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:
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!
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| 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.
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| 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.
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