Interesting Swiss Experimental Camo Item Found Today

[Combloc]

I was checking out an old school militaria store in PA today that I've been going to since the 80's and found a neat Swiss item. The vendor had a good price on some of the WWII era Swiss zeltbahn pole kits so I bought a number of them. He had bought them years ago directly from the importer and when he saw that I was purchasing so many, he started up a conversation about old camo and, long story short, asked if I would be interested in a weird camo pattern pouch that came in with the rest of them that he had set aside. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was an experimental pattern I'd seen before in pictures (pattern only, no actual items) that was thought to have been used with zeltbahn and pole pouches but never adopted. He was happy to see it go to a collector so he charged me very little for it and I was grateful. When I got home, I compared the manufacturer's mark to another standard camo pouch I had and they matched. So, I can definitively say that items were, in fact, manufactured and issued, presumably on a trial only basis. It's night time here so these pictures aren't the best but I can get better ones on a nice day if anyone is interested. I can go into more details construction and pattern too. The contents were the standard three piece white painted oak pole and three aluminum pegs. The only thing special was the pouch itself. There probably aren't many of these old things left around. NEATO!





Experimental one-sided pattern dated 1942:


Same manufacturer standard double-sided pattern dated 1940:

 

[Sampson]

Very cool find !

 

[Nanook]

While neat, what the heck is it? Like a tent pole bag?

 

[Combloc]

Yes. Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, and others use(d) a very similar pouch for decades. One man carries a shelter half (which is rolled up and strapped to the ruck sack) and one pouch containing one pole (takedown design) and half the tent stakes. It is also strapped to the ruck sack by means of the leather loops seen above. The shelter half can also be configured for use as a camo blind, a rain cape, a lean to, and whatever else the soldier can think of. Two men together have enough parts to make one (1) two-man tent. Swiss militaria collectors (and militaria nerds in general) eat this stuff up and experimental/trials items from this era are very, very rare.