myself spending money on books on this very subject.

 

Thanks Stevin - I've never known much about the actions near the Roer Dams.

 

I don't know if these where the Ruhr dams, Martin. I will look up which ones they were. When I read it there was no lightbulb going on with regards to the 617 Sqn dams. I think they were different ones. These were more south.

Because the Germans opened these dams, Operation Grenade, the US part of the Battle for the Rhineland, a sweeping attack from the south northwards, was delayed for days.

I have been cross referencing this book with Denis Withaker's Rhineland and The battle of the Hurtgen Forest (or something similar) by an author I can't remember now. (I am at work).

What suprises me is the verocity of these battles, both in the Brits/Canadians and the Americans area of operations. This was the last battle of attrition. Once Rhineland and the Siegfried line were taken it was 'On To Berlin'. The last defensive line to Berlin was breached and the Germans were left to a constant fighting retreat. Within two months the war was over. Nordwind being the last German offensive action on a 'large' scale.

[ 28. July 2003, 01:23 AM: Message edited by: Stevin Oudshoorn ]

 

Yes - it's easy to confuse the Roer dams ( your ones ) with the Ruhr dams ( my ones... )

 

Hello,

in the meantime I published a two part WW II relic hunting story. It describes the hunt for equipment left by a German SS division. Researched documents indicated two sites that I searched using a metal detector. The stories are long so please allow some loading time.

If someone is interested here are the links:

Part 1

Introduction and search of site #1

http://216.194.97.71/cgi-bin/config.pl?read=7975


Part 2

Very long. Search of site #2 and archaeological conclusions. Since a great part of this account deals with non WW 2 periods and archaeological methods e.g. 3D maps not all of it might be of interest for readers of this forum. Also, certain paragraphs are not suitable for small children.

http://216.194.97.71/cgi-bin/config.pl?read=8250


Bye,
Thorsten

 

Hallo Thorston. Words almost fail me whenever I read your presantations. They are so professionally and scientifically done and I am truely amazed at your works.

We are definately still interested in seeing anything you have whenever you have more to sahre.

Take care and, I might suggest yet another site that you might wish to post these finds on.

Please try www.militariacollecting.com

Thank you and take care--Carl.

 

Hello Carl,

thank you for your kind words. I will have a look at the link you mentioned.

Bye,
Thorsten

[ 09. May 2004, 04:58 AM: Message edited by: Thorsten ]

 

Hallo Thorsten and quite welcome. I was just at that site and saw you logged on. I hope you find it a place you would like to keep visiting.

Take care--Carl.