WW2 ORIGINAL SOVIET SOLDIER'S TRENCH ART GERMAN M31 CANTEEN KURSK BATTLE VETERAN

Description

Dug out in Kurland
Dug out on positions of 8th Guards Panfilov's Rifle Division, found without soldier. Canteen has inscriptions А. У., ФИЛИМОНОВ and КУРСКАЯ with a line underneath resembling trenches, I think that his initials were A. U. FILIMONOV, but Kurskaya with the line is Kurskaya duga, Kursk defense line. Might be
that the
soldier was injured and after the recovery
switched
units. The canteen is German M31 canteen marked HWSD 41, made by
H.W.Schmidt, Metallwarenfabrik, Döbeln in 1941.
This division managed to stop tanks near Moscow, very famous division, but it was wiped out in the woods near Frauenburg. Great item, will look great in any WW2 collection. Found on the battlefield near Frauenburg (Saldus).
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Like the previous days the major attack on 23 December took place south of Frauenburg where the 4th Assault Army with 119, 360, 357, 378, 145, 239, 306, 164 and 158 Rifle Divisions stormed against the HKL of 18th Army on both sides of Pampali. The frontline defended by 16th Army was attacked by the 10 Guard Army with 56, 65, 53, 85, 30, 29, 119 Rifle divisions and 7 Guard division and the 42 Army with 2, 268, 256 and 48 Rifle Divisions. The German soldiers defended themselves fuious against this numerical much stronger enemy and was able to hold their lines. The 205 Infantrie-Division repulsed the attack of three Rifle Divisions. The 16th Army along with the 18th Army was cut off in the Courland Peninsula when the Soviets launched their summer and autumn offensives of 1944. It stayed trapped there until the end of the war. After the war, 250,000 German troops trapped in the Courland Pocket were marched into captivity, many were never heard from again.
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