A bit of wartime archaeology for you.
Just been over to Northern France on a biking holiday. In the barn/bike-store, I noticed that the farmer had got some old WW2 boxes and stuff. At least a couple of the boxes were German and one had this faded lettering on the lid
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I think the first word is Luftdichter, but reckon the first letter(s) of the second word are illegible - looks like .ronenkasten to me. According to Google-Translate, the first word means air-tight, and 'kasten' is box. If anyone with a better idea of German has a sensible suggestion of what the second word might be, I'd love to know.
FWIW, the other German box that was with this one was a large first aid/medical supplies box - so, I don't know if this box was also a medical-type thing(?).
Any sensible suggestions or info most welcome.
Cheers
hmmm, my guess from what you've found out so far would be "Patronenkasten" for the second word - so it's an "airtight cartridge box". not sure how airtight it still is after all this time 😉
not sure but i think it says bigus diggus, in german of course.
Luftdichter Patronenkasten
"weatherproof cartridge case" is roughly what it means, the munitions that would have been in it, could be almost anything from 7.92 rifle rounds up to 88mm pak/flak rounds and everything in between. Very common for sale on the internet.
mein Luftkissenboot ist von den Aalen voll.
Thanks alp_girl & jahwomble. The translation does match the materials that the box was made of - the wooden outer box and lid were lined with steel sheet and there was a thick cloth and rubber gasket around the edge of the lid. Surpised that the lining was ferrous metal, 'cos of risk of sparks - but I guess non-ferrous metals would have been in v.short supply at the time. (as you say, the box wasn't quite air-tight any more 🙂
The areas that we were riding around saw extremely heavy fighting and it made for some quite creepy/atmospheric rides. According to the local museum, when the German army eventually withdrew (or were blown up) they left tons of stuff behind - which I'm guessing anything useful was taken by the locals. One of the local guys said the scrap metal fellas were certainly kept busy until the 1960's!
Oh, I've found out that the large first aid chest that was there was known by the army as a 'battle-box' - apprently it was the main kit for use by trained army medics.
p.s. er...I'm assuming you're interested in this of course 😳
looks like "Romani ite domum" to me