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I picked these up while traveling through Mexico and Central America. The first two are from Chiapas, Mexico where I passed through Zapatista territory several times. The third is from Leon, Nicaragua where the Sandinistas had one of their head quarters which is now a museum.

Was a damp ole Sunday and nothing to do,,,, then with a flash of inspiration ( the missus said well redecorate the lounge ) I got to diggong out some parts and knocked up a Gabult Ladung for the display. all original apart from the wire

There seems to be a bit of confusion about the various parts of the MCN, but it's pretty simple... There are basically three parts to the MCN... 1) The Web Forum, the same as it was back in 1998 when we started. The main area where we discuss militaria and help fellow members ID items, valuations, research, picture galleries etc. www.militariacollectors.net 2) The MCN Facebook page, which is basically a quick and easy chat type of page. Pretty chilled, but we don't allow sales. www.facebook.com/groups/Milcol/ 3) The MCN NAAFI Facebook page, which used to be the MCN sales area. However, when we brought back the web forum sales area, we only use the FB NAAFI to view sales from the web forum. www.facebook.com/groups/milcol.buy.sell.trade Hopefully that explains the three different areas. There is no pressure or charge to use any of these areas, (unless you are a dealer when there is a token charge to sell on the web forum.) Feel free to use or not use, your call. If you only want to sell on FB, there are plenty of other sales groups about. Lenny Chief Admin

I ~believe~ this is the Italian M32/M35 crash helmet used by tankers until the wars end. Post war it was used by various police organizations and by parachutists into the 1970s. I can't find my Marzetti Helmet ref book right now, but I recall the orig military issue only had the size inked on the liner. Post war the manufacturer was added. Looks in great shape from the pics.

Just been moving stuff around in my collection room.. Found these and more on the shelf underneath! I like Incendiaries..

New shelf/framework up. Had to get everything out of the spare room rapido,so i will have to label each fuze up seperately *sighs* Thats for another time. Have to get the MG holders cut down on the other side of the room for a tailfin display shelf im thinking about.. The 'section' section is now more roomy. However i did discover 'one or two' incendiary bombs and fuzes i had forgotten about!

Hi Paul. There's never a daft question mate,, the one main charge in middle would ignite the surrounding 6 M24's I see a lot of piccs of these, and the usual chestnut is barbed wire wrapped around them, it took me a while to get the 6 cans to stay in place while tying them, and there is a set pattern to get them to hold in place, if you just wrapped wire around the out side you would not be able to throw it without is falling to bits not ideal in combat however you could locate it somewhere as a IED but again carrying it would fall apart if not careful with it.

I'm sure the profanity filter changed it from prat to twat

Here is mine. It was in the mid 90's before I had ever owned a computer. My nephew showed me Ebay, and I had him bid on this very early East German helmet that I still have in my collection. I got it for $48 post paid.

A few of my panzer/vehicle items.

Gifts given to members of the Panzertruppen.

Will start off with my unmarked Frank & Reif

This is a comparison of the 88mm that a Tiger would fire (mine is he) vs. a 75mm that a Sherman would fire (again he). I am looking for an 88 ap and a 75mm ap projectile.

This is an interesting Russian combat knife. It appears to have been made from a Russian pike from the late 1800's.

The Royal Flying Corps First Victoria Cross On 26 April 1915 at Kortrijk, Belgium, Rhodes-Moorhouse swept low in his B.E 2 over the railway junction that he had been ordered to attack. He released his 100 lb bomb and was immediately plunged into a heavy barrage of small arms fire from rifles and a machine-gun in the belfry of Kortrijk Church; he was severely wounded by a bullet in his thigh, and his plane was badly hit. Returning to the Allied lines, he again ran into heavy fire from the ground and was wounded twice more. He managed to get his aircraft back, and insisted on making his report before being taken to the Casualty Clearing Station. He died the next day, 27 April 1915. For this action he was awarded the Royal Flying Corps 1st Victoria Cross. His body was returned to England and buried at the family home Parnham Park, Beaminster, Dorset. 25 years later, 6 September 1940, his son serving in the Royal Air Force, 601 Squadron was killed when his Hurricane was shot down by a Bf 109 over Tunbridge Wells, Kent. His remains were buried along side his father.

The medal grouping to Sergeant Albert Arthur Curtis. Albert Curtis must have been quite a remarkable man the military figured in his life for over 26 years. He was born in Maisemore Gloucestershire in 1876 and lived locally to us in the town of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire and first joined the army at the tender age of just 16. He joined up in 1891 with the 1st Royal Warwickshire Regiment and on 12th July the following year was transferred to the 2nd Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment. With this Regiment Albert who at this time was at the rank of Private went to Egypt in March 1893 and from there proceeded to India. Owing to a shortage of Drummers young Albert was sent home from Wellington in India with the 1st Battalion South Staffords as an acting drummer and remained in England til he finished his term of service in June 1897. On the outbreak of the 2nd Anglo Boer War 3456 Private Albert Curtis was recalled to service from the 1st Class Reserve and left Tewkesbury in February 1900 and re-joined his regiment at Aldershot. During the 2nd Boer War Private Curtis served under Sir Leslie Rundle and in what was then known as "The Starving Eighth Division. Although his unit were not engaged in any full scale battles with the Boer's their long stay in the orange river colony meant that they suffered every conceivable hardship, men died from disease, malnutrition and some fell victim to the natural hazards of South Africa. A good number became so desperate to escape the privations of the campaign that they deserted. At the cessation of the Boer War Private Curtis left South Africa via Durban on August 2nd 1902. For his service during the Boer War Private Curtis received the Queens South Africa Medal with clasps "Transvaal", "Orange Free State" and "Cape Colony" and the Kings South Africa Medal with the date clasps "1902", "1901". His Kings South Africa medal was particularly special to him as he would remark later on in a local newspaper interview that it was "a very hard medal to earn as you had to do 18 months of un-broken service to get the medal"! War and the army entered Albert's life again in 1914 when he joined up at Lichfield and sent to Tidworth and served with the first Kitchener Army. He was promoted to the rank of Corporal and sent to Egypt. On 25th May 1915 8593 Corporal Albert Curtis re-joined his battalion now the North Staffordshire Regiment and was sent to fight in Gallipoli and to relieve the famous 29th Division. His battalion served under General Maude and Albert was again promoted this time to the rank of Sergeant for "devotion to duty on the field of action". Albert was in the 39th Brigade of the 13th Division of his regiment and was also involved in the evacuation of Suvla Bay and Keep Ellis and when that was over was sent to Port Said where his battalion was re-organised and re-equipped and sent on to Mesopotamia modern day Iraq. Albert's regiment landed at Basra on 22nd March 1916 and took part in the last charge to relieve General Townsend and his forces who were besieged in Kut. Unfortunately they were too late to save the position. The Turks shelled the position and during this time Sergeant Albert Curtis was himself hit by a shell fragment and wounded. He embarked on a hospital ship and left for India where he spent some time recuperating. He grew to like and respect the Indian people and their customs and of course their cooking! Sergeant Albert Curtis was transferred to the fledgling Royal Air Force serving as a "Disciplinarian" and this was the last of his military service. He returned home to Tewkesbury on 22nd June 1917. For his service during WW1 Albert was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, The War Medal and The Victory Medal. Albert and his wife Mary Jane Curtis had six children but only two would survive to adulthood a daughter named Minnie and son named Albert Alec Curtis. Albert was a popular figure in his home town of Tewkesbury where he became the Town Crier and Sergeant of the Mace. He passed away at Holm Hospital on 7th January 1955 aged 79. Xmas 2015 I open one of my presents from my partner Paula which reveals an old blue leather bound box and when opened there were the medals which belonged to this remarkable man left exactly as he had last worn them. This was a truly memorable present and certainly one which I myself will treasure. We spent the next few months gathering every piece of research material we could on Sergeant Albert Arthur Curtis from the medals rolls to service records and local newspaper material and it was after an appeal on the Tewkesbury Town Online Noticeboard that I received the photograph of Sergeant Albert Curtis as Town Crier taken in 1939 and wearing the very medals which I now own. Sadly his grave has all but disappeared in the municipal cemetery at Tewkesbury as no headstone is present. I did bring this and Albert's story to the attention of the local newspaper the Gloucester Echo but sadly they have chosen to ignore my email-shame on them but RIP Sergeant Albert Arthur Curtis-a true warrior in every sense. Regards Tim Heath, MIA Group, Evesham, Worcs.

Sergeant Albert Curtis's only brush with the Beak!!! Obviously on an evening out with some of his mates from the army and a tad too much ale. Made me chuckle this!!!

Found this among my collection of World War Two German photos. Often thought about why two German soldiers were having their photo taken by a WW1 British Tank. With the clue on the back of the photo roughly translated 'Memory of Smolensk in autumn 1942' and a goggle search, here is the answer. Part of the Allied Expedition Force sent to assist anti-Bolshevik White forces in the Russian Civil War. The tanks were captured by the Red Army during the Civil War, and used by them in the 1920s. They were later left on the square in Smolensk and captured by the Wehrmacht during WW2 This link here http://www.archiv-akh.de/filme?utf-8=✓&q&cid&page=1#44 takes you to film footage of the 23 Inf. Div. 1940/1941 in France and Russia. Forward to time 1:15:48:05 for film clip of the tanks.

Finally got round to buying good,strong wall brackets and wood today for a shelf revamp in the bunker room. Hopefully make a start this week and a few pics to follow ASAP. Only been meaning to do it the last five or so years....

Early days collecting.

Very cool bits

I know what you mean, I work nights and come home to more stuff to do..... It seriously gets in the way of collecting

Tricky you do have to get the smoking/working balance right or it all falls over

Daft question,but were all the strings attached to one for arming,or would one do to detonate the others?

Remember you can have a members gallery, great place to store pics of your collection. Then if you want to add a pic to a post, you can link it from the gallery. Instead of uploading the picture again, you can click "Insert other Media" and choose from previous attachments or your gallery. Pictures make the forum so much better, which is why I've worked hard to make the picture aspect more. flexible and useful. http://www.militariacollectors.network/forums/gallery/category/1-member-albums/

It's quick and easy to join up at the MCN... Enter a Display Name... this is how you will be known on the forum. Enter your email address, a validation email will be sent there. Please check this address carefully. Choose and confirm a password. (You can alternatively sign up with your Facebook or Twitter details.) Enter your country, this will generate a national flag for your profile. Answer the security question, What year did WW2 end? If you don't know this then this may not be the forum for you... Clue? Security Check, solve the jigsaw puzzle. Agree to the Terms of Use. Nothing scary, read them first, just that you will behave yourself on the forum. Then click Create my Account. You will receive a validation email, follow the instructions and then an Admin will manually approve your membership. Please bear in mind time differences and that we occasionally need a quick snooze. If you don't receive a validation email, it could be in your spam folder or lost in cyberspace. If this happens, leave a message in here or on our Facebook page and will will deal with it manually, the old fashioned way, by hand. https://www.facebook.com/groups/Milcol/

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Mitchell S had a strobe as his profile pic which gave me a headache just looking at it.I could imagine someone with epilepsy having real problems with that, so I asked him to remove it. considering also that we have vets (on the FB forum anyway, so maybe here also) who may have PTSD or similar problems, it was inappropriate for that reason alone.just thought we need to be safe rather than sorry, we cater for a wide range of folk on here after all and everyone needs to be looked after and respected.

Mind you I've rewound from 3 phase down to single phase which helps a bit ie generator

I see, the "Edit" button at the bottom of the post. I didn't notice this when I made a post with photos.

A nice British WW2 helmet i used to own. Rough texture with insignia. Picked this one up in a local antiques shop.

When I was in Bastogne there was a little military museum there, it had some of the best militaria from the actual surrounding areas I,ve ever seen and among them were helmets turned into pots, collanders, and ladles, especially M38s so it seemed, some were even enamalled , it was a tearful encounter

Must be a light weight helmet

Works nicely though, bargain holder!

That would be great.

This is a comparison between a Tiger track link and a Sherman track link. You can see the significant difference in size. I collect WWII track links.

My dear Kaiser said I've a chip on my shoulder, but it's much worse than that....

Good point Daniel!

No its the forum rules you can't post porn ....I think ordnance comes under that

You better believe it mate.. Oh, the 2Mb limit isn't to do with the forum software, it's to do with PHP and my hosting server. However, seeing as I'm a nice guy and this is the BEST forum about, and I pay for a super duper hosting server, I've upgraded it to 8Mb... Don't say I'm not good to you..

Analise was a bit miffed,as that wasnt the 'hard pointy thing' she was expecting that evening...

For a minute mate,i thought it was the one you are restoring for me? Very nice. Its either a grand day down yonder as usual or its an old picture?

Rusian permitio to cary arms - SD Helper extremly rare pass in Russian and German.

Nice work

These two for me at the moment.

Fifteen Days, by Christine Blatchford.

Ardennes 1944: Hitler's Last Gamble by Anthony Beevor

Hmmm....think photoshops got a hand in this, how would the rounds load reversed like that, wouldn't fit.

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