trenchtrotter Posted 24 January , 2010 Share Posted 24 January , 2010 Hi Mick, Will be over from 20/3 for a whole 8 days...cant wait. As usual we are on the Somme but will have a day at Loos / Bullecourt. Plenty of walking planned to usual Somme areas but will explore Guedecourt in depth! A nice badge or s/t would be a benefit but not the objective.......who knows what fate will deliver! If your around a beer at Tommies or closer to you at either bar in Hebuterne! Regards TT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cnock Posted 24 January , 2010 Share Posted 24 January , 2010 Langemark - Broenbeek from Württemberg belt buckle Cnock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephen p nunn Posted 24 January , 2010 Author Share Posted 24 January , 2010 Hi Mick,Will be over from 20/3 for a whole 8 days...cant wait. As usual we are on the Somme but will have a day at Loos / Bullecourt. Plenty of walking planned to usual Somme areas but will explore Guedecourt in depth! A nice badge or s/t would be a benefit but not the objective.......who knows what fate will deliver! If your around a beer at Tommies or closer to you at either bar in Hebuterne! Regards TT Good luck TT - have a great time and let us know what you find. (I am glad this thread has generated so much response). Best regards (wish I was going but....work!!). SPN Maldon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trenchtrotter Posted 24 January , 2010 Share Posted 24 January , 2010 SPN, The topic has been explored before but usually it degenerates into the "Your robbing graves and identities...shame on you" theme. I have never gone with that line. I have found human remains and where possible done my best for the man. I would never keep items associated with remains (see my line re the German posted earlier). All items every last button remain with him. It is nice to see chance finds posted and I hope to see more items on this thread. Thanks for starting and thanks to all who so far have contributed. Also thanks for keeping it on topic without the debate. Many thanks Cnock nice piece... TT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick D Posted 24 January , 2010 Share Posted 24 January , 2010 I was in Longueval last Oct with my family, having just been to the Ulster Tower and seen a recently found wedding ring. My 8 yr old daughter was keen to go looking for treasures that I had told her occaisionaly 'turn up'. We walked along the track from Longueval towards Montauban, and I saw a ring, (the type which would reinforce a sheet etc, and most probably not WW1) but my daughter heard the word "ring" and thinks to this day she has found the treasure of all treasures ! Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trenchtrotter Posted 24 January , 2010 Share Posted 24 January , 2010 Mick, Fantastic and hopefully a memory she will cherish and perhaps lead to a life long interest in the Great War? Re the NZ badge I mentioned earlier. I have a photo of it e mailed to me by the finder but I cannot save it to my pictures and then post here...sorry. The badge is a cap badge to the 6th (Hauraki) Regiment. It was found slightly bent and in the vicinity of Caterpillar Vallet Cemetery. Founs by a forum member a couple of years ago and was his first ever badge find...way to go! TT Should anyone want to see it then pm me your e mail and I will forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephen p nunn Posted 24 January , 2010 Author Share Posted 24 January , 2010 I was in Longueval last Oct with my family, having just been to the Ulster Tower and seen a recently found wedding ring. My 8 yr old daughter was keen to go looking for treasures that I had told her occaisionaly 'turn up'. We walked along the track from Longueval towards Montauban, and I saw a ring, (the type which would reinforce a sheet etc, and most probably not WW1) but my daughter heard the word "ring" and thinks to this day she has found the treasure of all treasures ! Mick Good on her. I remember my daughter being like that over Roman pottery shards when she joined me on fieldwalking trips. She's nealy 18 now and searching for archaeological evidence here or on GW sites would damage her nail varnish! Continue to enjoy the fun of childhood! Best wishes. SPN Maldon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auchonvillerssomme Posted 24 January , 2010 Share Posted 24 January , 2010 Hi Mick, Will be over from 20/3 for a whole 8 days...cant wait. As usual we are on the Somme but will have a day at Loos / Bullecourt. Plenty of walking planned to usual Somme areas but will explore Guedecourt in depth! A nice badge or s/t would be a benefit but not the objective.......who knows what fate will deliver! If your around a beer at Tommies or closer to you at either bar in Hebuterne! Regards TT Guedecourt is well worth it, it was a few yards down from the Caribou that the buckle was found. Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deerhunter Posted 24 January , 2010 Share Posted 24 January , 2010 I'll be over for the week commencing 14 Feb 10 with the kids, staying in Flers. I must admit that after browsing this thread I'll be scanning the ground a bit more avidly. I'd be interested to hear if any other Forum members would be around about then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trenchtrotter Posted 24 January , 2010 Share Posted 24 January , 2010 Deerhunter, Scan as hard as you can...however they find you!! TT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auchonvillerssomme Posted 24 January , 2010 Share Posted 24 January , 2010 I still get as excited finding a shrapnel ball or cartridge case in an area I'm researching as I ever did. It gives me the connection to the books and maps that can't really be found by the amateur in any other field ( pun intended). Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephen p nunn Posted 24 January , 2010 Author Share Posted 24 January , 2010 I still get as excited finding a shrapnel ball or cartridge case in an area I'm researching as I ever did. It gives me the connection to the books and maps that can't really be found by the amateur in any other field ( pun intended). Mick Yes I know what you mean Mick. Being able to see evidence in the field that supports the paper research (or confirms it/gives evidence of it) is really powerful. I remember giving a lecture to some students at a local university about the relationship between the paper archive and archaeology a few years ago - I used a WW2 aviation site to illustrate the presentation. I got really passionate about it - not sure they did though (hope so)! SPN Maldon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIRKY Posted 25 January , 2010 Share Posted 25 January , 2010 Fantastic finds! We are going to Somme 18th March for a few days so may see you there TT. ( Beer perhaps?) 1 question , how do you think the cap badges get lost? I thought the soldiers were not allowed to wear them in battle so wondering how they are in the fiels? Ye to find a cap badge but got a Canada shoulder title and a Middlesex shoulder title. Were they supposed to take these off as well? If they did remove them , where would they put them? Have found a few Regt buttons so if these were worn it would defeat object of removing the badges? Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deerhunter Posted 25 January , 2010 Share Posted 25 January , 2010 Finding anything is a real buzz for me. I explained it to my kids, even if it's a piece of shrapnel, it's that direct connection which says "the last time this was touched by a human was probably when it was loaded for firing. If it's a cartridge case or something more evocative I can imagine the round being loaded, the clip discarded, and the thing fired and ejected. The phrase I've heard used is "it's like touching time". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trenchtrotter Posted 25 January , 2010 Share Posted 25 January , 2010 Tony, Would be good to meet. Where did the Middlesex title come from? Re cap badges.......would you leave your badge in your cap in a barn for every thieving soldier around to take or would you put it in your pocket? Also some may have put entire cap in side pack? Soft caps (after Somme) would have been in a pack etc. Also perhaps a spare cap badge in pocket? Regards TT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auchonvillerssomme Posted 26 January , 2010 Share Posted 26 January , 2010 You find cap buttons as well (if you have hawklike eyesight like my wife), so they carried their soft caps, plus the contents of small packs - razors etc. Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawley Jockey Posted 27 January , 2010 Share Posted 27 January , 2010 I have found quite a number of British buttons -Greatcoat -Jacket - cap - down to shirt buttoms but only one I presume German button - about 15mm across with N0.12 on it (between High Wood and Martinpuich). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIRKY Posted 27 January , 2010 Share Posted 27 January , 2010 This last October found button by Bazentin to Australian Commonwealth. Also found buttons in past to French Infantry, French Engineers, Canada and also Royal Hants. found various German buttons and G.S. buttons various sizes. They were all on top of soil. tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trenchtrotter Posted 27 January , 2010 Share Posted 27 January , 2010 Re the no 12 button... Quite correct, German epaulette button and indicates 12th company, so whatever Regt he was in we know he was 12th Co., 3rd Battalion. I too have a box full of British buttons, tunic large and small, cap chin strap buttons, French, Canadian and some unidentified. Re unit buttons an Essex regt and a Glouscester Regt button. I have a few German buttons including Marine battalion found above Courcellette, a Marine collar rank button and this Nov my first Bavarian button. Regards TT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warbuff1 Posted 28 January , 2010 Share Posted 28 January , 2010 Great photos Cnock and great condition. May i ask whats best way to 'clean' certain items ie brass ones. Is any special chemical recomended? Wayne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthew lucas Posted 28 January , 2010 Share Posted 28 January , 2010 don't clean ! matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 28 January , 2010 Share Posted 28 January , 2010 I don't know how commonly these particular 'stickers' turn up out of the soil, but it was the very first full length bayonet I ever found and ,so, is quite special to me... vicinity of (site of) Kitchener Wood, April 1983... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 29 January , 2010 Share Posted 29 January , 2010 got quite an affinity with dug up gas-masks too... this one was found over 2 years (1994/5)in the same spot at the foot of Kemmel Hill... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 29 January , 2010 Share Posted 29 January , 2010 ...the five 1878 pattern tags depicted were part of a batch of over 20 to the same unit discovered at the same spot in the Argonne in 1998. The 1916 pattern is from the southern slopes of the Chemin de Dames (same year)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 29 January , 2010 Share Posted 29 January , 2010 ...a small selection from the Vimy/Souchez/Arras area... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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