Price: $80.00

This rucksack Has an interesting history. It was made by SEEGER - OFFENBACH in 1939. and is marked so on the inside. It is the typical early or prewar style gebirgsjäger rucksack made with Aluminum hardware, early light green material and wide brown leather tabs. The rucksack has 2 name tags; a printed one under the flap of the front pocket and a hand written one on the back in the middle. The interesting thing about this rucksack is the printed one is marked Steinebach, G. 2./IR13 which means the owner of this bag was in the regiment before it was refitted as a gebirgsjäger regiment in fall of 1940 and then assigened to the newly formed 4th gebirgsjäger division (formed 21. march 1941.) The hand written name tag, though fadded and torn, does reveal Steinebach 04255 C. This field post number belonged to the 2. kompanie from the time it was refitted as gebirgsjäger regiment 13 untill the end of the war. The field post Nr. for the 2. kompanie Infantrie Regiment 13 was 11026. It is very likely, considering the date these two tags provide, that this rucksack and its owner went by train to Romania and later in true gebirgsjager fashion by foot as part of the 4th Gebirgsjäger division, Crossed the donau on a 800m floating bridge, It saw the petrohan pass, entered yugoslavia on 8 april 1941. It likely witnessed the breaking of border deffenses there and the surrender of Serbian soldiers in Krusevac. It was likely involved in the attack on the soviet Union through Poland. This rucksack could have been in the attack through the Kaukasus. It may have been in Kuban during the retreat. There is a fantastic history of this regiment and probably of where this rucksack has been here

http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/Gebirgsjagerregimenter/Inhalt.htm

This info is all in German.

The rucksack has seen alot of use. There are several quarter sized holes in areas of high wear and tear. The fabric is faded and the leather could use some tlc. The leather is very dry. There is also a tear at the corner of the front pocket; this hole seperates the coner of the front pocket from the main part of the bag and also has ripped into the main part of the bag. The closing rope is original to the bag. One or two of the holes have been repaired. The two straps that connect the shoulder straps to the the bottom of the bag are missing. The center strap of the three closing straps is gone.