Gear: East German NVA Canteen

 

Compared to it's West German counterpart, the East German army canteen of Cold War period looks kind of sad, really. It's very basic, cheap piece of gear - East Germany officials obviously decided that drinking water is a secondary function of a soldier and that there's no point in making big deal of it.

Gear: French Army Mess Tin

I don't really know much about history of this design, except that it is a French Army 1952 model, probably inspired by a British Pattern 37 mess kit instead of classical pot-and-pan design. French mess tin consists of three rectangular, thick aluminum pans with rounded corners, stowed into each other.

Downside of this solution is lack of the large main pot to be hanged over the campfire.In return you get a handy, compact design, better suited to fit into a rucksack, side pocket of a backpack, belt pouch or even cargo pocked on your fatigues than it's kidney-shaped counterpart.

Gear: Swedish Army "Trangia" Mess Kit

  

Sturdy, heavy and well-designed piece of equipment, with good reputation and a large number of fans in bushcraft/survival society, it is commonly named "Trangia" set, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't the only producer manufacturing it over the years. I've had sets with two different stamps myself (see below).

 

It comes in two basic variations: stainless steel (heavy) and aluminum (lighter, but still weighting around 1kg / 2 lbs empty). However, this is a full mess set rather than just a mess tin - beside the two-piece mess tin itself it contains a surprisingly heavy alcohol stove, fuel bottle and a sturdy windshield / stand.

It is a solid design, with few interesting solutions.

Gear: Polish LWP Mess-tin

Mess-tin used by Cold War era Polish army (LWP) shares many similarities with both German NVA and Bundeswehr mess kits, but I will skip description of these similarities as they can easily be seen on pictures.

So, what's different?

Gear: German NVA Mess Tin

This NVA (Eastern Germany army) mess kit is based on the same concept as Bundeswehr (Western Germany army) counterpart of the same Cold War period.

Gear: German Bundeswehr Mess Tin

Just like a Bundeswehr canteen I've described earlier, this Western Germany mess kit predates reunification of Germany and totally kicks ass if you compare it's quality and attention to details to similar designs of Cold War era. And just like that canteen, this one is also one of my favorites.

Gear: German Bundeswehr Canteen

 

This is an old '87 model, predating reunification of Germany after Cold War. As far as I know it was used by Western Germany army back then, and even quarter of a century later it remains one of my favourites due to it's thoughtful design and exceptional quality.