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Back to the Bulge!

Article about: My last trip to the ardennes for a while, Not much to show except a nice nebelwerfer rocket or what was left of it . Next month I will be digging in Germany and meine douce Normandie. Cheers

  1. #11

    Default Re: Back to the Bulge!

    I like all the finds makes me want to go digging now

  2. #12

    Red face Re: Back to the Bulge!

    I almost forgot this one in my backpack,a piece of silverwear badly damaged but the silverstamp is still on it,my grandmother told me it used to be a knife
    Click to enlarge the picture Click to enlarge the picture Back to the Bulge!   Back to the Bulge!  


  3. #13

    Default Re: Back to the Bulge!

    What is the hallmark on it maybe we could find a date it could be quite old

  4. #14

    Default Re: Back to the Bulge!

    Quote by Whitehunter View Post
    What is the hallmark on it maybe we could find a date it could be quite old
    Sorry, but what's a hallmark?

  5. #15

    Default Re: Back to the Bulge!

    WW2Hunter

    Some nice finds there Interesting Australian 303 (MJ headstamp). The elongated firing pin mark has been made by a Bren gun. You can also make out where the extraction/ejection mechanism has impacted on the rear of the cartridge. The horizontal groove at 90 degrees to the firing pin mark.

    Oh, and the 'Hallmark' is the stamped mark on all silverware that shows a date code. You should find one somewhere on the piece you have.

    Cheers

    Steve T

  6. #16
    ?

    Default Re: Back to the Bulge!

    Quote by WW2Hunter View Post
    I was gone for the whole day in the ardennes and did some nice finds.
    +-50 .30 Cal AP 30+ live
    -one winter coat USarmy,recoverd 2big brass button's and 1small.
    -7 .50 Cal 1 live.
    -9 7.92mm casing's 1 live.
    -1 flare cartridge.
    -1 German infantry shovel.
    -1 Barrel cleaning rod(I think for .50cal US or for a German 20mm).
    -1 German mortar igniter(81mm)
    -And the strangest thing of all 4 .303 casing's(2 from 1941 and 2 from 1944) Can't explain that one as there were no British units there...
    -And 1 7x57mm casing with the mark HP

    Not meaning to sound "cocky", but, contrary to popular belief, there were British units at the Bulge.
    Elements of 30 Corps (Guards Armoured Div) and 21st Army Group were there, and others.

    Regards etc

    Ian D

    AKA: Jimpy

  7. #17

    Default Re: Back to the Bulge!

    Jimpy

    I suppose it depends on which part of the Ardennes WW2Hunter was exploring when he says there were no British units there but this summary is interesting from The Queen's Own Highlanders website:

    While this Battle was decidedly an American campaign British Forces had their part to play and some 325 men lie forever in the Commonwealth graveyard at “Hotton”.

    On the 19th December 1944 General Eisenhower decided to redistribute command and control of his ground forces. The units deployed to the north of the line “Givet - Prum”, would be placed under the command of Field Marshall Montgomery, Commander 21st Army Group and the units deployed south of the line were to be commanded by General Bradley, Commander 12th US Army Group. The British xxx Corps, commanded by General Horrocks were ordered to leave Holland and to swing round towards the combat zone to occupy defensive positions between Givet and Maastricht and to deny German forces the opportunity of crossing the River Meuse.

    On 22nd December, 51st Highland Division, 53rd Welsh Division, 29th and 33rd Armoured Brigades took up their respective positions with the 43rd Wessex Division being held in reserve. Due to the exceptionally bad weather in which aircraft could not fly the 6th Airborne Division (paras) were rushed by boat and truck to the Ardennes and took up a position between Dinart and Marche-en-Famenne right at the tip of the German offensive.

    In the early morning of the 24th December not far from Dinart the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment supported by US tanks and the Royal Air Force crossed the river Meuse and stopped the armoured column of the German 2 Panzer. This was the first encounter between British and German forces in the Battle of the Bulge. The German Army was never to cross the River Meuse and the tactical objective was no longer the Port at Antwerp but became the town of “Bastogne”.

    It is at Bastogne that the American Airborne had their finest hour, holding off countless attacks that were launched with relentless fury. Ill equipped and initially outgunned they held off the might of the German Panzers until the counter attack began on the 3rd January 1945. The atrocious weather conditions in which precluded air cover from getting off the ground and the bitter cold had the troops naming the town “bastard - Bastogne”. Many remember the cold more than anything else during this campaign for it was a fierce winter indeed.

    The counter offensive on the 3rd January led by Battalions of the 6th Airborne Division supported by tanks of the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry and the 23rd Hussars were first to become involved. After three days and nights of heavy fighting men of the 13th Lancashire Battalion the Parachute regiment liberated the village of Bure. The 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion occupied Rochefort and later in their advance they were to discover the bodies of 34 civilians murdered by the Germans on Xmas eve in Bande, near Nassogne.

    On the 8th January in snow storm and bitter cold the 51st Highland Division with support of tanks of the 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry relieved an exhausted 53rd Welsh Division which had been fighting for four days and nights in the area around “Hotton”. On the same day, being aware of the advance of British and American forces the German High Command ordered their Generals to withdraw and to retreat eastward while conducting a fighting rearguard action.

    On 11th January with armoured reconnaissance vehicles of the 2nd Derbyshire Regiment and armoured support from 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry the 51st Highland Division, in the shape of the Black Watch entered the town of “La Roche” and later met up with elements of the American 84th US Infantry Division. La Roche is the site of the 51st Highland Division monument pictured later on the page.

    By 28th January 1945 the German Forces had been pushed back to its initial positions of 16th December 1944, beyond the Siegfried Line, and the Battle of the Bulge was over.

  8. #18

    Default Re: Back to the Bulge!

    About the .303's I'm pretty shure that there weren't anny Brit's in that area.
    I will give it a look for the hallmark,there's a small number on the handle but still have a lot of cleaning to do and can't read it...
    Thank you guy's for the intel on Brittish troops in the ardennes,that might explain some other finds I did in another area and for the hallmark intel(I didn't have a clue).

  9. #19

    Default Re: Back to the Bulge!

    That's a US 50 cal. cleaning rod

  10. #20

    Default Re: Back to the Bulge!

    I would have guessed that the 303 could have been dropped by a Spitfire firing it's 303s. After all the cartridges are ejected. Danny

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