This is a rare surviving German cardboard container a Sonderkart 10.5cm LEFH 18 howitzer. The container is in semi-relic condition amazing to have survived from the battlefield being cardboard. The container is missing its lid but is maker marked on the bottom and on the side with some white stamped markings clear to see. The cardboard remains are solid, not breaking up or falling apart with the original cardboard color and paintwork remains are still visible, overall presenting a very nice condition.
This cardboard container 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 a rare surviving German cardboard container a Sonderkart 10.5cm LEFH 18 howitzer. The container is in semi-relic condition amazing to have survived from the battlefield being cardboard. The container is missing its lid but is maker marked on the bottom and on the side with some white stamped markings clear to see. The cardboard remains are solid, not breaking up or falling apart with the original cardboard color and paintwork remains are still visible, overall presenting a very nice condition.
This cardboard container 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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