Battlefield finds in the ground...

[Kepi]

It’s too thick to be a boot steel tip. It seems to be rather a fragmentation shell splinter. But the curvature is too large, that means the diameter of the projectile would be enormous (about 1 meter), which is not possible. It simply could be a part of a machinery metallic ring or wheel.

[mabadesc]

Maybe "Dora" or "Thor" were used on this battlefield and we didn't know about it.

[Cristian]

http://html2.free.fr/canons/
Regarding the piece of metal , the broken part seems to be cast iron, not steel,wich drive me to think to a industrial machine part, not to a weapon or ammo.

[gabi]

Hi, i found this item during a walk in the forest, in an area where there fighting took place in 1916. Do you know what it is?

(translated by dragos03 - Gabi, please post in English from now on)

This post has been edited by dragos03 on May 30, 2006 04:24 pm

[Wings_of_wrath]

Gabi, first off, read the forum rules before you post: This forum is English language only. If you don't know English, you can ask somebody to translate your posts for you.
Secondly, a photograph of the aforementioned object might help in identification... (look also in the forum guidelines for how to attach pictures to your post)
Other than that, welcome to the forum and enjoy your stay!

This post has been edited by Wings_of_wrath on May 29, 2006 07:19 am

[REGAL UNIFORMA COLECTOR]

Ground dug artifact. Probably found with a metal detector. Does anyone know what kind of helmet and the period that this medium size helmet plate insignia is from ? It is a King Carol 1 period stamped brass helmet plate with ribbon scroll that says " NIMIC FARA DUMNEDEU ".

[Kepi]

It depends on the size of the cipher. Small size 3.5 cm was carried on kepis and rifles (vanatori) hats during 1868-1914 and 1927-1940 (for those officers promoted second lieutenants before 1914); medium size 7.5 cm was carried on Dorobantzes woolen hats (caciula) during 1873-1916 and 1930-1940; big size 11 cm was carried on the Horse Gendarmes/Escort Regiment/Horse Guard Regiment helmets during 1868-1947. These sizes may vary according the regulations of different periods.
There were also King Carol I ciphers put on epaulettes or shoulder straps for King’s aide-de-camp and the officers and NCOs of those regiments in which King Carol I was Colonel-in-chief.

[REGAL UNIFORMA COLECTOR]

This is the medium size plate 7.5 cm. and it looks to be pre-1900.

[cipiamon]

At Iasi a guy found 120 bombs in his backyard

http://www.averea.ro/display.php?data=2006-06-16&id=5706

Does anybody recognise what type of bombs are? looks like aviation bombs anyway.

[Wings_of_wrath]

I like how the article is totally besides the subject... They talk of "82mm caliber shells", yet the object in the picture is clearly a german 100kg aviation bomb...
The fins have broken off (they rarely survive underground) but it's clearly recognisable.
A similar one can be seen in the following picture from this site:


Edit: It's not at all clear how anybody could confuse a soviet 82mm mortar shell (the Russian M1941/3 was the only weapon of this caliber in action at the time) with something as big as a bomb... Or maybe they found some of those too? Although it would be rather unlikely to find aviation bombs -german, no less- and russian mortar shells together in the same ammo dump. It just doesn't add up.

This post has been edited by Wings_of_wrath on June 19, 2006 05:24 am

[ANDI]

Try not to take "for granted" all that mass-media says...
They rarely knows what they are talking about in this kind of news.

[C-2]

I met a guy from Otopeni,who had in his family iard a German AA gatery for 3 years.
He sold the land,and before doing so,he looked for suveniers but found nothing.

[cipiamon]

I shoulded be there whit my trusty MD, maby maby

[Wings_of_wrath]

While I was visiting the fortress of Alba Iulia with my brother Dan this weekend, he suddenly reached down and picked something up from the middle of the fortification trench. On closer examination, it turned out to be a cartridge case of what I assumed to be 8X50 Mannlicher for the Gewehr M95. It made sense, since the fortress of Alba Iulia was built by the Austro-Hungarians, so I dropped it in my pocket, and moved on (after carefully investigating the ground around the place to see wherever there more than one cartridge)
Anyway, back home, I proceeded to clean off the case from the dirt that incased it, and promptly compared it to my 5X54 R M93 cartridge, a fact that yielded two surprises:
1) The date inscribed on the bottom was 1891, so it couldn't have been from an M95, and 2), the cases are almost the same length, as you can see from the pictures:



And indeed, the “mystery cartridge case” measures 53mm in length. The caliber can’t be easily discerned, since the top of the cartridge has been damaged and is very deformed, but it’s obviously larger than the 6.5, so it could have been 8mm.
Also, I should point out that unlike most cartridge casings of the period, this one it’s made out of steel, not brass.

As far as the markings go, the closest match to my shell casing (top picture, I couldn’t scan the markings very well so I photoshopped a stock image instead) I could find was an 8X50 R built in 1910 by Hirtenberger Patronen, Zundhütchen und Metallwarenfabrik (lower photo, picture from http://www.municion.org/, the “VI” on top is the month of the year)




So I’m wondering… what Austrian munitions factory has “C” as their initial, and could this be, indeed, an 8X50 R cartridge for the M88 Mannlicher Gewehr?

[mihnea]

I think it might be a Mosin Nagant case, the shape of the Mannlicher m95 was different, the year would also be correct.

What is the size of the case? If the case is about 53mm long then it is from a Mosin Nagant.

Edited:

It appears that in WWI captured Mosin Nagant rifle were issued by the Austro-Hungarian army to Police and second line units. This could explain its presence there.

The source of the info: http://mosinnagant.net/global%20mosin%20na...in-Nagants1.asp

This post has been edited by mihnea on August 29, 2006 03:16 pm