Hungarian Army Entrenching Tool - Shovel, With Cover, Model 1950, M-50

Since I have been adding a number of new shovels and tools to the collection lately, I figured I ought to do a quick inventory to see if I have missed any for the blog.  Well, I found one!

I added this shovel and cover to the collection several years ago, and never got around to showing it off, so here it is.  This is a Hungarian Army entrenching tool, from the early post-war, Cold War era.

I originally picked this shovel up without a cover.  I later had the chance to pick up another post-war, Hungarian shovel, with a carrier, so I jumped right on that.  You can never have too many shovels and with the added bonus of a hard to find, original cover included, I just couldn't say "No".  The shovel ended up being a wonderful, Austro-Hungarian shovel from the WW1 era, that came with an original post-war Hungarian cover.  A big score on two fronts:  I got a rare WW1 shovel and a cover for my post-war Hungarian shovel!  You can read about the Austro-Hungarian shovel story here:

http://sharky-fourbees.blogspot.com/2015/10/austro-hungarian-ww1-trench-spade-model.html

Now that you have a bit of the background story, let's take a look at my post-war, Hungarian shovel.
This shovel is known as the Model 1950, or M50 shovel.  In 1950, Hungary redesigned and updated most of their uniforms and equipment for the Army.  The field shovel was reworked and given a shorter, and thicker handle, that was carved thinner in the mid section for gripping.  The blade stayed the same shape, and a new style cover was adopted.  

The cover for this new Model 1950 shovel was patterned after the Soviet style of covers, and is nearly identical in every respect.  You can compare the Model 1950 to the older Model 1910 shovel by viewing the link I posted above.

The blades on these post-war shovels all have the same number code.  The stamped number is often mistaken as a date, but it is actually just the "stock number", or something like that.

The Hungarian Army used these shovels into the 1970's to 1980's, when a new style of folding shovel was adopted.  Like most communist block countries in the area, the old gear was placed into long term storage for the "Apocalypse".  For the last 10 years or so, the old Hungarian surplus has been finding its way onto the market, and into bunkers like mine!

Let's take a look at this shovel and cover.