Battle of Arnhem relics

[rammjäger]

Hello T-Netters,

this is a dug german gas mask can found at Arnheim/Holland.
It was found only 1,5 Km from the famous bridge of the Rhin river
were a fierce battle between british and german forces took place.
This battle was narrated in a famous Hollywood film.
The person who found it with a metal detector among
a lot of helmets ALL crushed . Presumably all this combat outfit
was rolled over by tanks to make them no more usable after the
battle.
Amazing was that this one can has the hole mask trapped inside!
It was for me an very emotive moment when I opened the small
compartment to find these plastic replacement glases,after more
than 60 years his owner touched them for the last time!
The name of the soldier is still visible :
(Panzer) grenadier Menne - he belonged to an elite unit .
Had he survived the battle ? .
I look at this relic as a "time capsule"

Thank you for sharing history,
HH.
Mike.

 

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[desertfox]

Thanks for the post Mike and the respect you showed towards the troops of the day, no matter what side they may have fought on. HH and Happy Holidays

Desertfox

 

[justine093]

that's cool but It would be really cool if this were your guy:

Menne, Wilhelm, 11.05.1944, Lt., 14./Gren.Rgt. 45
(a rower in the 1936 olympics.)

 

[Trond]

Unusual find, hope you find some medals in better shape.

 

[rammjäger]

that's cool but It would be really cool if this were your guy:

Menne, Wilhelm, 11.05.1944, Lt., 14./Gren.Rgt. 45
(a rower in the 1936 olympics.)

Thank you very much- that is awesome !
According to your research this person has fallen in may 1944 .The battle of Arnheim
took place in September 1944.
Unfortunatelly I do not have enough experience to search in internet for further information about
this person or where he was in 1944 stationed.
I apreciate your tip !

I preserved other pics of other items found at the same place.As I said, everything was crushed and
torn apart . I bought only one of the 2 cans.
HH.
Mike.

 

[Colchesterhunter]

Facinating post

 

[rammjäger]

Thanks for your replys,
I wonder now :
Should this be the same soldier's name and if he died on May 1944,
could it be possible that someone else (for ex. a close friend) took
his gas mask can and used it until September further on?
HH.
Mike

 

[justine093]

Mike,
such an interesting post...
The artifacts are SO interesting, and you are right, by the battle of arnhem,
the german army was running low, so i am sure materials and supplies were also running low, so it could have been a recycled mask. Germany by the end of the war lost more than 3 million soldiers.
You may want to try this site:
http://www.defendingarnhem.com/Researchcentre.htm

there are actual links on here that will research a german soldier from WWII,
some of the sites are in german.

it is so much more interesting having an artifact that has some history behind it,
and so very rarely is that opportunity presented.
it would be fabulous to know some of the history of this soldier.

 

[rammjäger]

Mike,
such an interesting post...
The artifacts are SO interesting, and you are right, by the battle of arnhem,
the german army was running low, so i am sure materials and supplies were also running low, so it could have been a recycled mask. Germany by the end of the war lost more than 3 million soldiers.
You may want to try this site:
http://www.defendingarnhem.com/Researchcentre.htm

there are actual links on here that will research a german soldier from WWII,
some of the sites are in german.

it is so much more interesting having an artifact that has some history behind it,
and so very rarely is that opportunity presented.
it would be fabulous to know some of the history of this soldier.

Thank you.
I will try to contact them.Perhaps in their data bank is all this information(hopefully)

 

[Born Free]

I cry whenever I read your posts.
Are you able to buy artifacts in bulk at auctions?

 

[rammjäger]

I cry whenever I read your posts.
Are you able to buy artifacts in bulk at auctions?
[/quote
Thank you Born Free.
I don't know why other people sell or buy militaria,but in my case
this is my way to show respect to a hole generation that suffered so
much .That was my parents generation (I am 58 years old)
Thank God Europe is in a peacefull era since 1945.
Detecting here is in most of the Länder/states forbidden.I bought a detector but
for respect to the laws I proved it in our own yard only - and
found a lot of iron junktoo
HH.
Mike

 

[SONICMASD]

cool stuff!

so it is illegal to detect where you are too? seems to be the trend with all of Europe other than the UK and i've heard detecting in Austria is also legal.

 

[Collymore]

And these places is of course the best places to hunt.... the forbidden ones.

 

[rammjäger]

Well, even when I do have a metal detector I never used it in Europe.
Instead I brought it to South America to search here where it is
legal.
But let me tell you all these relics are legally / freely sold and bought
there in Europe.
HH.
Mike

 

[Jimmy(PA)]

Amazing finds, the history channel just had a show on about this yesterday.