This is an unusual battlefield find: a rear carry rack from a German Truppenfahrrad M39 Wehrmacht bicycle. The rack is near-complete and largely undamaged, measuring 15 inches long by 6 inches wide. While rusty, it remains very solid. The relic has been carefully cleaned and is ideal for display or any collection, making it a fine example of German bicycle equipment.
This rack would have been used by soldiers of the SS Totenkopf Division and was recovered from an old German SS dugout in the Demyansk Pocket near Leningrad, Russia, dating to 1942. The item comes with two laminated A5 information cards.
The Demyansk Pocket was the area where German troops were encircled by the Red Army around Demyansk, south of Leningrad, during the Eastern Front campaign. The pocket existed from 8 February to 21 April 1942. A smaller force was similarly encircled at the Kholm Pocket, about 100 km southwest. Both pockets resulted from the German retreat following their defeat during the Battle of Moscow.
Trapped German forces in the Demyansk Pocket included the 12th, 30th, 32nd, 123rd, and 290th Infantry Divisions, the SS Totenkopf Division, and units from RAD, Police, Organisation Todt, and other auxiliaries a total of approximately 90,000 German troops plus 10,000 auxiliaries. The pocket was commanded by General der Infanterie Walter Graf von Brockdorff-Ahlefeldt, commander of II Army Corps.
This is an unusual battlefield find: a rear carry rack from a German Truppenfahrrad M39 Wehrmacht bicycle. The rack is near-complete and largely undamaged, measuring 15 inches long by 6 inches wide. While rusty, it remains very solid. The relic has been carefully cleaned and is ideal for display or any collection, making it a fine example of German bicycle equipment.
This rack would have been used by soldiers of the SS Totenkopf Division and was recovered from an old German SS dugout in the Demyansk Pocket near Leningrad, Russia, dating to 1942. The item comes with two laminated A5 information cards.
The Demyansk Pocket was the area where German troops were encircled by the Red Army around Demyansk, south of Leningrad, during the Eastern Front campaign. The pocket existed from 8 February to 21 April 1942. A smaller force was similarly encircled at the Kholm Pocket, about 100 km southwest. Both pockets resulted from the German retreat following their defeat during the Battle of Moscow.
Trapped German forces in the Demyansk Pocket included the 12th, 30th, 32nd, 123rd, and 290th Infantry Divisions, the SS Totenkopf Division, and units from RAD, Police, Organisation Todt, and other auxiliaries a total of approximately 90,000 German troops plus 10,000 auxiliaries. The pocket was commanded by General der Infanterie Walter Graf von Brockdorff-Ahlefeldt, commander of II Army Corps.
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