Very rare German wooden crate which held 12 Smoke Pots (Nebelkerzen 39 B) taken from a vehicle of the 116th Panzer Division recovered from the Village of Mont near Houffalize in the Ardennes Forest used during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944-1945.
This is a very rare German wooden crate which held 12 Smoke Pots (Nebelkerzen 39 B) which is not complete it is missing its lid. The box is in nice condition the wood still retains a most of its original black paintwork it has only light damage in places from use the most damage is to the top where the lid is missing, the crate is still very solid not braking up or falling apart no wood worm either a well preserved box it has original war time stamped white ink markings on the front clear to see and on the side it is maker marked with waffen stamp and the remains of a paper label.The crate also has both its carry handles but missing one lock.On the inside some knocks and marks from use but nothing bad it has its original tin cover inside to make it the air tight version is in place.The crate comes with 2xA5 laminated information cards withpictures and diagram. The crate along with other parts were taken from abandoned German vehicles after the war in the village of Mont which is just North of Houffalize all the vehicles belonged to the 116th Panzer Division. It was taken of the tank or vehicle properly in around 1946-1948 by a local farmer and was used on his farm for many years until it was found by a local collector who had them in his private collection until 2020 when it left the Ardennes area for the first time since the war. This is a very nice relic from the Ardennes Forest campaign during the battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944-1945.This real bit of history from this famous battle which was Hitlers last offensive in the West.
Primary function of the Nahverteidigungswaffe which fired the Nebelkerzen 39 B was to fire these smoke candles to make large scale smoke screen.The original Nebelwurfgeräte mounted on many vehicles were removed after incidents of small arms fire igniting the candles in the dischargers and the resulting smoke incapacitating crew members. The Nahverteidigungswaffe allowed the smoke candles to be discharged from under armor.
The 116th Panzer Division, also known as the "Windhund (Greyhound) Division", was an armoured formation that was constituted in the Rhineland and Westphalia areas of western Germany in March 1944 from the remnants of the 16th Panzergrenadier Division, and the 179th Reserve Panzer Division. The 16th had suffered heavy casualties in combat on the Eastern Front near Stalingrad, and the 179th was a second-line formation that had been on occupation duty in France since 1943.
