Bjornefjell para harness find

[Nigel]

Hello all.

I'd be very grateful for your thoughts about a piece of parachute harness with D rings (one with the remains of shrouds still attached) which I found a few years ago near Bjornefjell, where the FJ fought during the invasion of Norway in 1940.

I've posted some photos below - forgive my ignorance, but the thing that has always confused me about this is that in the photos I've seen of FJ in 1940, they seem to have all the shrouds gathering together at a single point a few feet above their heads, and not coming down in 2 very separate sets which attach one above each shoulder, like the allied ones seemed to.

So I guess I've always wondered whether I found the remains of an FJ harness or, by sheer coincidence, a just a pilot's harness (which might be German or allied I suppose).

Apologies if this is a dumb question, but I haven't seen either pilots or FJ para harnesses in sufficient close up to decide for myself.

Thanks in advance!

Nigel.

[Nigel]

2 more photos

...

[Nigel]

Last one

...

[floriskok]

Hi Nigel, these look like German RZ16 parachute remains to me. I've made a
quick comparison with my RZ20 and the hooks are different so if I'm not mistaken
I think this is from an earlier RZ16 parachute. Hope this helps. Floris

[floriskok]

Patrick just told me these are the remains of a cargo chute for a drop container,
so not from an RZ16 chute

[Nigel]

Thanks very much for the replies, Floris - that would make perfect sense - whilst we were out exploring the area, we did see the rusted remains of 2 or 3 drop containers as well.

What's also interesting is that the harness itself has clearly been deliberately cut, and it looks like a period cut, so I guess it was then used for another purpose, which suggests that they were probably improvising in the field right from the start.

Now I know what I've got, I'll get it framed up with an appropriate photo and caption.

Thanks again,

Nigel.