Very rare American wooden ammunition crate for 81mm mortar rounds found in 1997 during building works in village of Le Gleize,captured by the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler the battle fought in December 1944 during the Ardennes Forest

This is a Very rare American wooden ammunition crate for 81mm mortar rounds it is missing its lid ripped off during use when the bombs were taken out to be fired.The box is in nice condition the wood still retains most of its original brown colour but has discolored with some green paint on the bottom of it and has dirt attached to it which has ingrained on it from all the years being lost in a building in the village.The box has some damage there are some split and knocks in the wood but nothing to bad the wood is still very solid not braking up or falling apart but has been very wet and dried out many times by the looks of it only has some of the original yellow stamped markings that can be seen faintly but still rare to find a nice example of this famous ammunition crate and any American crate from the Ardennes is rare it has been nicely cleaned and is perfect for display or any collection. The box was found in 1997 during building works in the village and was bought at the famous militaria fair the same year in the village of Le Gleize which during the war it was captured by the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler the battle fought in December 1944 during the Ardennes Forest.The crate comes with A5 laminated information card.

The German forces in the village were surrounded by American forces at La Gleize, 800 survivors of the 1st Panzer SS lead by Peiper fled on Christmas Eve, leaving behind 135 armored vehicles including the 69 tons King Tiger.