German helmets sealed up in a german tunnel in Jersey, Channel Islands.

[ford369]

sorry I did mean reputation of your collection being extensive,I was rather surprised to pick up a mg 34 ammo can at the boot sale I mentioned when you had already been round ,especially for £2

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi D, you do have a reputation and it is a good one. I think most serious British collectors know your name.

Some friends of mine ( Gary B and his Dad, Paul) and visited Jersey last year and went shooting with you. They spoke very highly of you.

Cheers, Ade.

[JERSEY 34]

Morning ford 369,
Had you thought of the possibility that I had sold the ammo can to the chap for a £1? I didn't but I can guess who was selling it. I have in excess of 100 ammo cans so unless it is a truly superb example with unit markings or similar then I don't need it. And if I had bought it then you would not have had the thrill of the find. £2 sounds like a real bargain what ever the condition. It must have been the car boot sale at Corbiere, I set up a table to see if there were any collectors out there looking to buy German kit, but unless it was cheap or being given away I did not find anyone interested in the stuff prepared to spend money. I did not even walk around to see what people had for sale. For me it was a wasted morning, but now I know not to rush too these things. I do just as well with my website.... Home and I can be out looking for kit in peoples attic's and barns etc.
It makes me smile to think you got a can for £2, other local collector's missed it...good on you.
D.

[sandgroper]

What an interesting thread! I worked with bloke from Jersey about 20 years ago here in Fremantle and he reckoned that he used to play with German helmets when he was a kid on Jersey. He said they were very easy to come by in the 50's and 60's in the channel islands. I bought a book several years ago called "Channel Islands Occupied" it is pictorial book with heaps of fascinating photographs of German troops in the islands. The front cover shows a policeman giving directions to a German officer. Great stuff mate, thanks for the interesting stories, cheers, Dave.

[John Brandon]

Wow, wonder if there are other tunnels like this in Europe that are untuched.

Without doubt, but you have to find them

[Paul D]

I have this photo on file and thought you might like to see it. it was taken I believe in the early 1970's by a keen photographer Mr Maurice Delanoe. It shows just a few on the thousands of helmets that ended up in the tunnels straight after the German Occupation. The first thing that they tried to do was burn bury and hide all and anything that they could after the Occupation. Literally tons and tons of kit was taken by lorry down to the tunnels and dumped with the entrance being covered over. Obviously many people tried to get in and some did and gradually the kit inside found its way into many young collectors hands. I know of one chap who came home with a rusty panzerschreck on the bus with him.
Before you all go book tickets to come to jersey, all this stuff is now gone and whats left is totally rotten. You do find a few bakelite items such as bayonet grips etc but once they dry out they split and crack and finally fall apart. As for the helmets they are all gone. The last lot I got from there turned up at my work in a large van, the chap had gone into the tunnels and brought out 250 helmet shell's which I bought from him. Just to give you an idea of how long ago it was I paid 50 pence each for them after haggling him down from £1 each.
If only we could go back in time. Have a look at the medic helmet...not too many of them around.
all the best from jersey.
D.

Interesting stuff D many thanks for posting all your Jersey finds and collection !!

[JERSEY 34]

There used to be German kit everywhere when I was a kid, and my father owned a gents clothes shop in town so when the customers came in they would be quizzed Gestapo style to see if they had any kit at home. I was regularly getting kit walk in the door which was great. I remember one chap exchanging a single decal camo luft helmet for a pair of trousers he'd just bought from us.....those were the days. Helmets really did use to be all over the place but I hardly know of any out there anymore, maybe half a dozen or so that people are hanging onto. The good old days are over although every now and again a gem of find does appear.

[Totenhead]

Hi,

Do you ever hear of any interesting finds on Alderney ?? Obviously that was the location of the only SS concentration camp on British soil, Soviet POWs mainly, just that they may have left something behind?

Sorry D, just saw you already mentioned Alderney !

Are we talking about the Underground Hospital Tunnels here???

[JERSEY 34]

I have had a few items from Alderney over the years, but only one SS item. I still have it, it's an oversized white coffee type mug made by Victoria I believe. I also have a good selection of original photos of Aldernsey as well as a number of soldbuch and wehrpass from the island. The tunnels I am talking of are not far from the Underground hospital. We do in fact have quite a few tunnel systems in Jersey that the tousists never get to see.
D.

[Totenhead]

Hi D,

Ahh I see, yes one would assume that the Germans built many more tunnel systems than meets the eye, or meets the visitors to the Islands eye! I never really considered myself a “Tourist “really when I visited, not in the true sense of the word I feel. I am Welch by birth, it’s a complicated subject the Channel Islands, do you feel it was right that they were “de- militarised “by the Home office in 1940? Bloody farce that they didn’t inform the German High Command, hence the bombing of St.Hellier !