My Akja - Pull sled

[Jan B]

Hi Patrick,

Here's a picture of a white-painted/washed Akja which I found in Reinhard Ottmann's "In die Tiefen Ruslands".

Cheers

Jan

[Nordfront]

It is actually a shipping label and it says amongst other things: Lappland's Border Quard and Rovaniemi is a town in northern Finland. It might have been made by the Finns too. Germans most likely copied the original design from Finns.

The maker's label:

[Simon O.]

It's a nice piece of kit to find. I can't say that i've seen one up here in North Norway so far.


Actually this is another piece of kit which is still in use today. Something almost identical is still used by the British army and Royal Marines only we call it a 'pulk' from the same Norwegian word.

[BergführerKiser]

It is actually a shipping label and it says amongst other things: Lappland's Border Quard and Rovaniemi is a town in northern Finland. It might have been made by the Finns too. Germans most likely copied the original design from Finns.

Grüß Gott Nordfront,

Thanks for your translation of the shipping label. Yes, this Akja did come from Finland. I'm sure that the Germans procured these Akjas directly from the Finns since they were Allies in the fight against the USSR.

[BergführerKiser]

It's a nice piece of kit to find. I can't say that i've seen one up here in North Norway so far.


Actually this is another piece of kit which is still in use today. Something almost identical is still used by the British army and Royal Marines only we call it a 'pulk' from the same Norwegian word.

Servus Simon,

Thanks. Yes, I know of the British pull sleds or Pulk. They can be bought here in the USA at several Army Surplus Stores for about $100. I think they are WW II issue too! I may get one for re-enactment purposes. I also have a Swiss Army metal version that comes apart in half for packing up the mountain. It also has a unicycle wheel attachment for use during the none snow months as an emergency mountain stretcher. It is very similar to a late-war design that the Germans developed at the Hochgebirgssanitätschule.