Come over and I'll take you on a tour of the beaches and to go and find some stuff. I work over here as a WW1 and WW2 tour guide (Normandy (landing beaches and Falaise pocket), Bastogne, The Somme, Ypres, Verdun and Compiegne, amongst others).

Originally Posted by Fox

I'm sorry. What's FTX stands for?

It stands for Field Training eXercise.

Originally Posted by DTop

It stands for Field Training eXercise.

Yeah, now, I know, Forrest Gump told me. But thanks, Dtop.

Originally Posted by edrob357

Come over and I'll take you on a tour of the beaches and to go and find some stuff. I work over here as a WW1 and WW2 tour guide (Normandy (landing beaches and Falaise pocket), Bastogne, The Somme, Ypres, Verdun and Compiegne, amongst others).

Very intresting job you have. Perhap I could go over there someday.

Are you alowed to scavenge stuff off historical battlefields?????
Don't they have a local museum this gear can go to?
Every Tom, Dick and Harry will be there foraging for relics then selling them on E bay!
Like the Russians digging up German graves to sell off the kit they dug up.
Pretty poor if you ask me.

Quote from Warwick "Are you alowed to scavenge stuff off historical battlefields?????
Don't they have a local museum this gear can go to?
Every Tom, Dick and Harry will be there foraging for relics then selling them on E bay!
Like the Russians digging up German graves to sell off the kit they dug up.
Pretty poor if you ask me"

No, I'm not robbing graves. There is so much stuff over here that most of it is sold as scrap metal, and the museums have so much stuff they're not interested in one water bottle. After the war, the french government sold off the salvage rights to the various beaches and places where there was heavy action to the local scrap dealers, and they destroyed the lot. Tanks, Guns, 88's, everything, are now mostly paperclips. As far as most of the Farmers are concerned, you're removing dangers scrap from their farms. And if you look in most Norman Newspapers they have military collectors columns where you can buy and sell stuff. Most of the stuff I find is cartridge cases and other small stuff like that. Up on the Somme they leave large rubbish skips beside the road for the farmers to put the artillery shells in that they find during the spring while ploughing the fields. It's called the "Iron Harvest". The french army then come along and take them all away to be blown up. Can I suggest that you educate yourself before you start to critisize others?

Originally Posted by edrob357

Come over and I'll take you on a tour of the beaches and to go and find some stuff. I work over here as a WW1 and WW2 tour guide (Normandy (landing beaches and Falaise pocket), Bastogne, The Somme, Ypres, Verdun and Compiegne, amongst others).

hey that would be a pleasure mon ami

Finally, here's a picture of the canteen I found and a few other things (artillery nose fuses, mg belt, cartridges of various calibres and various bits of schrapnel and some other stuff. Hope you like it.

hey pretty nice... I got a bunch of calibers believed to be Iraqi

Originally Posted by MightyMacbeth

hey pretty nice... I got a bunch of calibers believed to be Iraqi

Send me a copy of the headstamp markings (colour photo, if poss) and I'll tell you where they came from, if you want. Small arms ammo is my thing (and military history).