Militaria

German POW rucksack made from Zeltbahn material in good condition. After world war two a lot of German POW’s lost most if not all of their posessions. Items such as rucksacks became rare for the POW’s returning home. These men are known as Heimkehrer. With no means of buying new clothing or equipment everything that was stocked in the POW camps was utilised creating a miriad of rucksacks in all kinds of material, mostly tent material. I have seen many different variants, none of them are exactly the same. My guess is that every POW camp designed their own pattern with the materials available. This example fits right in this area. A genuine Heimkehrer Rucksack in good condition. Although most people would sell this as a ‘field made’ item, one could never prove that and I firmly believe that most of these were made in the POW camps. Nice piece!

M44 rucksack in blue canvas with webbing straps. Not to be confused with a Luftwaffe issue rucksack; this one was meant to be issued to the Heer, Waffen-SS, Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine. Nice late war variant in used condition!

Small rucksack marked H. Kruge 1940 in good used condition. Complete with its two webbing carrying straps.

Unissued Heer tropical marked H. Becker & Co. 1941. This one is perfect, unissued and has never been used. This example is still stiff from storage. It would be very difficult to find a better one!

First pattern Luftwaffe Rucksack dated Hamburg 1935 in used condition. This is a hard to find early example with detachable carrying straps. The straps have had their auxiliary straps connecting to the ammunition pouches removed. Otherwise very rare example!

Tropical A-frame pouch marked Leder-Dallmann Celle 1941 in unissued condition.

Late war M31 breadbag strap marked red RB-Nr in good condition.

Late war M31 breadbag strap marked RB-Nr. 0/0850/0345 indicating it was produced in Stadt- u. Landkreis München. The strap is unissued condition.

Excellent M31 breadbag strap marked A.&M. Döling, Siebenbunn 1941. Allthough dated 1941 it is still made utilising the typical early fabric which was mostly used until early 1940.

Nice original pre war pattern M31 breadbag strap in excellent condition. The strap is nicely marked Carl Vogel, Cotbuss 1936 and features a unit marking I.R. which indicates Infanterie-Regiment. The strap is a typical pre war example with high quality leather, aluminium hardware and a reinforced middle part. Nice example!

Rare late war transitional tropical breadbag marked RB-Nr. 0/0750/0072. This is a transitional tropical breadbag made utilising leather and webbing in the construction. Nice collectible variant, hard to find!

Tropical M31 breadbag with captured Dutch leather parts named Schön. The leather reinforcements on the belt loops as the central closing stap are made of typical Dutch leather. Nice collectible variant!

Late war M31 breadbag with rayon loops marked RB-Nr. 0/0750/0072 indicating production by PRIMOSA Auwaerter & Bubeck, Stuttgart West. Beautiful late war example with rayon and webbing details!

Late war M44 breadbag marked RB-Nr. 0/0765/0002 indicating production by Ludwig Keller, Stockach Baden. with matching strap. Textbook late war example with pouch for the RG34.

Late war simplified M44 breadbag with matching strap. The central closing strap is riveted. Nice late war variant in excellent condition!

Unissued M31 tropical breadbag marked bmo 42 indicating production by Hans Deuter Lederwarenfabrik, Augsburg. Beautiful example with red lined bias material on the closing strap!

Very nice “tropical” M31 breadbag in good condition. This breadbag is most likely made in the Ghetto of Lodz, Poland which the Germans renamed into “Litzmannstadt”. They are made using parts of captured British equipment items. These British equipment items where left in 1940 when the (BEF) British Expeditionary Force evacuated to the United Kingdom. The Germans sent this British equipment to Litzmannstadt for recycling and a lot of work was put in disassembling every British equipment piece and recycling the individual parts into German army equipment. Y-straps, A-frames and rucksacks are a few of the items made in Litzmannstadt. Very nice original M31 breadbag!

Unissued M31 Heer breadbag marked RB-Nr. 0/0671/00185 indicating production by J. Heinrich Köster jun. City: Bad Homburg

Nice RAD issue M31 breadbag. The breadbag is marked R.A.D.B.A.B.F. which indicates this example was issued to the Reichsarbeitsdienst. Sadly the breadbag is missing one of the D-rings on the rear. Excellent RAD issue breadbag in good used but not abused condition!

Textbook late war manufactured M31 in very good, most likely unissued condition. The construction of this breadbag shows mixed materials where both leather and webbing are used. This is a typical late war feature. The breadbag is nicely marked with a big ink stamp; RBNr. 0/0650/0345 which indicates production by an unknown manufacturer. Excellent example!