I know that this is a long shot but maybe someone may recognize the the type of artillery round that this fragment came from. This piece of shrapnel was made into a letter opener and was among some WW2 memorabilia of a U.S. Army veteran who served in the ETO. It even has a leather sheath. Overall length is 7 3/4 inches. I don't know if the fragment is German or other. Note the arrowhead shape that the maker worked into the design. Thanks in advance .........Harry C
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Recognize this shrapnel??
Close up view -
Recognize this shrapnel??
View of the reverse side....Comment
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Harry, can you give me a close up of the brass/copper band. It may help.
Mark
MACVSOG "Living Historian"Comment
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Recognize this shrapnel??
Close up of brass.Comment
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Recognize this shrapnel??
The clue may be the right end. The iron was cast in that shape. The veteran had souvenir items from Paris and this item was among them (but who knows where these men picked things up). Thanks for any help with this!Comment
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Looking at the driving band, it may be from an 18 pounder ? Nice item by the way
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The piece of copper is a part of driving band, and it seems to me like it has been attached to a completely unrelated piece of shrapnel. The driving band should be inserted into a depression on the metal, that is prefectly parallel with the metal grooving and this is not the case here.
I believe the exact caliber of shell the driving band is from can be identified without too much difficulty, however, you will have to take a picture of it with a scale.
at first glance, your piece of driving band seems to be from an aproximately 75mm shell.
The fact that the driving band is made of a thick piece of copper makes me think it is probably from an Allied shell, as the Germans were running short of copper late in the war, and the German driving band fragments I find are mostly made of some kind of cheap mixture of metal, or else very thin copper attached to iron.
To compare various types of common WWII copper driving bands check this thread out: http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...=483483&page=2
PS, actualy if your vet got this in Paris, it may very well be a relic from WW1!Comment
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