Metal Detecting in Berlin found 21 Dog Tags!

[Kolby72]

Hey guys just got back today from a three day hunt in Berlin with German Searcher (Rowland) and we had a ton of sucess. Some of the thing in the pictures werent found by me. I found one of the German gask masks and the shoulder rank for a German uniform. The Stalag markers were gifts one from German Searcher and one from another German buddy. The whole dog tag is from the concentration camp at Bergen Belsen,the other tag is from the state of Hessen. The helmet was found by a buddy and he sold it to me for super cheap. The munzen coin from 1752 was found by me in a forest near Gross Koris. Now for the best part of the story. Roland and I were looking for a good place to hunt and our German buddy told us to check out this little patch of forest on the outskirts of a small town. When we got there Roland went straight to work combing the forest. I crawled ontop of my Jeep to relax for a bit before we started the day. All of the sudden I head Roland say "OMG I found a dogtag!" I almost fell off the Jeep! I ran over and sure enough he had a shiny dogtag. I ran and grabbed my detector and started hunting with him. after about 30 min we had over 10 dog tags! all in all we found 21 dog tags none of them had names on them so it is likely they were thrown away near the end of the war. It was an awesome trip! well worth it!

[The Rebel]

Very Nice Finds! One of my ancestors was born in 1751 in Eldenhausen-Hessen!

[demyansk1942]

I wonder if this was a spot where some of the German soldiers gathered in April 1945 and decided to throw away their uniforms and blend into the countryside? I am not familiar with the dog tags but any identification of units, etc? I would check that area closely since finding that many together is interesting. However, it could be an area used for POW holding pens. More search needed in this location, man I wish I was in Europe looking for this stuff, I love it, just love military history and I would eat it up.

Any USSR stuff?

[Kolby72]

The tags were probably thrown away, they would have been stamped. The POW dog tags were found near a bunker in the same spot and there have been multiple tags found there and lots of badges. We didnt find much USSR stuff except for some Russian ammo

[demyansk1942]

hi kolby,

was the location east of berlin or west of berlin? I live in the usa and maybe you can find some info on what units came through there.

[Kolby72]

Originally Posted by The Rebel

Very Nice Finds! One of my ancestors was born in 1751 in Eldenhausen-Hessen!

That is cool I used to live near Frankfurt and it was awesome I love hunting in Europe!

[Kolby72]

Originally Posted by demyansk1942

hi kolby,

was the location east of berlin or west of berlin? I live in the usa and maybe you can find some info on what units came through there.

It is near lots of different towns, we were near the town of Halbe. During the end of the war the Russians surrounded over 90,000 Germans and civilians in the forest. The Germans dropped anything to do with the Nazi regime.

[Kolby72]

More pics I will do electrolysis on the helmet I think it will turn out very well, it still has paint on it in some places.

[Dustyloins]

Yeah, once the Russians reached Berlin, a bunch of German soldiers became "civilians" really fast. They had to watch out for the SS patrols who would hang them for desertion, though. I've got some a German soldiers "paperwork" who was a POW of the Russians for several years. He was very, very lucky. 95% of German POWs never returned from Russian camps......

Dusty

[demyansk1942]

Oh man, their must be a ton of stuff in the woods of that location. I would check that area again and you might have hit the motherload!!! This situation was often spoken about in Hitler's relief plans from Gen. Wenck. Their is a article in the recent Armchair General magazine about General Heinrici. Some notable authors including antony beevor and ziemke have written about this and its worth pursuing.

http://www.armchairgeneral.com/septe...rs-capital.htm




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Halbe

[Kolby72]

Originally Posted by Dustyloins

Yeah, once the Russians reached Berlin, a bunch of German soldiers became "civilians" really fast. They had to watch out for the SS patrols who would hang them for desertion, though. I've got some a German soldiers "paperwork" who was a POW of the Russians for several years. He was very, very lucky. 95% of German POWs never returned from Russian camps......

Dusty

This is very true the relationship between the Germans and the Americans was more profesional. Germans tried very hard to surrender to the Americans or the Brits they knew they had a lot better chance of survival

[Kolby72]

Originally Posted by demyansk1942

Oh man, their must be a ton of stuff in the woods of that location. I would check that area again and you might have hit the motherload!!! This situation was often spoken about in Hitler's relief plans from Gen. Wenck. Their is a article in the recent Armchair General magazine about General Heinrici. Some notable authors including antony beevor and ziemke have written about this and its worth pursuing.

http://www.armchairgeneral.com/septe...rs-capital.htm




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Halbe

Yes it is a well know spot and I have seen first hand from a buddy of mine what has come out of that forest and it is truley astonishing. this was our second trip in less than a year and we are hoping to have one more by May of 2012.

[Kolby72]

A couple more pics... I hope to do electrolysis on the helmet I think it will turn out very well there is still a lot of paint on some part sof it...

[Dustyloins]

Originally Posted by Kolby72

This is very true the relationship between the Germans and the Americans was more profesional. Germans tried very hard to surrender to the Americans or the Brits they knew they had a lot better chance of survival

Yup, in one of the last episodes of "Band of Brothers" there is a part that shows tens of thousands of German soldiers who have surrendered and are marching down the autobahn........to the west, not to the east!!! German civilians did the same thing when they could......

Dusty

[007tallguy]

wow, some really great finds!
i wonder if that might be one of those areas where there's all kinds of guns and ammo and everything else buried there too?

about the electrolysis on the helmet... won't that take the paint off, or doesn't that matter too much if it remove's the paint?

Pete

[Kolby72]

Originally Posted by 007tallguy

wow, some really great finds!
i wonder if that might be one of those areas where there's all kinds of guns and ammo and everything else buried there too?

about the electrolysis on the helmet... won't that take the paint off, or doesn't that matter too much if it remove's the paint?

Pete

I am going to soak it in soap and water and then lighly scrub it. If that doesnt help I will do electrolysis on it for sure

[007tallguy]

Originally Posted by Kolby72

I am going to soak it in soap and water and then lighly scrub it. If that doesnt help I will do electrolysis on it for sure

yep, ok. it still looks pretty solid, so that's the main thing.
i hope we get to see some "after" pics when you're finished with it.

Pete

[Kolby72]

Originally Posted by 007tallguy

yep, ok. it still looks pretty solid, so that's the main thing.
i hope we get to see some "after" pics when you're finished with it.

Pete

I will post before and after pics within the week, it is in awesome shape it will turn out nice

[RWJR13]

That is some really great finds Kolby......AWESOME....

[Kolby72]

Thanks RWJR13 I started cleaning the helmet lightly with a SOS pad and water and the dirt came off pretty easy. When I turned the helmet over I rubbed the area around the left front side to see if it might have an emblem and it did!!!! It is a Luftwaffe Steel helmet! So now I have a problem should I do electrolysis on the helmet and risk losing the insignia or should I do some type of chemical bath to eat the rust away. This could also eat the paint and the insignia, if anyone has any ideas let me know I am open to any advice....