Cover for MP40???????????????????

[Jules]

Dear experts.

Did the Fallshirmjägers have some sort of canvas cover for their MP40?

If so - Have anyone got a picture of the cover?

Hope you can help.

In anticipation
Jules

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Jules, there is one in the "Kurz" book page 153. It is owned by Chris


Cheers, Ade.

[Willi Z.]

Here is one of the few original photos of an MP38/40 cover/bag I have ever seen. The FJ also wears the extremely rare early web MP38 pouches, with metal tips, on his ankles. Obviously, he is heading for Kreta.

[Wesley's Dad]

Picture

Is this picture early in general? I was always under the assumption that these chaps did not jump with their primary weapon. Was this instituted later (after the pic) or did the error in this method create a change in the way things were done?

[Willi Z.]

Hi Michael, during the invasion of Kreta in May of 1941 as many FJs that could, jumped with their MP38/40s stuffed into their chute harnesses. There are many other photos showing this, but without covers/bags for the SMG.

[FJR6]

Hello,

one of the lessons learned on Crete was that a FJ had to have his weapons available upon landing, not in a weapons container which he would have to locate and get to first.
One of my veteran friends used to be an instructor at the parachute school at Stendal and he told me that a week or so after Crete, they started devising ways how a FJ could jump with his weapons.

[Jules]

Hi Adrian.

Thank you very much.

I have been looking to buy the book for some time, but with danish tax it is as much as £ 80. So I will waith and buy it next time I get to England.

Again thanks for the tip.

Regards
Jules

Hi Jules, there is one in the "Kurz" book page 153. It is owned by Chris


Cheers, Ade.

[Willi Z.]

The Fallschirmtruppen knew after Holland 1940 that they needed to jump with their weapons. Famous photos showing FJs charging across bridge with P08s and grenades, before they could get to their weapons. They just didn't test the procedure enough to jump into Kreta with k98s and MGs. But, for SMGs it was different. A look at the numerous FJ books will show that many jumped with their MP38/40s on Kreta.

By the time they jumped into Sicily, they had practiced how to do it. I knwo a veteran who jumped with his MG42 in training......another jumped with his 82mm mortar tube and has quite the story about when he dropped his tube on a practice jump.
As for covers/bags, it would be tough to convince most of the originality of any of them. Here is a photo of mine. This photo is from the Angolia Lufwaffe series, volume 3. It was then owned by a very good friend of mine, when the photo was published. It came home from the war with a MP40 in it. One look at it in person and this is easy to see. The MP40 went to a licensed MG collector, and the bag went to a FJ collector. The MP40 pictured with it is a dummy.

Willi

[Willi Z.]

I just checked Jean-Yves Nasse's Kreta book, since it includes the best photos on Kreta in print. On pages 20 and 22 there are 4 photos showing members of 3./ Fallschirm Pionier Bataillon 7 with covers/bags before the jump on the Korinth Kanal, in April of 1941.

Willi

[FJR6]

Hello,
many of the various protective covers were manufactured at the jump schools. I know that at least Stendal and Braunschweig had a facility for the manufacture of these. This might account for the diversity in styles and varying details.

best regards,
Volker

[signoff]

Willi Zahn

Hello Willi. May I ask you for a favour please? Could you post here one of these photos from Jean-Yves Nasse's Kreta book?