German Radio - Falaise Relic

Staying recently in a most beautiful Bed & Breakfast right behind Mont Ormel in the Falaise Gap the owners were delighted to hear of my WWII interest and were keen to 'pick my brains' on the nearby battles.

They also produced this fascinating object - a German Field Telephone ( sadly, minus handset ) which had recently been discovered hidden beneath floorboards in the farmhouse.


















The farmhouse was directly in line of the rtreating German forces ; other items found included discarded ammunition, gasmask canisters, etc.

Definitely my kind of 'B&B' !

 

Superb find, Martin! Did you offer to, er, liberate it?

 

What a find. Fantastic. interesting to see the phoenetic alphabet in german

 

It looks so fresh new that there surely is a German operator at the other end waiting for orders....

 

"Vorwärts! Immer vorwärts!"

 

What a fantastic find. It just goes to show that there are still items hidden away in French houses just waiting to be discovered.

Think i may give the B&B owner a call from my field phone to say hello

Martin, did find the monument to the P-51 pilots situated near the Moissy Ford ?

 

You'll all hate me for this - but I convinced the owners that the radio was a wonderful piece of the history of their very lovely old house and as such it should stay there....

And anyway, I did of course come back with a bag of rattling bits and pieces from the heart of the battlefield !

 

Nice find Martin, but if you were a real historian you would have put your fingers on the two knobs and give it a crank to see what the wattage was.

Or you could be like the people in Alabama and go catch a batch of fish in a hurry.

 

Do elaborate on your battlefield finds Martin ?

 

My thoughts exactly!

-whatever

-Lou

 

I agree there is so much more hidden. One of my friends is a fireman and he gets calls on a regular basis from people who have found items, mostly they are amno. Only two days ago another 500 kilo bomb was found near Tours.

 

At long, long, last the Beltring Fair yesterday gave me the opportunity to add a nice German Field Telephone to my colelction. I'd really wanted one of these since studying the 'Falaise relic' nearly two years ago.

These are of course not rare and several German dealers had one or two on their stalls, but it seemed hard to find ones with wartime dates ( many were pre-war dated ) some had 'foreign markings' and didn't have Waffenamts.

But patience was rewarded, a deal was struck, and now I'm very pleased with my 1941-dated example complete with Waffenamt and in good condition. I always get something nice at Beltring !

 

Nice one Martin. Just ask the operator to dial 55-which was one of the phone numbers to the Fuhrer Bunker in Berlin ;-))

 

that's a nice find Martin, loos to be in good condition too

 

Yes - it's in OK condition. I've been reading up on the 'net about the Feldfernsprecher 33 and it's quite interesting ; I'd really never given much thought to field telephones and how they were used.

Also, there are some more nice 'colelctible' bits and pieces to look out for ( eg original carrying strap, battery, cables, etc ) so this may turn into a fun piece of militaria.....

 

think you will have no prob displaying this with your other Normandie finds Martin. a hearty congratulations upon this wonderful set-up. as you say now to find the remaining accouterments to complete the field phone. markings still look very clean.

 

Nice find, Martin!



Now.......






....... what are Waffenamts?

(at first, I thought they were German Army-ants, and I thought 'Why does Martin want one with ants?'...but then I realized it was an 'm' and then I got really confused!)


-whatever

-Lou

 

Very nice find.

 

Hi Lou, I did get an answer as SS Oberscharfuhrer Rochus Misch answered the phone and went to ask if I could speak with Der Fuhrer, but he came back five minuts later telling me I had to call back after Hitler finished losing the Battle for Stalingrad ;-))

But seriously, Nr. 55 was actually one of the direct phone numbers to the Fuhrer Bunker. ;-))