Thursday, June 21, 2018

Bundesanstalt Technisches Hilfswerk, THW, Feldflasche, West German THW Canteen, PSL 88, 1988, German Federal Agency For Technical Relief

Today we'll be building on the last post, and showing off the matching THW field canteen that was issued along with the THW mess kit. 


You can read about the matching mess kit here:

https://sharky-fourbees.blogspot.com/2018/06/bundesanstalt-technisches-hilfswerk-thw.html

Sometime in the 1960's, the THW ( Bundesanstalt Technisches Hilfswerk), started issuing this "new style" canteen, replacing the old, WW2 styled, post-war canteens.  These "new" canteens were the same style and type that were adopted for the Bundeswehr, but were painted in the "Civil Defense Gray".  These gray canteens were issued to nearly all of the various Civil Defense agencies, in addition to the THW

The canteen comes with a top cup and a bottom bowl.  The canteen is carried inside. 


The entire set fits nicely together and is secured with a spring loaded latch.


The lower bowl has a synthetic gasket around the inside of the rim, which prevents it's use over flame.  In fact, I have never seen this type of canteen with cups, showing any evidence of actually having been used for cooking over flame.  It was used for serving only.


There is clip that is used to suspend the canteen from the D-ring on a belt, jacket back, or more often, on the bread bag.  The attached leather strap is used to attach the canteen through the leather tab on the bread bag (to prevent it from swinging).



This canteen is in unissued condition, and is dated 1988.  It is marked PSL, which is the manufacturers 3 letter code.  Each cup, and the canteen itself, are individually marked.
The initials PSL indicate that the manufacturer is:  
Paul Schulze & Co., of Lübeck, West Germany.


Let's take a closer look.


















 









3 comments:

Tacketts Mill Farm said...

Thanks very much for posting this. I have the exact same unit except mine was made in 1966, the canteen itself is marked PSL63 on the neck. The bottom of the canteen is marked "BUND ZB PSL". All other markings are "PSL66". I had a BW canteen set as a kid and when I got this one it surprised me with the dark grey color opposed to green. I also wondered about the split in the rubber seal inside the canteen cap, but I see your is identical. Very helpful!

Javiroj76 said...

I have one for sale in Bogota Colombia, but is PSL76, original, in perfect state. if you are interested or any other person please write to me. My email is: javiroj.31414@gmail.com.

Javier Rojas

Ceri.mullins@gmail.com said...

Hi, my bottle is marked psl 82 but my tins are missing any Mark's or stamps, not sure why.