Original Item. Only One Available. The severe cold encountered on the Russian front in the winter of 1941-42 found the Germans completely unprepared not only in heat retaining cold weather garments. This resulted in numerous, hastily improvised and makeshift heat retaining and snow camouflage items being utilized including everything from civilian winter clothing to knapsacks. After the winter of 1941/42 the Oberkommando des Wehrmacht, (High Command of the Armed Forces), recognized the need for heavier winter clothing and testing began in the spring of 1942 to develop suitable garments and other field gear.

This hastily-made German tornister was made from spare fabric that the Germans liberated from Italian Army camps, along with winter clothing such as parkas. They were used by Waffen SS units such as the 1st SSLAH, fighting in the Cold winter of the Russian front at one of the several battles that took place at Kharkov.

The Tornister is loosely modeled after the German M41 Tornister, but it is noticeably smaller and has some construction differences. There is only one pocket on the front of the bag, and the flap that closes the bag is much smaller. The leather string which loops through the metal grommets to tighten the bag is still retained. The stitching is all very quality and doesn’t show any signs of ripping. The metal buttons are all retained and the inside of the bag shows the solid camouflage color while the exterior is the back. The back-straps are still in great shape and function as intended.

This is a really stupendous piece of German WWII field-made field gear, ready for further research and display!