Chris Boonzaier Posted January 15, 2021 Posted January 15, 2021 Some time ago I bought a belt to a Gebirgs Ersatz Abteilung man, I know there is more belonging to the man at the source... and was then lucky enough to get his map case... which is quite a bit wider than the usual one you see, and has space for much more... it is also not made with lelt loops... it can be worn on a strap, or have loops on the belt with it clips onto... I suppose it is made for mounted troops and a mapcase directly on the belt could be difficult... but noone had seen one... and although the source is 100%... I had a tiny bit of doubt/confusion.... until a friend sent me this picture.... This is it.... and now begins the journey....... The Pencil os original to the piece.... my goal is to add the "bits2 all period.... but many companies made things for decades... the logo always slowly changing... So I will look for pencils with exactly that logo, which is the one they used prewar... The compass fits perfectly... the march calculator finally has a home.... now I need a period eraser, ruler, pencils.... and nothing from the 30s or 40s.....
Chris Boonzaier Posted January 20, 2021 Author Posted January 20, 2021 OK... so now I had the fitting compass, a march calculator, and a single period thick pencil .... I needed to start on the 6 thin pencils... a couple of grey and some colored one.... lets look for grey.... from the thick brown one I had a WW1 era logo to go by for one maker... but none on ebay at the moment... plenty with later logs... but A.W. Faber was also around back then... I found some WW1 era mechanical pencil lead by them from the WW1 era... and 5 Grey pencils of varying ages.... one of which was their WW1 era log...
Chris Boonzaier Posted January 20, 2021 Author Posted January 20, 2021 A couple more with the wartime logo
Trooper_D Posted January 20, 2021 Posted January 20, 2021 What a great item, Chris. I hope you manage to track down all the accessories. Is there a list of the standard contents of such a case in a manual, somewhere, that you can follow or do you have to work in out for yourself from the shape of the various containers?
Chris Boonzaier Posted January 20, 2021 Author Posted January 20, 2021 Have to figure it out. The 6 regular pencils is a sure thing. I think the small square pocket an eraser, the rounded one a perfect compass fit... I assume 2 bigger pencils left and right... then other mapping necessities... I am thinking this is not your usual officers/NCOs mapcase... the Swiss have a special case for staff officers, which takes more than the normal mapcase... I assume this was designed for a smaller staff and had some extras.
Chris Boonzaier Posted January 25, 2021 Author Posted January 25, 2021 I almost fell into troopers trap.... impatient to continue I scratched an old matchbox holder out and figured "The guy may have kept something like this in there..." ... then realised that would be the wrong way of going forward... I need some more pencils, a period eraser if that still exists, some dividers and a compass maybe, a ruler.... the problem remains... I must be sure they are all period...
VtwinVince Posted January 25, 2021 Posted January 25, 2021 That is a kool project, just the sort of thing I like.
Chris Boonzaier Posted January 25, 2021 Author Posted January 25, 2021 57 minutes ago, VtwinVince said: That is a kool project, just the sort of thing I like. You would not think that when you have spent literally hours combing ebay for a pencil with a specific logo ?
Chris Boonzaier Posted January 27, 2021 Author Posted January 27, 2021 OK, the compass is in there, but I think the dividers would be better... a logical addition?
Trooper_D Posted January 27, 2021 Posted January 27, 2021 (edited) 48 minutes ago, Chris Boonzaier said: OK, the compass is in there, but I think the dividers would be better... a logical addition? I would agree that dividers - for working out distances on a map - would be more logical (would he have any use for compasses?). I wonder if something a bit more robust might be more appropriate for the field. The following dividers are to be had on the 'Bay, at the moment, for example (I have no interest in any of these), MOD 1915 - bit expensive (265022861032) French, looks period but, at 19cm, may be too long - cheaper (254841888267) Looks period but unmarked - cheapest (154238718573) I'm sure there must be more out there. Edited to add: looking again at where it is to go, you are a bit restricted on the length, aren't you. Edited January 27, 2021 by Trooper_D
Chris Boonzaier Posted January 27, 2021 Author Posted January 27, 2021 Those are sexy... look almost like weapons!.. but at the end of the day too big... I am guessing much of the contents were privately purchased owners preference.. I imagine in a HQ some of the above would be part of the staff equipment, but the contents of the map case must have been relatively affordable, light and easy to find commercially.
Trooper_D Posted January 27, 2021 Posted January 27, 2021 Yes, that seems a fair assessment. I hope you are successful finding the rest of the kit you are looking for.
BalkanCollector Posted January 27, 2021 Posted January 27, 2021 What an amazing mapcase and a very amazing project! I have my grandpa's leather mapcase (Yugoslav People's Army) and it still has a lot of pencils, erasers, rulers and other stuff that he used. Not as cool as your piece though since it's much more common.
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