Four Bees: Swedish Army Shovel / Spade, WW2 1942 -1945, Model 1942 Sweden, Fältspade

Today we'll be continuing on with another shovel from one of my favorite countries..........

This shovel is a Swedish, WW2 version, of the older Model 1906 shovel / spades.

You can see my blog posting on the Model 1906 shovel here:
https://sharky-fourbees.blogspot.com/2015/11/swedish-trench-shovel-model-1906-12-i18.html

You can read about he Post-War green painted versions in my blog post here:
https://sharky-fourbees.blogspot.com/2019/01/swedish-army-shovel-spade-post-war.html

When Sweden mobilized for the home defense, at the beginning of WW2, they only had the old, pre-WW1, vintage equipment on hand to issue out, and that was not going to be enough. It became obvious very quickly that new equipment was going to have to be manufactured for the newly mobilized troops. To speed this process, quite a few of the old items were re-designed and "upgraded" for quicker production. The tried-and true Fältspade, better known as the 'trench shovel" was no exception.

The "new" shovel was a slightly modified version of the model 1906. Production for this new, WW2 version started in 1942 and continued through to the end of the war.

Basically, the only modification was the "D"-handle. The new version used a metal yoke with a wood hand grip, that was riveted in place. The older version was all wood.

The finish was left natural, with the metal blade portion painted black.

These shovels are stamped with the Three-Crowns stamp on the front of the blade shank. Sweden started using the Three-Crowns stamp in 1942.

These WW2, model 1942 shovels, were used though the war, and well into the Cold War years. In my next post, I'll be showing one of the WW2 re-issued "Cold War Versions". It is the same shovel, just painted green.

These model 1942 shovels have a hole punched in the blade, just like their predecessors, so it could be hung from a belt clip. No blade covers were issued.