British General Service Shovel, GS, WW2 Issue, T-Handle Restoration with Broad Arrow Stamp, 1940's Pioneer, Sapper, Engineer

 I had the rare opportunity to pick up a trio of British General Service Shovels from a seller in the US.  All three were slightly different, with one of them damaged.  The price was amazing, so I bought all three!  One is dated 1943, one 1954, and the third is undated, but Broad Arrow stamped.

I'll be showing off each one separately in the next three blog postings.  For today, we'll start with the undated, damaged shovel.  I'll also show the restoration of the damaged handle.

This style of British, GS, or General Service Shovel, was the standard issue, full-sized shovel that saw use from WW1 (or possibly before), through the 1950's.  The GS Shovels were found in nearly every theater of operation, in service with almost all units, and mounted on nearly every British vehicle.  In addition to their mundane, uses around camps and bases, they were the preferred combat entrenching tool carried by the soldiers in the field during WW2.

Before we get too far along though, here is a shot of the restored GS Shovel that is pictured above.  I'll go over the restoration, a bit later in the blog post.

The standard issue, British, entrenching tool during WW2, was the Pattern 1939 spade, and then the Pattern 1937, "combo-tool".  Both of these tools were very unpopular with the troops, and as a consequence, the field soldiers, unofficially, adopted the GS Shovel as a substitute.  

In many of the old photos, it is common to see the smaller, official Pattern 1937 tools  being carried on the belt, with a full sized, GS Shovel carried in the pack, or tucked cross-wise in the front belt.  Basically, if the soldier needed to dig a hole, the GS Shovel could be counted on to actually get the job done, unlike the diminutive Pattern 1937 tools.  There was also the belief that the heavier, and larger, steel blade of the GS Shovel offered a bit of "armor plate" protection when carried (an extra, and potentially lifesaving bonus, in the soldier's eyes!).  

 

In 1958, the British Army adopted a new entrenching tool, the Pattern 1958 Light Infantry Shovel.  This was a GS Shovel with a slightly shorter handle (29 inches), with a hole drilled through, near the T-handle.  The hole was for mounting it on a carry-stud, on the Pattern 58 web harness.

You can read more about the Pattern 1958, short handle shovel, here:  https://talesfromthesupplydepot.blog/2016/05/09/short-general-service-shovel/

The GS Shovels are still used by the British Army, but I believe they may be a slightly different style.

From the beginning, the GS Shovels were basically a civilian, T-handle shovel, that had been accepted into British Military service.  The military shovels all had a British Broad Arrow stamp.  The civilian shovels are missing this stamp, but are otherwise the same.

The British military specifications for the GS Shovel, call for a blade that is 8 inches across.  There was another British shovel called the Round Edge Shovel, or RE Shovel, that had a blade that was more rounded and 10 inches across. To save weight, the sides of the RE Shovel were trimmed straight, shaving almost a pound off of the weight.  The resulting, lighter, shovel became the GS Shovel.  You can read more about the wider RE Shovel here:  https://talesfromthesupplydepot.blog/2017/10/17/ww1-royal-engineers-shovel/

During WW2, there were quite a number of slight variations of GS Shovels.  All handles and shafts were made of wood, but some had reinforcing metal straps over the T-Handle, and some did not.  Some of the "T's" were slightly curved, and some were straight.  I think that basically, if it was a T-handle shovel, that fell within the blade dimensions, and overall dimensions, it was accepted into service, without all needing to be exactly the same.  There were even slight variations in the metal blade construction.  In fact, these shovels were made by literally hundreds of manufacturers during WW2.  Some were well established shovel makers, and some were smaller shops and factories that only made the shovels during the war.  Some shovels were dated, with manufacturers marks and names, and some were unmarked, with only the Broad Arrow stamp.

Now that we have covered some of the history and specifics of these General Service Shovels, let's take a closer look at this first of three, GS Shovels that I have.

This particular shovel has only one marking.  It is stamped with the Broad Arrow acceptance stamp.  There is no date or manufacturer's name.

These WW2 vintage shovels are also painted black on the metal blade, and up the wood handle a short distance.

This shovel is the typical, WW2 style shovel, and almost certainly dates to WW2 due to it's rougher construction and the fact that it is unmarked and undated.  These unmarked and undated examples are nearly all from WW2, and most likely were made by smaller contractors.  It is just a guess, but I believe these more basic, and unmarked shovels, may have been produced later in the war.  

You can see the Broad Arrow stamp in the photo.

When I received the shovel, the T-handle was missing.  The handle had snapped off at the base of the T-handle, diagonally down the main shaft.  The top edge of the shaft, where it butted up to the T-handle was still present on one side, so I was certain as to the original length of the shaft.

 After photographing the shovel in it's original, damaged state, I headed down to the bunker to restore it back to its former glory (well, as close as possible!).

Here is the basic process I followed to restore the handle.  To make the repair, I cleaned up the break surface, by making a clean, straight, diagonal cut.  I duplicated this angle on a new piece of handle shaft, and glued the two together.  After gluing, I shaped the grafted portion to match the original shaft.  Next I drilled and installed a long, brass, wood screw, from top to bottom, inside the wood shaft.  This serves to reinforce the glued joint internally.  After the screw was installed, I carved and shaped the top of the shaft to accept the T-Handle.  I then made a T-handle and installed it on the carved shaft, pinned everything in place, and finished the new, bare wood with stain.

Here is a side-by-side photo of the repaired handle next to another WW2, British T-handle shovel (before stain).  The left shovel is a WW2 vintage GS shovel, and the right shovel is the repaired shovel.

I finished up the repair with several coats of stain, and then coated the entire handle with Danish Oil.  The final color is still a bit off, so I will have to do a bit more matching later.  It is very difficult to color match new wood to the original old, and weathered, wood, in this type of repair.  It will never be a perfect match, but it will do just fine for display.  This is what I consider a "museum restoration".

Here is the finished product.  Let's take a look at the fully restored, WW2 vintage, General Service Shovel.

WITCO Avalanche Snow Shovel, Comparison: Red vs Silver, Witco A.S., Made In Norway, Brtitish Army, Norwegian Army, Rottefella, T-Handle, Alpine

 I recently ran across another WITCO avalanche, snow shovel, that was a "screaming great deal"!  The problem was that I really wasn't in the market for another one, so I passed the opportunity on to my son.  As luck would have it, he needed one!

He snatched up the shovel, and dropped it by the Bunker for a quick photo shoot for the blog.  So, today we'll be taking a look at this silver version, and then we'll do a comparison with my red version.

You can read all about these WITCO shovels over on my blog page about my red version.  So, before we get into the photos, jump on over there and read up on the history, if you haven't already!

https://sharky-fourbees.blogspot.com/2020/07/witco-avalanche-snow-shovel-witco-as.html

Here is the album of this beautiful, silver version.  We'll follow that up with the "Red vs Silver", side-by-side comparison album.

And now, as promised, here are the two different versions, side-by-side.  They are nearly identical, with only a couple of slight differences.  There is a hole in the shovel shaft, on the red version, and not there on the silver version.  The hole in the T-handle for the wrist thong, is reversed (handle installed reversed).  Other than the colors (red & orange), and those two differences, they are the same.

German M38 Klappspaten, WW2 Folding Shovel - Entrenching Tool, Post-War Norwegian Army, 1940 B & Co., Soligen, Berg & Company, Heer Wehrmacht, H 40 WaA253, At The Front , ATF

 In today's posting, we'll be looking at an iconic WW2 German shovel.  The classic, M38 Klappspaten,  German folding shovel.

I have been on the lookout for a reasonably priced, WW2 vintage, German klappspaten, in very good condition, with good markings.  The search has been ongoing for quite some time, but now the hunt is over!  I  have one in hand, and in the bunker.

I purchased this shovel from a company here in the USA.  The company is "At The Front", located in Kentucky.  ATF is best known for their historically accurate, and high quality, WW2 reproduction items.  However, they also have a mix of original items.  Nearly all of their reproduction items are made in-house, here in the USA, or are custom manufactured for them over-seas.  Their items are near perfect copies of the original items, perfect for display, or reenactment.  In short, I highly recommend this company.   You can look over all their items here:

https://www.atthefront.com/

 

So, with that glowing endorsement, let's move on to the klappspaten I purchased from them.  Their price is great, and the shovels are some of the best I've seen in years! (I actually managed to snag one at a better price on their Labor Day Sale). ATF is also one of the only commercial sources for these WW2 shovels around these days.  If you purchase one of their klappspaten shovels, please let them know you heard about them here on the blog!  Here is a link to the shovels:

https://www.atthefront.com/product-p/ggetf.htm 

The klappspaten's that ATF are selling, are all original, WW2 issue, German Military, folding shovels that were originally used by the WW2 German occupation troops in Norway.  After the war, and after Germany's surrender, the Norwegian Army requisitioned, and reissued these shovels to their own troops, and used them during the post-war years.   Norway painted the shovels green and used them until the 1980's or 1990's, when they sold them all off as surplus.  ATF purchased a large quantity of these shovels and had the Norwegian post-war paint professionally stripped off, leaving the shovels in their original WW2 condition, (with a few little spots of Norwegian green paint here and there).  ATF advised that the company that stripped the shovels, coated the metal with oil.  I can assure you, if it was "oil", it petrified in storage!  I ended up trying just about everything I could think of to remove the hardened "oil".  In the end, a 3M green scrub pad and some "Goof Off", graffiti remover, did the trick.

 Aside from the "oil" removal, all the shovel needed was a light coat of danish oil on the wood, and a good wipe down. The Norwegian paint actually preserved the shovels in their original German war-time condition.  It basically worked as a "time capsule".  When the paint was removed, the original, 1940's shovel was revealed.  Very nice!

Norwegian Army Green paint under the nut.

 With the "oil" removed, the markings and date stamps really showed up nicely.  Not only was the shovel in great condition overall, the markings were everything I had hoped they would be.  Since ATF does not hand pick, or take requests for markings, I just trusted that a good one would be selected and shipped.  I was not disappointed!

 

This shovel is marked with the maker's mark "B & Co." , "Solingen".  This is the mark used by "Berg & Company" of Solingen, Germany.  The company is actually still in business, and you can read a brief history of the company on their website.

https://www.berg-spanntechnik.de/en/unternehmen/historie.php

 Under the maker's mark, "H 40" is stamped.  The "H" is for Heer, or German Army, in english.  The "40", is for the year 1940.  The "H" marking indicates army issue.

To the left of the Maker's mark and year stamps, there is a nice little waffenamt.  A waffenamt is a small German Eagle stamp with WaA and a number under the eagle.  The number to the right of the "WaA" is a unique number assigned to an inspector at a given location.  The waffenamt on my shovel shows two digits, a 2 and a partial number.  I did a quick check on a list of known waffenamts and discovered that WaA253 was used at Berg & Co. from 1937 - 1939.  The only other number used there was WaA519, from 1942 - 1944.  So, it is probable that the complete number is WaA253.

 

Up until late 1940, the actual manufacturer's name, or company emblem, was stamped onto each item for the military.  In late 1940, the "3 letter" codes were instituted, and actual company names and emblems were eliminated.  Under this system, each company was assigned a random, 3 letter code.  This code was used in lieu of the actual company name so that the enemy would not be able to tell where equipment was being manufactured, if it fell into enemy intelligence hands (hopefully protecting operational factories from bombing).  The 3 letter code that was assigned to Berg & Company was "agv".

As I stated, way back at the beginning of this post, these shovels that ATF are selling, all came from Norway.  The German military invaded Norway in 1940, and remained there until their surrender in 1945.  Since my shovel is 1940 dated, and came from Norway, we can guess that it was carried by one of the original Wehrmacht soldiers, who invaded Norway, and remained for the duration of the war.  After the war, all of the surrendered shovels were painted and reissued to the post-war, Norwegian Army troops.  This is a shovel with a known history!

These German klappspatens are the original, military folding shovels.  Germany was the first country to manufacture and issue folding shovels to the military.  Germany introduced these shovels in 1938, and they were produced until the end of the war.  In 1943, the US military was inspired to produce, and issue their own version of the folding shovel, based on the 1938 German klappspaten.  Germany issued out their folding shovels alongside the flat spades, and as far as anyone can tell, there was not a formal system that determined which units received the folders, versus the flat shovels.

The original, German WW2 vintage klappspaten, folding shovels, are nearly identical to the early post-war, Dutch, folding shovels, with a couple of distinct differences.  The most notable difference is that when the handle on the German shovel is folded, and the nut tightened down, the wood handle stands out from the blade at a slight, but very noticeable, angle.  

 

Angle of the handle when folded and locked.

The Dutch shovels fold flat, with the handle parallel to the blade, usually touching it.  I will compare the two versions in closer detail, in a later post, so stay tuned.  I mention this as a caution, and as an educational footnote.  It is very common to see post-war Dutch shovels being sold as an "authentic WW2 German shovels".  Buyer beware!  You can read about my Dutch version here:

https://sharky-fourbees.blogspot.com/2017/03/dutch-army-shovel-entrenching-tool.html

 I picked up a reproduction, leather, Type 1, klappspaten cover to display with the new shovel.  I gave the repro a quick overhaul, by rounding out the edges, doing some dye work, changing the stud posts to rivets instead of screws, and stamping in a 1940 date and a three letter code.  

 

 

I'll do some additional work on weathering, and aging, the leather in the coming weeks, but for now it'll pass.  The Type 1 covers had a full leather "lid" cover on the top.  The later Type 2 covers did away with the lid cover and just used a strap, and added a metal shelf to hold the point of the shovel in the carrier.  You can jump over to the mp44 website to take a look at the two types in more detail.

https://www.mp44.nl/equipment/folding_entrenching_tool.htm

 

I'll post an update after I get the cover completely aged, and in "museum replica" condition.  Original leather, WW2 German covers are VERY difficult to find, and are often sold for many times the price of an actual shovel, so until I find an original, this replica should work nicely.

Well this posting has grown a bit long, so I think we'll wrap it up here, and get on with the photo album.  Thanks again to ATF for sending such a great "pick of the litter"!  I would encourage anyone in the market for one of these WW2 German shovels to check out the stock over at ATF while they are still available.