Normandy Relic

[MH184]

I was in France ,along the northen coast I found this under a huge slab of concrete where it was buried.The concrete was part of a bunker.

I suppose this could have been a left over film prop,I found it in 1982.

21 years later I ask you do you think this is German of the WW 2 period.

Kind regards,

Marcus

[MH184]

1

[Phil_C]

I don't collect German equipment, but I think it's a german mess tin.

Phil

[Jørn Schmidt]

Hi Marcus
nothing wrong with that,100% original german messtinn.
Regards
J.S

[Gary Wood]

Marcus,
what is the makers mark on the side fittings, I have a lot of mess tin tops maybe one would match your find
cheers,
gary

Gary, I agree, but there are also messtins that doesn't have markings on the lower part ( these are only marked at the ' tin top '), nevertheless I would also say that this is an original one..

cheers

Jan

[ccmax]

I don't know if the sand would corrode aluminum or preserve it. I've seen ground dug aluminum pieces which had only minor corrosion even after 50 plus years. But I'll tell you this:
I was in southern France in 1993. In a place near where the Anvil-Dragon landings took place in 1944.

There were the blockhaus a few kilometers outside Marseille; the entrances were covered with large chunks of concrete so that children would not enter them, and get lost or hurt. I could sneak a peek through the entrance though, and the ground was covered with rusted tins of sardines from northern Europe. I know canned sardines from Denmark and other countries were part of the ration of the German Army, and I've always wondered if those sardines tins I saw had been there since the war's end.

[MH184]

Thanks guys for such a response

I picked this up the first time I ever went abroad,a day trip to France with my senior school.

There is a maker mark with a bit of spit and my finger,I uncovered ESB 36.

What can you denote from this guys?

Kind regards,

Marcus

Aha...now it is also possible that it has the initials or even the full length name engraved of the former owner, should be nice to find one

[Jean-Loup]

Ccmax, about the blockhause near Marseilles. The Sardine cans were almost certainly not from the war. These bunkers are always full of all kinds of crap (both meanings of the word) the tourists and homeless people leave in them. The entrence was probably only recently cemented up, plus, the germans didnt usually leave sardine cans lying around their dugouts.
About ground dug things, there really arent many absolute rules. Some things stay brand new in mud, while others get completely rotten. Two things buried in the same place can be in totaly different conditions. Usually, aluminum stays nice thow.
Marcus, thats cool to find a mess tin the way you did!

JL

[Simon O.]

The mess tin looks fine to me. I picked up one myself just last week, virtually on the surface.

As for sardines. Up here the two most common items i find are old AM tins and aluminium sardine tins. They are usually oval or rounded rectangular in shape with a sort of corrugated bottom and have norway or norvége stamped on the bottom (not exactly unsurprising up here i know). but these i think are more herring than sardine tins....not that the contents remain