New find, a Message pad.

coert65

coert65

Well-known member
This is my latest addition, a message pad. These were used by company leaders, or officers to send back messages, about enemy locations, where fire was coming from, enemy strongholds, asking for supports or directing fire to locations.
It is dated 10-7-1917, and is original. It looks like a trenchmap, but only the known locations of German trenches are marked, the supposedly locations are marked as dotted lines. I frequently visited these parts of Belgium, especially the canal site there, which is just like it was left after the war.
Needless to say this is a nice asset to my collection, and was only €20, so cheap too.
Message pad 1.jpg
Message pad 2.jpg
Message pad 3.jpg
Message pad 4.jpg
I'm sure our Belgium forummembers know where this is, just south of Hill 60, and the Caterpillar crater.

Regards, Coert.
 
Congratulations my friend that is a great addition to your fine collection. I've never seen a message pad like that before thanks for sharing. (y)(y)
 
Very interesting and thanks for posting. I have another version and interestingly it is also from the Messines battle (the first day).

It came with the captured German paper items that are annotated with the date 7 June 1917.

These are all ex New Zealand. The NZ division played a key role in this battle.
 

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And my favourite helmet, scratched in the paint with ‘Messines, Belgium June 7, 1917’

Hard to make out in photo, when I bought the helmet in NZ 20 plus years ago the etching was not mentioned in the description and I only found it by fluke!
 

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nzef1940 said:
Very interesting and thanks for posting. I have another version and interestingly it is also from the Messines battle (the first day).

It came with the captured German paper items that are annotated with the date 7 June 1917.

These are all ex New Zealand. The NZ division played a key role in this battle.
Click to expand...
Very, very nice! These documents are very rare nowaday's, yours is only the second one I ever saw. They were meant to be used, sent back to headquarters, and then probably never kept. Also very nice, is that you also have the German documents to go with it!
These are timecapsules, of very hard times. Thanks for showing them, and the German helmet with the date inscribed on it!

Regards, Coert.
 
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