A fellow came into my work and gave me this. He said he found it in the late '70's in Belgium in a field that was near a farm a friend of his owned. Any idea what its from or for?
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Sorry for the cruddy scans. The digital camera we got for Christmas is still trying to be mastered. The top of this thing has "J(?)opp. Z:92. K.15" with "E&G 17" below that. An arrow pointing down to a ring of numbers that circle the bottom and they go clockwise from +1 to 26. Like it was for a timer. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance.
JasonSLast edited by JasonS; 12-26-2004, 08:49 PM. -
Looks like a typical nose from a fired WW1 german shell. Maybe an airburst type; I think thats what the numbers going all around were for. To set the shell so it would explode at the appropriat hight above the ground.
JLComment
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Here is one I have that was never fired. It has very similar markings to yours, and appears to be more or less identical.
JLComment
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Thank you JL. So its the tip from a WWI flak shell of sorts?Comment
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Jason,
Not exactly, an airburst shell is an artillery shell designed to explode at a certain height over ground troops, providing maximum killing power for the shell in that most of the fragments go down, as opposed to a groundburst shell, where alot of the fragments end up in the ground. In WWII, if I remember right, the American's used "VT" type shells (Variable Timed??) to great effect.
Respectfully,
The 'other' Jason on this forum
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Ughh, thats wicked stuff. Thanks for the info guys. Are these still common to find out in the old battle fields?
JasonSComment
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Fuse
Dear JasonS;
I am by no means an expert in this, and I have seen people post here who clearly are (I recall a Member who calls himself Zunder, meaning "fuse" or "detonator" in German). However, the damn thing you have as almost certainly still explosive. The time set when it was fired may have been too long and the shell hit soft earth with a few stones in it, hence its condition. The timing mechanism may be jammed by the impact a couple of seconds short of its detonation. Also, many explosives become more, not less sensitive with age.
The point being, the damn thing might explode upon handling or even possibly in a rather spontaneous fashion. It probably wouldn't collapse your house, as the main charge of the shell is elsewhere, but it might take both hands off if you were holding it. Get an opinion from an expert. The detonation charge must be in the stubby cylinder at the rear, which would extend into the shell's explosive charge. It probably can be screwed off or something, possibly with a five meter long pipe wrench, from behind hay bales.
Sorry to sound officious. Please get an expert opinion.
Bob LembkeComment
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[Hi Jason,
Yes, it is still common to find ammos, grenades and shell lost in battlefields. I live near "1914-1918" battlefields, and there are a lot of them on the surface of the ground. As i'm not a specialist, i never touch them ! every year, guys died when they tried to clean or neutralise shells. You still could see classical shells, but also chemicals .
I'm a member of this association : http://perso.wanadoo.fr/asso.sltdlgg/
Go to the site, and you can see what we could still find, and what association does for the memory of soldiers who felt on duty.
Cheers
PIERREComment
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I will ask the man who gave it to me if he had it checked out or deactivated when he brought it back to the USA. In the mean time I think it might be kept outside for a while
Who would be an expert to ask otherwise?
Thanks for the help.
JasonSComment
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Fuse from German shrapnel. Very common finding on ww1 battlefields. Looks as exploded. Numbers are to set delay of explosion. Length of powder path is shorter or longer, so time is changed too.
Similar type, identical system.
Last edited by mietek; 12-27-2004, 04:43 AM.Comment
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Z 92
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and all together. ...
Powder (not explosives) on the bottom expolded after defined time, than lead balls were shot from the shell. It's safest type of shells what are possible to find on the battlefields.
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I dont think this fuse is still dangerous. The fact that the rest of the shell is missing more or less proves the shell exploded, and the fuse then ended up in the ground. No problemes in my opinion.
On the other hand, I am always a bit nervous when I handle the one I showed in my picture.
JLComment
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Wow mietek, that was very informative! Thank you. The cross section photo was great.
Thanks again for all the help fellows.
JasonSComment
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