German Wehrmacht Stielhandgranate M24 Fourth Battle Of Kharkov Provenance, Inert.
-First Battle of Kharkov, an October 1941 battle in
which German troops captured the city.
-Second Battle of Kharkov, a May 1942 battle in which Soviet forces attempted to retake the city.
-Third Battle of Kharkov, a February 1943 battle in which Soviet forces were driven out again, and the Germans forces retook the city.
-Belgorod-Kharkov Offensive Operation, also known as Fourth Battle of Kharkov, an August 1943 battle in which Soviet forces retook the city. This operation is usually referred to as the Fourth Battle of Kharkov by the Germans and as the Belgorod–Kharkov offensive operation by the Soviets.
After the Historic facts, now the history of these M24, thay have been found in an old and inhabited attic in the outskirts of Kharkov some months ago, seller told me around 20 complete M24 were found, all of them ready for the battle and all mixed parts, no cases or racks, just the M24 some with water damage. Today it is still not clear if, with the war needing a huge amount of ammunition and at this point of the war, the German factories continued filling the M24 cases with matching cans and sticks as they did in the prewar years or in 1939-1940. I have observed untouched cases and/or talked with people who found unopened cases telling me that inside were 15 different M24, this is from different makers. And now imagine some German Soldiers getting ready the M24 for fighting, remember they had to put the fuze and the detonator inside unscrewing the can from the handle. Imagine doing this with 4 or 5 cases, 60 or 75 stickgrenades.... Do you think they would waste time screwing back the right can with the right handle? Of course not. All of us like "matching" stuff, but this is a little bit stupid thinking, (yes, me too), because simply this is not true due to circumstances. This group of two have same cans, handles, pull cords and fuzes, all as found, only the empty Sprengkapsel Nr. 8 has been added by me, the original found one was thrown away for obvious reasons. Cans are 43 gck and sticks wc 1942, this maker "wc", (Hasag, Hugo Schneider AG, Meuselwitz plant, Thuringia), was the only maker painting black the threaded collars and end caps. Both handles have a rare cut in the same place.... Any idea?
And finally why Fourth Battle? Because the filling date stenciled on the same can I kept in my collection: 2. 1943. These would have arrived there between Third and Fourth Battle. PRICE IS PER ONE, YOU HAVE TO TELL ME WHICH ONE YOU WANT, I will send to every buyer the photos in bigger size for a better choosing. I will give to every buyer a copy of the stamps from Ukranian Post.
It will be shipped in two separated parcels.
Shipping Costs:
-Europe: 24,75 €.
-Worldwide: 41,30 €.
Code: 52036