viper771
Sr. Member
Update! The grenade is a French F1 grenade, and the fuses are Fuses model #12. They were prob captured ordinance, it could explain why there was also a potato masher in the same area 
** scroll down to see a picture of the cleaned grenade housing and some cleaned up mg42 bullets. Everything is turning out VERY nice. I just got some special tools to make the fuse safe to display with the grenade. When I get everything finished, I will post some more pictures
Hey guys! I haven't been able to go out and hunt lately.. been working full time for the army the past few wks. I did some research on this ammo dump awhile ago. Using an orig american photo recon of the bombing area and google earth, I was able to pinpoint exactly where to go. It is prob about 30 mins away from me. Bammer and I decided to try it out on Friday since we both had the time. Finding the area of where the ammo dump was located in the woods wasn't hard. Right off the little road, you started to see many rows of bomb craters.. some REALLY big, like 1000lb bomb size. We parked and did some recon.. we came across this trail that some artist carved a bunch of tree stumps along the trail to make them look like faces (if you can across them at night, it would freak you out trust me). A little plaque near by said he was trying to clean some area for his stumps, and he accidently uncovered a foundation of a roman house! According to the sign, there was a roman village in the same area.. so maybe the next time we are out there we can look for roman stuff too.
So we started walking around the bomb craters... some of the guys who are clearing out the forest seemed to find stuff on the surface.. we found a arty shell base sitting on a stump, and some shrapnel. I wasn't interested in diggin in a bomb crater (bec there could be bombs in there of course), but more or less interested in the fighting positions or what the bombers were trying to blow up. On the surface we found some shrapnel, another one of those big circular pieces of metal with all the holes in it (still don't know what they are, this is the second one I have found), and a 20mm AA round that was still kind of in one piece.
After looking around, we decided to hunt in these large "dugouts" that looked like AA guns were located.. big burms of dirt all around it, with an entrance in the front. There were about 5 of these lining the road. The burned trees around the first one we started to hunt were a dead give away to what was in there... had to be a flak gun. We were getting big hits on the outside wall of this dugout, right under this arrow head shaped piece of sandstone.. 2 shovel fulls later, an american grenade popped out!! At first we thought, OH CRAP.. but upon closer inspection.. we saw the top of the grenade was unscrewed. A bit more digging in the same area yieled an M1 garand clip (if you see saving private ryan, its the bit of metal that pops up when all the rounds are expended), another piece of a frag, and an american bullet.
We decided to split up, id continue to dig at that dugout.. while bammer went to another one about 100 ft away. I kept digging where we found the grenade, and the fuse with the pin still in it came out. It was buried there on purpose, and taken apart.. STRANGE.. but it just got stranger from then on. I started to dig on the interior of the dugout... and started getting some BIG hits. This is the strange part.. everything I was digging up on the inside was buried ON PURPOSE under flat sandstone pieces.. I found a belt of MG 42 machine gun ammo, with the cloth linkage still intact, another 20 mm shell, a lid to an american ammo can, a few bullets, a piece of flat metal (maybe a sign at one time) with bullet holes in it, some kind of barrel plug to an arty piece?, and a smaller barrel plug? or some kind of arty plug that was put into a shell, and removed to put in the fuse.
After finding this stuff, I called bammer over to help me out. He was searching the outside of his dugout, but didn't find much. He came over to my hole, and I told him about the stuff being buried on purpose. On the opposite side of my hole, there was a flat piece of sandstone on the surface. I bet him that there would be a signal under it.. SURE ENOUGh there was! It ended up being another american grenade fuse! It was hit by shrapnel or a bullet.. a small gouge was in it, and the fuse shaft was bent. We could't find the grenade itself, so its prob still in there. We did pull out a rotted away stick grenade, which was really cool. It was much bigger than I thought it would be. The fuse was all broken, and the tin can part was all dented/rotted. It didn't pose any danger. We left it out there until I could do some more research on it.
All the stuff we found there was in very good shape.. the buried stuff anyway. The sandy soild perserved even the smallest things. I found this bit of something (see picture) that has an alum. top, with a spring and what looks like a firing pin in it. The ammo can lid still has the rubber seal on the inside intact. The mg42 bullets are dated 1942, some others are 1943. They are kind of encusted with sand, they aren't rusty. Same with a lot of the other metal stuff I found.. all encrusted. Whats the best was to get this stuff off? I call them my "ginger bread" pieces since thats what they feel like. I hope to go to this place again since there was more stuff to find in those dugouts (maybe even american coins or gear) but it was getting dark. I will take pictures of the area so you guys can see what im talking about. I didn't think that the americans ended up at this place, but then again saarbruken isn't far away. The grenade doesn't have any powder in it anymore, eveything was taken out. We plan on popping the fuses somewhere so we can display them safely. If I was an american GI out there, I would of spent the night in that dugout, or have my guys in all of them since they were the safest places. So there prob is more stuff to find!I hope you all enjoyed my story and my pictures Happy Hunting!
Here is the arrowhead shaped sandstone. When you look at it closely, you can see that it was made this way on purpose, not a natural formation. Could be a spade? I dunno
American ammo can lid
The little piece with the alum top, firing pin with spring still attached. I have no idea what it is.
Bursted bullet casings
Stick grenade remains.. the soda can is where the top of it would be. The silver stick looking things are the remains of the fuse
bullet holes in metal sign
M1 garand clip with american bullet head
2 types of 20 mm anti aircraft ammo and a piece of 40mm ammo
2 american grenade fuses and a 43-45 style american frag grenade.. the fuse on the left was hit by a bullet or shrapnel (the gouge near the top left) and shaft was bent
** scroll down to see a picture of the cleaned grenade housing and some cleaned up mg42 bullets. Everything is turning out VERY nice. I just got some special tools to make the fuse safe to display with the grenade. When I get everything finished, I will post some more pictures
Hey guys! I haven't been able to go out and hunt lately.. been working full time for the army the past few wks. I did some research on this ammo dump awhile ago. Using an orig american photo recon of the bombing area and google earth, I was able to pinpoint exactly where to go. It is prob about 30 mins away from me. Bammer and I decided to try it out on Friday since we both had the time. Finding the area of where the ammo dump was located in the woods wasn't hard. Right off the little road, you started to see many rows of bomb craters.. some REALLY big, like 1000lb bomb size. We parked and did some recon.. we came across this trail that some artist carved a bunch of tree stumps along the trail to make them look like faces (if you can across them at night, it would freak you out trust me). A little plaque near by said he was trying to clean some area for his stumps, and he accidently uncovered a foundation of a roman house! According to the sign, there was a roman village in the same area.. so maybe the next time we are out there we can look for roman stuff too.
So we started walking around the bomb craters... some of the guys who are clearing out the forest seemed to find stuff on the surface.. we found a arty shell base sitting on a stump, and some shrapnel. I wasn't interested in diggin in a bomb crater (bec there could be bombs in there of course), but more or less interested in the fighting positions or what the bombers were trying to blow up. On the surface we found some shrapnel, another one of those big circular pieces of metal with all the holes in it (still don't know what they are, this is the second one I have found), and a 20mm AA round that was still kind of in one piece.
After looking around, we decided to hunt in these large "dugouts" that looked like AA guns were located.. big burms of dirt all around it, with an entrance in the front. There were about 5 of these lining the road. The burned trees around the first one we started to hunt were a dead give away to what was in there... had to be a flak gun. We were getting big hits on the outside wall of this dugout, right under this arrow head shaped piece of sandstone.. 2 shovel fulls later, an american grenade popped out!! At first we thought, OH CRAP.. but upon closer inspection.. we saw the top of the grenade was unscrewed. A bit more digging in the same area yieled an M1 garand clip (if you see saving private ryan, its the bit of metal that pops up when all the rounds are expended), another piece of a frag, and an american bullet.
We decided to split up, id continue to dig at that dugout.. while bammer went to another one about 100 ft away. I kept digging where we found the grenade, and the fuse with the pin still in it came out. It was buried there on purpose, and taken apart.. STRANGE.. but it just got stranger from then on. I started to dig on the interior of the dugout... and started getting some BIG hits. This is the strange part.. everything I was digging up on the inside was buried ON PURPOSE under flat sandstone pieces.. I found a belt of MG 42 machine gun ammo, with the cloth linkage still intact, another 20 mm shell, a lid to an american ammo can, a few bullets, a piece of flat metal (maybe a sign at one time) with bullet holes in it, some kind of barrel plug to an arty piece?, and a smaller barrel plug? or some kind of arty plug that was put into a shell, and removed to put in the fuse.
After finding this stuff, I called bammer over to help me out. He was searching the outside of his dugout, but didn't find much. He came over to my hole, and I told him about the stuff being buried on purpose. On the opposite side of my hole, there was a flat piece of sandstone on the surface. I bet him that there would be a signal under it.. SURE ENOUGh there was! It ended up being another american grenade fuse! It was hit by shrapnel or a bullet.. a small gouge was in it, and the fuse shaft was bent. We could't find the grenade itself, so its prob still in there. We did pull out a rotted away stick grenade, which was really cool. It was much bigger than I thought it would be. The fuse was all broken, and the tin can part was all dented/rotted. It didn't pose any danger. We left it out there until I could do some more research on it.
All the stuff we found there was in very good shape.. the buried stuff anyway. The sandy soild perserved even the smallest things. I found this bit of something (see picture) that has an alum. top, with a spring and what looks like a firing pin in it. The ammo can lid still has the rubber seal on the inside intact. The mg42 bullets are dated 1942, some others are 1943. They are kind of encusted with sand, they aren't rusty. Same with a lot of the other metal stuff I found.. all encrusted. Whats the best was to get this stuff off? I call them my "ginger bread" pieces since thats what they feel like. I hope to go to this place again since there was more stuff to find in those dugouts (maybe even american coins or gear) but it was getting dark. I will take pictures of the area so you guys can see what im talking about. I didn't think that the americans ended up at this place, but then again saarbruken isn't far away. The grenade doesn't have any powder in it anymore, eveything was taken out. We plan on popping the fuses somewhere so we can display them safely. If I was an american GI out there, I would of spent the night in that dugout, or have my guys in all of them since they were the safest places. So there prob is more stuff to find!I hope you all enjoyed my story and my pictures
Happy Hunting!Here is the arrowhead shaped sandstone. When you look at it closely, you can see that it was made this way on purpose, not a natural formation. Could be a spade? I dunno
American ammo can lid
The little piece with the alum top, firing pin with spring still attached. I have no idea what it is.
Bursted bullet casings
Stick grenade remains.. the soda can is where the top of it would be. The silver stick looking things are the remains of the fuse
bullet holes in metal sign
M1 garand clip with american bullet head
2 types of 20 mm anti aircraft ammo and a piece of 40mm ammo
2 american grenade fuses and a 43-45 style american frag grenade.. the fuse on the left was hit by a bullet or shrapnel (the gouge near the top left) and shaft was bent
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