Aaron
Senior Member
Thread for German Mess Kits from 1931-1945.
From 1931 to 1942 Mess kits were mostly identical and all made of aluminum, these are referred to as M31's. From 1942 onward, mess kits start to appear in steel being either primed and painted or enameled and painted, with very late samples being just enameled or some other rare examples being tinned, these are officially referred to as M42's. Aluminum is continued to be used until 1945 quite commonly unlike canteens, which is likely do to German industry unlikely willing to scrap all their old stamping tooling and assembly lines. With aluminum and steel mess kit surviving examples in identical quantities often coded to the same factory and year, it can be assumed that the tooling and assembly lines for each material ran concurrently.
Most collectors recognize these variant "models":
M31= aluminum with full body hanger brackets
M31 late= aluminum with half rolled upper lip, simplified bail brackets
M42= steel
"Simplified" M31 or M31 with inserts, almost all being marked and dated MN44-45 (scarce)
Transitional M42 with ration notches (very rare)
I will continue to update this thread as I acquire more mess kits, feel free to contribute, preferably by using the same types of images and descriptions.
From 1931 to 1942 Mess kits were mostly identical and all made of aluminum, these are referred to as M31's. From 1942 onward, mess kits start to appear in steel being either primed and painted or enameled and painted, with very late samples being just enameled or some other rare examples being tinned, these are officially referred to as M42's. Aluminum is continued to be used until 1945 quite commonly unlike canteens, which is likely do to German industry unlikely willing to scrap all their old stamping tooling and assembly lines. With aluminum and steel mess kit surviving examples in identical quantities often coded to the same factory and year, it can be assumed that the tooling and assembly lines for each material ran concurrently.
Most collectors recognize these variant "models":
M31= aluminum with full body hanger brackets
M31 late= aluminum with half rolled upper lip, simplified bail brackets
M42= steel
"Simplified" M31 or M31 with inserts, almost all being marked and dated MN44-45 (scarce)
Transitional M42 with ration notches (very rare)
I will continue to update this thread as I acquire more mess kits, feel free to contribute, preferably by using the same types of images and descriptions.
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