Not really a road trip, apart from it's a trip on the road...

[Loiq]

Luneburg is the place my mate lives, if you draw a straight line between Berlin and Hamburg, it's just outside of the advancing allied troops area, and far enough from Berlin and Hamburg not to bombed to shit....

Been digging out some more old maps from my aunts house clearance, so it's all good

There's a few other bits in this puzzle that i still have to line up, before I disappear into the darkness

Gold hoard buried in Nazi era or just after WW2 found in Germany

An amateur archaeologist in Germany has found a historic collection of gold coins worth around 45,000 euros, probably buried during the Nazi era or shortly after World War Two, experts said on Wednesday.

www.reuters.com

german source article

Verstecktes Gold aus der NS-Zeit gibt Rätsel auf

Ein Mann aus Lüneburg hat mit seinem Metalldetektor 217 Münzen entdeckt. Sie wurden offenbar in der NS-Zeit vergraben.

www.morgenpost.de

screen grab, basically inside job, stolen goods, buried and forgotten about...

 

[Loiq]

at the point of war end, this map shows the state of play 8th May 1945

dark read flash points with heavy fighting right to the end
white german controlled
pink allied and russian controlled space

source material below....

Kriegsende 1945: So endete der Zweite Weltkrieg im Norden

Am 8. Mai 1945 kapituliert die deutsche Wehrmacht. Viele Städte und Lager sind von den Alliierten da bereits befreit worden.

www.ndr.de

 

[Wapping]

at the point of war end, this map shows the state of play 8th May 1945

Or, as one German general expressed it:

“In 1941, the boundaries of our two fronts lay on the Pyrenees and Moscow. Now, in April 1945, they are separated by an hour’s drive”.

 

[Loiq]

the more you look into it the more bonkers this all becomes

The Dornitz government effectively at war end just carried on, in a safe bubble with armed germans, police and some degree of order. While the Allied occupation forces couldn't get at them and didn't want a fight their lines had been extended for them it was more about blocking the Russians. Instead of mopping up the germans. Who really didn't have all that far to run, in the greater available space.



the little red flags show small actions, some are places where the dornitz supply train got stuck due to allied bombing and then got ransacked by anyone nearby. As everyone had worked out something was better than nothing...

Sorup (little village) gets several mentions as effectively Hitlers portraits remained hanging, offices opened and the mechanism of state carried on....

For the allied troops Flenburg Castle was the bigger prize, hence the raid by those charged with looking for high value people, intel and stuff.

still packing my stuff and I'm be underway later tonight...

the big battles are just that, big locations, in which yiu can see the landscape and the effects of war.... This place is total backwater just gets overlooked... it's sleepy and nothing every happens there... is what folks think... yet these are the final heartbeats of the regime, that then led to 80 years of peace in Europe

 

[Loiq]

and we're away, well on a car ferry for a start...

the new ferry is way too quiet, needs to be more rattling and smokey... to make sure you know it's moving.....and the food is odd... it's appears they sacked all the old soaks, that looked like Uncle Albert from only fools and horses.... replaced'em with really cheap foreigners, got toldoff and then hired aload of eastern europeans... who made the curry noodles with a hint a racial profiling... anyway 90mins and I'll be on all my favourite roads A16, left, then after abit right onto the E40, then `roughly east for about 3 hours and right downwards on the 3, across onto the 4 and then down and east on the 45 to Siegen with small small roads to the town centre

 

[Loiq]

currently wandering around the bunker area in siegen... it's grim after 80 years unless this is the off season and they roll out the red carpet during the high tourist season...

the bunker was abit more complex to find as it's own wiki page appears inaccurate, cos that sent me up some narrow dead... which was frankly disappointing and abit shit to do a three point turn in, while being watched by the locals... don't suppose they get much in the way of entertainment but let's not get in the way of that... Now marked with arrow on image 1.

this place according to the Allied forces contained loads of stolen schmutter, jold bars and art... what was all nicked from other people, and frankly I have no idea why hidden down there.... mental not to self once incharge don't hide funk all down there.... it's a right orrible hole...

the countryside around the place it unforgiving, it's nothing like the movie which makes it look pretty glam and cool... and nobody would ever have found the place unless someone grassed... cos it looks like nothing from the outside.

got it's own tourist site

Siegener Unterwelten - Hainer Stollen |

Siegener Unterwelten zeigen Einblicke in den Hainer Stollen.

siegener-unterwelten.de

the granite cliff is about 100m, with an old castle popped on the top... coffee shop/ bar run by foreigners from abroad not keen to talk, probably thought I was imigration or just the secret police....

some other bunker, further down all cast concrete proper brutalist design, down the back end of castle is being turned into a museum with multi media show.... so I'm lead to believe.... well that's what it said on the massive poster on the side....

the footpath to the castle was both steep and slippery, I did inform the people in the castle who seemed genuinely astounded to the told they should give that a sweep.... or face a potential claim if some old lady fell over and cracked her head open.... from some angry bloke with a leg brace...

sadly I fear they may have been romanians and so had a very poor command of the native garb....

 

[Loiq]

suspect german TV show of the inside of the place which was nailed shut the summary of the Tv show,

tunnel about 2 miles long, up to 3,000 refugees hiding in there and loads of art tucked away at the far end....

anyway after all that hill climbing to I needed a coffee asked the local southern fritz... and while checking my camera got told the picture I took was of the main entrance and not the service tunnel... 50m down the road, so I had to walk back down the fucking slippery hill to get that as well...... wankers

I'm considering writing to their bastard tourist about the state of the place

 

[Loiq]

arrived in Nuremberg to attend the IWA exhibition, lucky me "with clients", that I've had to collect from the airport and carefully wandered around town and stopped in two different Bratwurst places...

So if your going to both are good... but try to not be a tour guide to anyone else

Über Uns - Hausbrauerei Altstadthof

Seit der Gründung 1984 am historischen Standort des ehemaligen Roten Brauhauses in der Bergstaße in der Nürnberger Altstadt hat sich die Hausbrauerei

hausbrauerei-altstadthof.de

Home - Bratwursthäusle - EN

bratwursthaeuslenuernberg.de

then I had to march'em back to their respective hotels, but they all had different ideas... they've all done one, into the town for more booze....

"there maybe trouble ahead......!"

the tube/ tram is on strike genius..... worse the replacement bus isn't where the signs send you, cos I checked that out earlier....like a good tourguide should and it took abit to find

anyway we start our exhibiton life tomorrow, no idea how many will make it.... they all looked like kids in a toystore... with all the biers that can be had.... on expenses

 

[Loiq]

Nuremberg Breakfast....

 

[Loiq]

so all day long I've been dragged about the exhibiton to help translate, be nice, say the right things and help these chaps who want to start a dealership in Kiev, Kiqiuv, Chivvey (not how it's being spelt now and everytime I ask it gets pronounced in a different way...) let's just call'em Ukrainians...

(mental note incase I ever get asked "I've not acted in the role of broker, I have merely helped with translation and logistics of getting the clients into and out of their own meetings")

plus get them onto the list of folks that trade in the field sports.... as they've recent chosen this as their new business.. and wanted some help.

this tradeshow is usually really secretive... like they don't put prices on things... or have paperwork lying about, so I was abit amazed when they had prices on some stuff....

image 1 the updated H+K G26 DMR (Designated Marksman Rifle) with german optic and suppressor for a mere 7,300 euros...
image 2 the Sig Sauer 365K with intregrated red dot (not very nice and not all that small, so not my choice as a carry pistol)
image 3 the H+K CC9 carry (note it does not have a rail at the base for easy concealment and easy deployment) only 1,060 euros retail "best in class..."
image 4 the H+K SP9 same as above but with a rail, no idea why anyone would choose such a tiny pistol for a service gun...?
image 5 Glock 26 baby 9mm really fat, same slide width as the G19 so not at all small appart from the tiny grip, which casued my middle finger to rest inside the trigger guard which in my opinion would make it horrible to shoot but if they're being handed out it would do to get the party started
image 6 S+W 686 .357 3inch barrel contravertial choice but everyone needs a wheel gun.... and it's a magnum
image 7 H+K USP compact same size as a G19 but just nicer and has a hammer... so nicer and more old school

the clients have now chosen another night on the tiles while I the "grandad" of the group chose an early night cos my knee is killing me.... 70,000 steps in 2 days

We also looked at the new Schmeisser, couple of Taurus offerings, the Canik, the other stuff ranged from tactical lights and other really odd stuff, what's really different the show use to be in 11 halls of hunting, shooting and associated products and this year it's only in 5 halls... special note the russians are banned, the chinese delegation was tiny and major products being pushed are anti drone stuff, medical, body armour, thermal and reloading kit.... plus the whole very expensive hunting rifle stuff

got zastava tomorrow and all the turkish manufacturers....

so I've got one other set of walkarounds to do and then I'm done with being a baby sitter.... to head up'td norf....

 

[Loiq]

image 1 floor plan.... sad really I can remember when the place was so jammed with bodies it took all day to just check into suppliers, now the place was filled with social media influencers (gun wankers)
image 2 ugliest pistol award goes to this (this is truly outstanding, it one of a pair both as ugly as each other) Note no trigger guard sure fire way to blow the crown jewels to bits....
image 3 lunch ......yup more sausages.... ! odd no booze for me... being sober during this event is really strange and I've struggled with it.... normally by now we'd have been in all manner of trouble....

 

[leadfarmer]

I’ll have the posh AR10 and the USP please

PS, I like Nuremberg

 

[Loiq]

same here and 2x CC9's as a backups and then a container full of ammo....

saw some new titanium flow through printed suppressors... very cool tech... 400K for the machine...

 

[leadfarmer]

Schmeisser were making some pretty nice AR15s a few years back, although not sure they were completely mil spec

The Chinese, Norinco were making some not very nice ones

 

[Loiq]

can't comment about the schmeisser, for legal reasons

but so far as to say "it's the best value, most complete off the shelf AR in europe. With the best barrel in it! the demo gun I use to teach has had 20,000 rounds through it and it's still better than anything we've tested" (it's the best straightpull for UK market you can get) and it knocks everything else into a cocked hat.... most of which costs more.... and is shit...! in terms of quality and ready to compete performance the Schmeisser is without a single doubt the go to choice for CSR, Practical and Steel Challenge shooters

Oberland is the best second placed but you can't get UK versions...

 

[leadfarmer]

Seem to remember Oberland were quite expensive and had funny shaped receivers, they did bring out the black label models that were more standard looking and cheaper

My personal AR is from the defunct SDI, but you know more about that story than me

 

[Loiq]

the Oberland had to change the upper and lower to avoid getting classified as too military.... the german laws are really complex on that stuff...

can't comment about SDI stuff either.... cos it's still going on 15 years later....



I like the daniel defence version of the M4.... again as an out of the box it's very good and not mega money but not available to UK folks... so boooo!

right I'm off early start tomorrow.... 30,000 steps won't do themselves...!

 

[Loiq]

cold pickled pork in vigerette, with over baked patotoes and bacon and a sort of egg mayo, and a pickled cabbage in mayo.... and now I'm done with these people...

and some booze now that I'm off the clock and done here....

 

[Loiq]

quick over night 500 miles...

now in the north...

this made me laugh picture 1.... and then this made me cry.... picture 2

that's the exact spot I need to look.... didn't really think about this, just thought it would be all sweetness and light.... walz into the woods and metal detect away.... inside the square that was used as a harbouring location suspected bunker/ defensive position.... Never really thought about spring weather... it being abit hit and miss and wetter than expected

bollox.... didn't bring any wellingtons....

f**k it..... waterKant sums it up for a moment..... oh well will go off and explore the other places....

 

[Loiq]

got bored the whole place is shut... it being monday.... so started to watch german dragons den... wonder if they'd consider my "4 floors of whores...!" as an idea.. which to my mind is still genius... for TV...