Hello , I always loved history and especially world war 2 , i'm living in the center of the Battle of the Bulge and yesterday me and two other people decided to go in the woods with a metal detactor to find ww2 relics . In less than a hour we found some mauser ammo , artillery shells ( unexploded ) and even a AT mine . We didn't touched them since it's better not to kill ourselves but we found some strange parts of what looks like a bomb or a shell , maybe even some kind of handgrenade it's really hard to tell . Here are the photos , i hope some of you could hint me on what is this thing ! (I have no idea if it is german or from US) Good luck ! Visionneuse images - Noelshack - https://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2018/34/1/1534801273-img-5417.jpg Visionneuse images - Noelshack - https://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2018/34/1/1534801277-img-5418.jpg Visionneuse images - Noelshack - https://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2018/34/1/1534801280-img-5419.jpg Visionneuse images - Noelshack - https://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2018/34/1/1534801282-img-5421.jpg
It appears to be the bottom end of a projectile ( artillery or perhaps tank) the void indicates it's charge long cone. The visible driving band was to bite the rifling to cause it to spend. Of course, I could easily be wrong. Cannot imagine how it was cut or broken into. I have a similar looking piece from a Confederate projective with it's brass driving band intact. also, a battlefield find..Hope someone more informed will correct me or add to what my impressions are.
Thanks for the answer ! I've mesured it and it' diameter is 75,6 mm from one side and 74,4 mm from the other ( it's not really circle i think it has been deformed by eplosion ) so it's almost clear to me now that it is a 75 mm projectile , probably american but i'm not sure . I didn't thought about mesuring it first but it was a good idea . Oh and it's also about 8 cm tall from the bottom of the " grey line " to the top ( if you put the grey line on the ground ) . It also seems to be made of lead .
I'm curious...do you live in Belgium (center of the Battle of the Bulge)? I hope you know it is illegal to "go in the woods with a metal detactor to find ww2 relics" without authorised consent from the government. Mainly because they don't want everybody going around digging up explosives...
This is the bottom part of an HE shell - probably 75mm. It's difficult to see what metal the driving band is made of - if it's ferrous, the shell is likely to be German, if non-ferrous, possibly American. HE shells have a thick base to protect the charge from the shock being fired and often 'break' just above the driving band which is a relatively weak point ( I've found similar relics in Normandy ). Marchant's point is correct - but possibly something for another thread......
Adma Be very careful of "things you find in the woods" Many moons ago I wrote this little piece on the ww2talk.com website: Bizarre Booby Traps (Beetroot) In August '43 I was serving as a Driver/Op in a Light Ack Regiment in Sicily. Whilst off duty and looking around for likely souvenirs, I came across what appeared to be a German wireless aerial that had as its base three large magnets. I proudly carried it back to our 15 cwt wireless truck and said to Larry, my fellow driver/op, "look how bloody clever these Jerries are" and demonstrated by clamping the aerial to the driver's door. At this point our signals sergeant came on the scene and pointed out to me that my 'aerial' was in fact a magnetic mine designed to clamp to the side of British tanks. No... it didn't go off and Yes.....I still feel a bloody idiot Ron