7:29am Posted 19 July , 2005 Share Posted 19 July , 2005 These circles were unearthed last saturday. The diameter is 3 feet but over the years they have been found up to a diameter of 6 feet. They have only been found in English positions near the canal at Boezinge and we have no clue at all for what purpose they served. Any suggestions will be very welcome. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Could these be the remains of a water butt? ie the ridges of on a corrugated iron sheet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frans Posted 22 July , 2005 Share Posted 22 July , 2005 One pair of shoes of many we have found. The soldiers must have had spare boots to swap into. Remains of socks are also found frequently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frans Posted 22 July , 2005 Share Posted 22 July , 2005 These items were found in the same area as the boots in the above picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frans Posted 22 July , 2005 Share Posted 22 July , 2005 Some bottles found elswhere. The right bottle a perrier a la 1914-18. I think the left two could have been used for pickles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J T Gray Posted 22 July , 2005 Share Posted 22 July , 2005 Frans, Are those "unidentified bombs" a variation on the Jam-tin? There's a cutaway in Anthony Saunders' "Weapons of the Trench War" which matches the shrapnel filling nicely, as does the thing stuck out of the top... My Mum used to collect old bottles - I think, judging by the wide necks, you are right about pickles by the way. Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frans Posted 22 July , 2005 Share Posted 22 July , 2005 Frans, Are those "unidentified bombs" a variation on the Jam-tin? There's a cutaway in Anthony Saunders' "Weapons of the Trench War" which matches the shrapnel filling nicely, as does the thing stuck out of the top... Adrian <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Adrian, The unidentified grenades which are the N8-double cylinder Patteins. Somebody sent me an email suggesting that they were called Jam-tin's and that they were thrown with some kind of catapult. I think you both can be wright. Frans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frans Posted 23 July , 2005 Share Posted 23 July , 2005 I took this photo for the people looking at our position and what date these positions were left. The bottom of this millsgrenade gives a production date of september 1915. Several others have been found with the same date stamp. This date shows that these positions were still occupied around september maybe even oktober. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frans Posted 23 July , 2005 Share Posted 23 July , 2005 Todays dig is where the diggers are standing. The trenches we explored before came from the left and then turned towards the canal, which is in the background. The german positions are to the right in the mais field. We are now coming back up the slope away from the canal in the next few weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frans Posted 23 July , 2005 Share Posted 23 July , 2005 This is the result of one afternoons handgrenades. Very little rifle ammo was found but many grenades. We think that the germans must have been close enough to just throw handgrenades at each other. Evidence of heavy fighting is visable in the ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frans Posted 23 July , 2005 Share Posted 23 July , 2005 On this picture it is very clear where the trench is. The clay on either side has never been touched. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frans Posted 23 July , 2005 Share Posted 23 July , 2005 This is of the same area as the picture above when excavated. You can see very cleary the size of the 1915 trench. No great width and pritty shallow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frans Posted 24 July , 2005 Share Posted 24 July , 2005 This is a Newton Pippin grenade which is a first for the group of this type. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon R Posted 25 July , 2005 Share Posted 25 July , 2005 The two above photos showing a trench in section cutting through clay are interesting - I wonder if you could provide us with a description of what this clay actually is, in terms of the geological succession of the area, and what deposits overlaid the features depicted above? e.g. ''trench known as x/y/z cutting a/b/c deposits, filled by 1/2/3 and overlain by tom/dick/harry" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drummy Posted 25 July , 2005 Share Posted 25 July , 2005 hmmm, lost me there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon R Posted 26 July , 2005 Share Posted 26 July , 2005 Ok, forget the nonsense at the end of the post ('trench known as x/y/z...'). Any better? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frans Posted 27 July , 2005 Share Posted 27 July , 2005 The two above photos showing a trench in section cutting through clay are interesting - I wonder if you could provide us with a description of what this clay actually is, in terms of the geological succession of the area, and what deposits overlaid the features depicted above? e.g. ''trench known as x/y/z cutting a/b/c deposits, filled by 1/2/3 and overlain by tom/dick/harry" <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The clay Simon is what is called Ieperiaanse clay. This layer can be up to one hundred meters thick. Where we are the clay is approx 70cm below the ground. The main quality of this clay is that it will not let any water through (impermeable). The filling of the trench is the sides of the trench which were dug out (the parapet and parados) and the remainder is topsoil. Over the whole area soil from the industrial estate was deposited so that we can say this area in archeological terms was pritty contaminated. To the exact position of the trench there is some discussion. There are some specialist who say they don't excist but the proof is in the ground. There are several people helping us in England trying to establish who occupied these trenches and exactly at what date. This is the reason we cleaned some ammunition to try and find production dates. If you have any more questions I will be pleased to try and answer them Simon, but as you may know I am Dutch by birth but I cannot read Double Dutch. Regards, Frans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frans Posted 27 July , 2005 Share Posted 27 July , 2005 Two more handgrenades with the production dates visible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frans Posted 27 July , 2005 Share Posted 27 July , 2005 I have been informed by the Belgian bomb squad (DOVO) that the handgrenades they removed from last weekend had some rare examples. There was one of the type Besozzi a Italian-French grenade which must have been left behind. The grenade shaped like a pinecone in three posting higher is a Newton Pippen. There were a further four N8 handgrendes. On the foto it shows how the group unearthes the grenades, this time a mug was found as well. Photo's are taken and then they are removed and taken away by the bombsquad for disposal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J T Gray Posted 28 July , 2005 Share Posted 28 July , 2005 Frans, I've been following your postings with some interest. However one thing bugs me! All those grenades you are finding, some of which like the No1/No2s in the photo of the big group were dangerous to the holder when new, and crubbing with a wire brush to find production dates... What was the filling in them? I presume it must be inert now or the DOVO would have thrown you out of your holes a long time ago, but thinking about it makes me very nervous! Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frans Posted 29 July , 2005 Share Posted 29 July , 2005 Adrian, The grenades that are found are if handled correctly pritty safe. Each grenade is treated as dangerous, this is a rule of all the ammunition that we find. Don't forget that with some of the senior members of the group there is many years experience of how to handle these explosives. Please don't be nervous as each member of the group and that includes me can order ten beers with two hands. Regards, Frans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J T Gray Posted 29 July , 2005 Share Posted 29 July , 2005 I'm very glad to hear that! Keep showing us what you find... Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frans Posted 29 July , 2005 Share Posted 29 July , 2005 Some more articles found last saturday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frans Posted 30 July , 2005 Share Posted 30 July , 2005 Today's start was a peace of trench we looked at last week but this was destroyed by a major impact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frans Posted 30 July , 2005 Share Posted 30 July , 2005 Ronny and Habi spent a couple of hours digging the blast pit. The size of the pit is 2 x 2 meters and more then 2 meters deep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frans Posted 30 July , 2005 Share Posted 30 July , 2005 Find of a german stickgrenade and millsgrenade Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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