Original German WWII FF33 Field Telephone Transformer Junction Box by Rudolph Krüger in Leather Case – Allied Bring Back Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. The feldfernsprecher (field telephone) 33 (FF33) was the standard field telephone of the German military forces of WWII. It is a general purpose field telephone designed for wired communications. It was introduced in 1933 as a modern replacement for the previous WWI legacy field telephones the last of the series being the feldfernsprecher 26 (1926). The FF33 can also be connected to the Torn. Fu. D2 and Torn. Fu. Bl, and F series radio sets to act as a remote handset.

These could be set up in any number of ways, using just two FF33 units, or many more. However to do this additional equipment was needed, such as this very nice Überträger für Feldtelefon (transmitter for field telephone), which is a device for field phones to convert between single and double line connections, a definite necessity for more complex networks. It measures approximately 4 3/4″W x x 7″H x 2″, and comes complete with it’s original black leather carrier, designed to be worn on a belt with a ring on the back for Y-straps.

The unit is marked with German three letter code and date cmy 40, for 1940 manufacture by Rudolph Krüger of Berlin. They were a known manufacturer of telegraph equipment, morse code keys, and similar apparatus. It looks to be complete, but we have no way of knowing if it is functional or not. It definitely shows wear from use in the field.

The leather case is in a bit better shape, still retaining most of the black finish on the leather, with the white stitching still relatively vibrant. This was picked up by a USGI during the war, and they marked on the front where it was found:

near        
St. Martin
       ’44

We believe this is a reference to Saint-Martin-de-Fontenay, which was reached by Allied forces on July 20 as part of Operation Atlantic, part of the larger D-Day invasion, but it was not able to be captured until Operation Spring about a week later. Canadian forces were responsible for both operations. Unfortunately with no further information, we cannot tell if it was captured by a Canadian during one of these operations, or whether it was picked up by forces after it was already captured.

All in all a lovely bring back item from the second world war, ready to research and display!