My collection

Hello everybody ! I'm Victoria,I'm 16 years-old and I live in an area where some 60 years ago were horrible battles between Germans,Romanians an Russians.My grandfather was about 9 years old when his village,Oarba de Mures was a battlefield.He survived and he told me war stories of that time since I was a little child and this is how I got my interest for the ww2.Now I own a Solingen parade dagger,but unfortunately only the blade because the rest was lost and the blade is broken,a German field telephone box(incomplete!) which I refurbished as best as I could,lots of gas boxes(no masks unfortunately),and a very beautiful golden clock from General Mark(a German general) and a bayonet(I don't know what kind,but I think it's Russian).Although these items are incomplete I'm happy that I have a piece of history in my house!

http://img342.imageshack.us/my.php?image=brokenxh1.jpg
http://img266.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bayonet1ru7.jpg
http://img266.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bayonet2mx1.jpg
http://img397.imageshack.us/my.php?image=clock1nz1.jpg
http://img397.imageshack.us/my.php?image=clock2ec7.jpg
http://img397.imageshack.us/my.php?image=daggerpb7.jpg
http://img347.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fieldboxtd8.jpg
http://img347.imageshack.us/my.php?image=germanalphawx1.jpg

Hello and welcome to the forum!
You have a very nice collection, are they battlefield relics?

Well,it's quite a long story...One of my father's great grandfather took part in the ww2 but he was sent back home by gen.Mark because he had too many kids ! Gen.Mark gave him a big metal box full of clothes,food,the Solingen parade dagger and the golden clock.The German field telephone box and the bayonet on the other hand are from my maternal grandparents.My dad found them when he and my mom were visiting them ! The bayonet was in a terrible shape,curved,my dad almost fainted when he saw it...There was even a story I heard from my grandpa that a German soldier is buried not far from their house,an SS soldier I think.I don't know if I can call all of them war relics,but the telephone box and the bayonet show signs of intense use.

Indeed these objects have an interesting story, apart from their historic value. Your bayonet is a russian Moisin-Nagant bayonet, first model.

Thanks a lot for helping me identify the bayonet ! There's another story I heard from my grandpa : when he was 9 years old he helped gathering the fallen soldiers on the hills of Oarba de Mures(Germans,Romanians and Russians).The Romanians have a well kept cemetery in Sfantu Gheorghe near Oarba and the Russians have a little cemetery in Iernut but nobody cares about it.I'll put some pictures I took yesterday with the Russian cemetery.But the most interesting thing from my grandfather's story is that almost 1000 German soldiers were buried near a young forest but nobody cares about them ! They weren't dug up not even in this day and the only people who know where this collective grave lies are the people like my grandfather.I was in that area last summer and I could still see where the trenches used to be and I've even found rusty bullet cases and bomb splinters.Every spring the earth reveals new evidence about the battles held up there.What I wanted to say is that is unfair that the German soldiers don't have a cemetery and that nobody wants to remember them and their sacrifice although they were our enemies.The same thing is with the Russian soldiers buried in Iernut(9 known and 40 unknown).

The known Russian heroes : http://img392.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eroicuneu3.jpg
The unknown Russian heroes : http://img152.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eroinecnm1.jpg
The obelisk : http://img152.imageshack.us/my.php?image=obeliscfataxd5.jpg
The funerary stone for the known heroes : http://img218.imageshack.us/my.php?image=piatracunei4.jpg
The funerary stone for the unknown heroes : http://img218.imageshack.us/my.php?image=piatranecyb4.jpg
This is what remains of the sickle and hammer : http://img231.imageshack.us/my.php?image=secciomw5.jpg
An outer wall : http://img231.imageshack.us/my.php?image=zidsx6.jpg

The right thing to do is to send an email or a letter to WAST and inform them of the situation about the dead German soldiers buried there.

http://www.dd-wast.de/

You must do that, it is a honorable gesture, and those soldiers deserve to be identified and properly buried. Their relatives must know their fate.

Alex

Or you could send an email to ONCE.ro (Oficiul National pentru Cultul Eroilor). In the past few years, they took part in restoring some important war graves.

Do you have some photos of the battlefield or the relics you have found?

Yes,I have some pictures I took today.And I intend contacting ONCE about the Russian grave and I also found a link on their website : www.volksbund.de for the German soldiers.It's the right thing to do ! As I said,here are the pictures :

I put here the biggest I have : http://img258.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture003at6.jpg

Some of the bullet cases I've found in about 2 days of searching the hills of Oarba de Mures : http://img258.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture004ic4.jpg

It doesn't show in the picture but it says VOINA 24 : http://img125.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture006ae3.jpg

A G43 10 round bullet magazine : http://img397.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture007ge6.jpg

The same but on the other side : http://img504.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture008kn8.jpg

This is the biggest Brandt I have : http://img363.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture009bn2.jpg

This is VOINA 24 : http://img469.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture011yf6.jpg

And this is the smallest Brandt I have : http://img530.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture012ad6.jpg

This is a projectile splinter (very sharp!) : http://img454.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture010dp3.jpg

I will mention again : ALL OF THESE ITEMS HAVE BEEN FOUND ON THE HILLS OF OARBA DE MURES WITHOUT EVEN DIGGING FOR THEM ! You almost stumble in them...

I forgot to say sorry for the quality of the pictures as they are made with a telephone ! And I'm not a professional photographer at all !

Very interesting items!
Congrats!
Be very careful with the unexploded ammo. These "items" are very unstable after all these years in the ground or on the ground. It is better to just leave them as they are.

Do you also have photos of the battlefield?

This post has been edited by ANDI on February 07, 2007 09:51 pm

Very nice finds.

It would be nice if you could post pictures of the gas mask canisters.

PS Regarding the pictures (this one to be precise: http://img469.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture011yf6.jpg ) use some books covert with a white paper to support the item, this way you will make the camera focus on the item not your hand or other objects in the background.

Good stuff! keep 'em coming! ... and a little piece of advice. You could use some penetrating oil like WD-40 on the ferous items to prevent further corrosion. Too bad that those cartridges aren't in better shape, they could be used for a nice display.
Continue like this and soon you'll have one heck of a collection.

Nice findings! Please post picture of your future discoveryes.
Oh, but be verry careful about the shels!
By the way, are there any aircraft relics around?

Don't worry ANDI,all the projectiles from the battlefield have been removed.There is nothing to be afraid about,but if I happen to find one(it's better not !) I'll immediately call the police.Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the battlefield...I'm sorry disappointing you !

Just took those photos today !

P.S. thanks for the advice !

All 4 I have(the 3rd is refurbished by my dad and the last has lost it's historical value because of one uncle who wanted to make an extinguisher box out of it ... ) :
http://img107.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture001pt1.jpg

The 2 untouched canisters(with original paint of course!) : http://img349.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture002bi1.jpg

The other 2 canisters : http://img407.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture003pt1.jpg

The canister with which my uncle messed around has a 26 wrote on top : http://img104.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture005il7.jpg

http://img119.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture006um4.jpg

http://img265.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture008yn6.jpg

Not that clear but it sais FMP 1944(anybody know what FMP means?) : http://img213.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture009hb9.jpg

The original paint from inside the canister : http://img213.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture010lf6.jpg

Some photos with my fiber glass German Luftwaffe helmet(no decals yet) : http://img239.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture011of8.jpg
http://img239.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture012nj3.jpg
http://img126.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture013xr5.jpg

For cipiamon : nope,no aircraft relics...but there was a T-34 in the river Mures(it was recovered after the war piece by piece) and there were some canons from the Flakartillerie I think.Unfortunately the "wise" people around here sent the canons to be melted.

For Mannlicher : thanks for the advice !

This post has been edited by Adolf Galland on February 09, 2007 12:38 pm