kl Vorratskasten fur MG Laf 42

[timarmitage]

I have two in my collection both are different in terms of the script on the outside and the paint. I will have to send it bit by bit as the files are too large. This is the inside of the two boxes. Tim

[timarmitage]

Unfortunately the other files are too large being taken with a new camera which I am going to use for detailed work. The pictures are 6.70 in size and I cannot send them, is there any other means I can use? I have other MG34 and MG42 items in my collection to share. Thanks Tim

[timarmitage]

Hi the only solution that I can come up with at the moment is to post them to an album on my Facebook page being "Tim R Armitage"

[JBaum]

Tim, send them to me. I have unlimited space in my email. I'll resize and post.

[42rocker]

Those are some very interesting pics. Thanks for sharing.

Later 42rocker

[timarmitage]

Many thanks, John as always comes to my rescue. Tim R Armitage

[JBaum]

Tim's pictures:

[Pug42]

How bizarre is it that there are boxes for the Laf42 cradle but we can never find any evidence of actual German transit boxes for either the MG34 or 42 themselves!?

[timarmitage]

David,
I have in my collection Boletin Arquivo Historico Militar no 1 1946 and Referencias Oficiais sobre A Metralhadora 7,9 mm -m/944. These publication list the Portuguese Mg 34 in detail and are Portuguese manuals. On page 39 of the Boletim is the following, which I have translated from Portuguese.
Metralhadoras 7mm,9 mm/44 (which is the MG34)

"In 1944 a quantity of machine guns were acquired from Germany which were manufactured by a company called Rheinmetall-Borsig. The German designation being Maschinengewehr 34."

I subsequently wrote to the source of the publications and was told,somewhat bluntly I thought, they appeared not to wish to discuss the matter, that all the material, including the transit boxes, came from Germany and nothing was done apart from adding the stencils.
I knew the late Tony Budge very well and he also told me this.

Hope this helps

Tim R Armitage

[42rocker]

That was some interesting info. Hope that a few other folks notice it. That has always been an interesting area to talk about as to who made the boxes.

Later 42rocker

[Folke]

Thats interesting, although not much more than hearsay at this stage almost 70 years later. Tony Budge and the guys at Ryton Arms always told us that there were some boxes in between that had German markings on them, but of course could never show us one. Anyway, the boxes may have been ordered by the Portugese from Germany. The Germans dod not use wooden crates for their infantry machine guns at all it appears. The MG15 and MG81 boxes are well documented, but no picture has ever surfaced even remotedly suggesting a German ww2 crate for an MG34 or 42.

That being said, the MG's did not leave the factory by themselves, so at some point there had to be a form of shipping crate.

Cool pics of the Vorratkasten, one original color and a resurrected repainted one. I would love to see the Contents list, which is always missing from the German crates.