WH Kopfhaube

[appie]

This is an other very nice item I got of a farmer in Holland; a Kopfhaube, Herbst und Wintertarn. It has the same color as the Zeltbahn, and is reversable for a winter camo. The band to close it has been broken, but besides from that its in good condition.
The farmer told me there were loads of Germans on his farm, as they placed a huge searchlight on his land. The genarator was placed in the barn, which caught fire one night causing the barn to burn to the ground. In the other barn there were many civilians that fled the village due to heavy artillery fire from the advancing Canadian army in 1944. By accident the Canadian artillery opened fire on the barn killing 12 civilians, mainly women and children. They had the wrong coordinates, and the barn they should of been shelling was 300 meters to the east.
In the barn is an inscription in the wall, written in Dutch which I will try to translate;

"This hole in the barn was shot by the Tommy's on 13/10 october 1944. Liberated 13 october 1944.
Burned down; 1 heap on poppy seed
The battle of this farm cost; 1 tank, 3 Tommy's dead, Germans 6 dead, horses 8 dead and 4 stolen. Prisoners of war 73 Germans, calves 3, pigs 7, bicycle 1."

As the farmer told me some other collector had already visited him, and this collector had been given a lot of gear that was still in the barns. I searched around the barns, finding some amazing stuff, like a Canadian pocket watch, insignia, German K98k amo pouches and a German golden pen. Inside the barns were also still some bits and pieces what the farmer gave me, like this Kopfhaube, and some amo boxes.
Every time I'm in the neighborhood I stop there for a cup of coffee, and to hear some great stories about the war.

[Australian Guy]

Great Find Appie,

And a really interesting story about the barns, sometimes we forget the human cost that these people have seen.


Cheers,

Grant

[Adrian Stevenson]

Thanks for telling us the story behind your find. Very interesting.

Cheers, Ade.