My trips to the Hurtgen Forest 2006/2007

Interesting.

The jacket is mostlikely American, because there are two pockets on the lower sides of it and those are not found on the German jackets. My best guess.

Cool comparison pictures of Grosshau too!

 

Thanks for your reaction, it just lay there halfway the hill but i can't imagine that it stood the time of 63 years and in all weatherconditions!
I could not find any buttons or other stuff to identify the jacket, so i left it there.

 

I found two similar Vichy coins with the Francisque (Axe) . The small one is a 1f coin and the bigger one a 2f coin. Then there is a 10f + a 20f bill

All these were issued between 1940 and 1944.

I believe the one you found is a 1f coin

 

Nice ones, indeed i found a one Franc coin.
I think it belonged to a german because with this coin i found the 2 german coins, so probebly he was stationed in France before they pulled back into Germany after the allied invasion.

 

It would be interesting to check which units were stationed in the forest and find out who came from France. This could narrow your search and you would have an idea of which unit could have owned these items.

 

The German units that where stationed at the spot where i found the coins where elemants of 984th regiment of the 275th Infantery Division, this Division was in Brittany months before D-Day.
They fought the Americans for six weeks on the Contentin Peninsula and draw back to St.-Lo and in the Falaise pocket.
Another unit at the coin-spot where the remnants of 1/1031 Security Battalion and 20th Luftwaffe Fortress Battalion.
Knowing this the coin must have seen a lot of action from the fighting in France till the fighting in the Hurtgen Forest.

 

It's great to be able to give a name to this coin. so it travelled from Britanny to Normandy , then proabably eastern France, the Bulge and the Ruhr until it ended up buried in Hurtgen for over 60 years. Have you noticed how light these coins weight? They almost seem like plastic toy coins, yet make a metallic noise. they were made of lower quality metal during the war.

 

Yes, i noticed, i thought it was made of some kind of aluminium?

 

Wow!!
just caught up with this thread this morning!! Great stuff Ed!! You too Skip, I'm always amazed at what you guys come up with to share with me! I'm very jealous of your being able to go to these places and find these treasures! I have a metal detector, and would love to find an area here to investigate!
thanks again!!

 

Yes they are cheap aluminium , probably recycled low quality with inpurities. Therefore therefore they are very light. Bigfun if you like these coins they are easy to find on ebay france, it's sometimes cheaper to buy a couple than hunting for a hypothetical treasure.

 

Hi,
i'm djon my home is near the german border(aachen)(hurtgenforest) have hurtgen battle maps for sale from militär archief freiburg and EOD Netherlands all from de bloody forest.
Just ask me.

 

Well, i'm always interested in maps of that area.
What are the prices and what kind of maps does it concern?
Thanks for your reply!

 

Well, i'm interested in maps of that area.
Just let me know what you have to offer and for what price!

 

me too! i like maps!!

Skipper i'm going to check on the coins!

thanks!!

 

I have a spare one Bigfun . If you want it, Pm me and I will put it in the mail for you (present)

 

Here some other finds from last year and some impressions of the area.

Some eye-finds, left there by others.













An Handy-talkie SCR-536 US in bad shape:

 

another fine find. That field telephone is excellent and in a great condition !

 

After i cleaned it, it looks good.
Can you imagine that someone found this and dicided that it was not worth taking and left it there!
It happend, luckely for me!

 

Great scenic photos. Thanks

 

A part of an German STG44 before cleaning:









And after cleaning:













Some other finds i cleaned from the Reichswald en Hurtgenwald area: