Fliegerhorst Gilze-Rijen. Archaeology & Research.

4 kills thats for sure.

 

Great Find, good story!

 

Probably much more, it think this is the lower part of a stone. I can't imagine a soldier painting on his hands and knees whereas he would have plenty of space while standing. The problem is that the concrete looks torn by an explosion and I suspect the other part to be either quite far away or buried . If they are buried the paint may be gone for ever.

 

I fear the last one.....
But... we also have found something in the woods, which we are digging up the comming weeks. Keep in touch.

 

More details : Wellingtons were mostly used up to 1942-1943, Halifaxes mostly 1943 and later ,
this means your inscritions could be from 1942, 1943 and all the later kills are missing .

 

Funkstelle Bisam was build in March 1942, so thats correct.

Here a previeuw of the other "thing".
Not sure what it is yet, what kind of type of building?...Some kind of a material "hangar", used for ammunition and weapons etc. We have an old map that shows us something like that was build there on that location. If you look at some findings we found there. Like many Belgian 7,65 mm cartridges and the lid of a MG ammunition box, its very possible.

We are going to dig the thing out.

 

The concrete with the 'Nachtabschuss' marking is an incredible and historic 'find' - an amazing relic of the night airwar.....

 

Isn't it possible to salvage the funkstelle concrete? The block should fit in a small trailer or maybe a wheel barrow?

The metal part could be part of a hinge of a massive door. Not sure though, just a thought.

 

What a great find!! looking forward to seeing what the "new" find is!!!

 

I had to work yesterday, but in the early morning (still dark) we went out to dig for a few hours. We want to discover the entire concrete, but that can take a while.
We didn't find something special this day, just more and more 7,65 mm cartridges, but we had a good time.

Here some pictures, while my friend and his son are digging.

 

Excellent, I can't believe you have the courage to go there all the time . You can't find treasures every day, so the fun of diging is your reward too.

 

nice keep trying to find some nice stuff

 

Whooo, what a devotion!
Good work.

 

Indeed, quite a lot of work.
After we where done with searching I went straight to work...
Its pleasant to see that the son of my friend is very motivated, actually he works harder than us. Reminds me a lot of myself when I started.

 

German ELAZ bombfuze, found near Rijen.
I also have the bakelite container for the fuze (not a dug-up).

Before:



After:

 

Nick great work on the cleanup and what a neat prize to have with the Bakelite container............super !

 

Wonderful. It's the first time I see a close up.

 

Thanks guys, very happy with this find.
Tomorrow maybe more, as I go back to that same location, spotted something on RAF airphoto's.

 

Have another RARE find to show you guys.
This is a French Hotchkiss Anti Char bullit.
Completely massive, bronze (no explosives or anything). Almost the size of my hand. (I'm not small...)
Found it on a German ammunition dump near Rijen a few years ago.
Very rare item, antoher nice example of "Beutewaffen".

 

Wow, those are some really great finds! In what capacity was this bullet used? It's pretty massive!!