Polish Paratrooper Folding Shovel, Hungarian Folding Shovel, Cold War 1971, marked KT "Kontrola Techniczna"

Today we'll be taking a look at a very unique folding shovel that has one foot in the WW2 era, and the other in the Cold War era.  The shovel is a Polish Paratrooper Folding Shovel.

These very unique shovels are not commonly encountered these days, however, if you keep your eyes open, you may run across one!  If you do, I highly recommend picking it up.

These shovels were officially made for the Polish Paratroops, and for issue to special assault units.  They were adopted in 1971 and are still seen in use by the Polish military today.

At some point along the way, some of these shovels found their way into the Hungarian military.  The Hungarians issued these to their paratroops as well.  In Hungary, there seem to be two versions of this shovel.  The first is the Polish version that I am showing today, and the second is a flat, smooth blade version that may have been made domestically in Hungary.  Another possibility is that there are two versions made in Poland...........


The most interesting thing about these shovels is the fact that the shovel blade and hinge mechanism, were copied directly from the WW2 German Feldspaten!  The handle is shaped to mimic the old German shovels as well.  It almost makes me wonder if there was a Polish factory that had been making German shovels during WW2, that still had some of the old tooling set up after the war.  More research is needed on this point.

The handle on this shovel is made of heavy metal tubing, with a screw joint in the center.  The handle is also marked indicating which direction is "ON" and which direction is "OFF". 

The handle parts are kept together with a cable that runs inside, so that the parts are not lost when disassembled.  

When I received the shovel, it was broken down into two pieces (the handle).  At first I thought that the threads must be damaged, because, try as I might, I could not get it to thread together.  After quite a bit of fiddling with it, I realized that the threads are reversed! I am guessing that the handle threads are reversed so that the handle does not loosen when the blade nut is turned.  They both turn opposite.

The blade is marked with a KT and 22 inside a circle.  This is the Polish military acceptance marking that means "Kontrola Techniczna".  The 22 must be an individual inspector number.

The canvas cover is made with classic Polish canvas from the 1960's to 1980's era and appears to have originally been issued with the straight handled spade.  Since the cover has the handle hole in the bottom, it enables the shovel to be carried folded with the handle disassembled, or folded with the handle assembled.

One thing I love about these Polish covers is the rolled leather button tab.  Very nice!

I find it quite fascinating that the WW2 German folding shovel blade, and complete shovel style, continued to find its way into service with various countries after the war. 

Here is a link to one of the other "German Clones" that I have showcased.  I will be showing off a Norwegian issued shovel from the Cold War that also has the classic German blade soon, so stay tuned.
http://sharky-fourbees.blogspot.com/2017/03/dutch-army-shovel-entrenching-tool.html

Now let's take a closer look at this very unique Polish / Hungarian shovel.