Original Item: One-of-a-kind. This is an authentic hand carved souvenir walking stick or Wolchow Stock, named after the Wolchow / Volkhov area of the eastern front. This was made by a German Army soldier serving on the Eastern Front during the long periods of inaction. The stick measures 36 1/8 inches tall, and is 1.6 inches wide at the top of the stick. It has a rectangular profile, which we do not often see, and definitely looks to have seen a good amount of use. It features a German Heer Wehrmachtsadler Eagle on top of a Swas (Swas) along with a German Tatzenkreuz ("Paw cross" or cross pattée), the symbol used in the Iron Cross and many other German awards and designs. The rest of the stick has lots of designs and other ornamentation.

The bottom of the stick has RUSSLAD carved on one side, which translates to "Russia, however the other side looks to read CATSCHIHA, which is not a location name that we recognize. The stick has some damage at that point, and a repaired split, which makes the fifth letter difficult to read.

The stock is in very good condition, with a lovely aged patina to the carved out areas. It does have some wood worm damage overall, particularly towards the bottom point, which has lost some wood due to the damage. There is also the previously mentioned repaired split about 10 inches from the bottom, which was stabilized with glue.

This is a lovely personalized piece of historical remembrance from one of the most brutal theaters of war in world history. Ready to display!

The Eastern Front of World War II was a theater of conflict between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Southeast Europe (Balkans) from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945. It has been known as the Great Patriotic War (Russian: Великая Отечественная война, Velikaya Otechestvennaya Voyna) in the former Soviet Union and modern Russia, while in Germany it was called the Eastern Front (German: die Ostfront), or the German-Soviet War by outside parties.

The battles on the Eastern Front of the Second World War constituted the largest military confrontation in history. They were characterized by unprecedented ferocity, wholesale destruction, mass deportations, and immense loss of life due to combat, starvation, exposure, disease, and massacres. The Eastern Front, as the site of nearly all extermination camps, death marches, ghettos, and the majority of pogroms, was central to the Shoah. Of the estimated 70–85 million deaths attributed to World War II around 30 million occurred on the Eastern Front. The Eastern Front was decisive in determining the outcome in the European theater of operations in World War II, eventually serving as the main reason for the defeat of NSDAP Germany and the Axis nations.

The two principal belligerent powers were Germany and the Soviet Union, along with their respective allies. Though never engaged in military action in the Eastern Front, the United States and the United Kingdom both provided substantial material aid in the form of the Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union. The joint German–Finnish operations across the northernmost Finnish–Soviet border and in the Murmansk region are considered part of the Eastern Front. In addition, the Soviet–Finnish Continuation War may also be considered the northern flank of the Eastern Front.