This batch has a total of 6 bags in splinter camo pattern, and 9 bags in plain field gray. Each set includes 3 wooden poles with aluminum sockets and galvanized steel tent stakes. All of the bags date to the 1940's and 1930's, with the newest one dated 1944. Many of the tent stakes are dated and have dates from the 1940's , 1930's and a few from the 1920's. The stakes were hot-dipped galvanized, and as such, the galvanization layer is quite thick and has filled in many of the lighter date stamps on many of the stakes.
Here are some close up photos of the bag dates:
Here are some close ups of the steel tent stake dates:
Two of the stakes in this batch are actually made out of aluminum and are from the tent sets that were issued with the Alpenflage patterned Zelts that were manufactured later (I believe that these aluminum pole and stake sets were manufactured in the 1980's, but I'm not sure). Here is a shot of the aluminum stakes followed by an archive photo of an Alpenfage tent pole set:
It is interesting to note that the Swiss splinter camo, Zelteinheiten 1901 Pattern, is nearly identical to the WW2 German Wehrmacht Splittertarn camo (splinter). The only difference is in a very small detail. If you look very close at the Swiss camo pattern, you will notice that there is a thin green line that connects the dark green portion to the lighter green area. These thin green lines are not present on the German pattern. It has often been speculated, but never confirmed, that Switzerland secretly manufactured a large amount of military gear for Nazi Germany and at the same time, copied the German camo pattern with a small detail change for their own troops. Very interesting........ Here are a couple of close up shots of the Swiss camo pattern on these bags. If you look close, you can see the "thin green line" that connects the dark green to the light green (it shows good in the lower left bag):
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