Original Item: One-of-a-kind. This is a genuine WWII issue German Aluminum Model 1931 Canteen, which has been turned into a wonderful named example of Russian Front Trench art! It is marked DMN43 on the neck and cap, indicating 1943 manufacture by Deutsche Metallwerke in Neustadt an der Weinstraße.
This canteen was carefully designed, and is all hand engraved, with a lovely Fallschirmjäger (Paratrooper) emblem in the middle, which is very well executed. Surrounding this emblem are various words and dates:
Kriegs
1943
Weinachten
Новгородка
This inscription indicates that the canteen is from Christmas (Weinachten) 1943, and that it was made in the captured city of Novgorod (Новгородка) at that time, as a commemorative piece. On August 15, 1941, during World War II, the city was occupied by the German Army. Its historic monuments were systematically obliterated. The Red Army liberated the city on January 19, 1944, so this piece was produced not long before the Russian Liberation.
On the reverse is a design surrounding an R, probably for Rusland (Russia). Above this is the inscription Fw. E. Ast, probably for Feldwebel E. Ast, who presumably made this wonderful piece of art.
Acquired from private collector, this is a genuine piece of occupational trench art from the days when AH’s empire was starting to collapse. We’ve never seen anything quite like it!