Original postcard: German soldier wearing an Ari pebble grain AWM 15 holster.
 

I just purchased on ebay.fr this original postcard featuring a german soldier wearing a wonderful Ari pebble grain AWM 15 holster, and 3 pebble grain mag. pouches. Note that all the attaching parts (boot, shoulder strap, etc), and the closure flap of the pouches are not pebble grain.
May I remind you that I have a mint pebble grain AWM 15 holster that is still for sale in the for sale forum:
http://luger.gunboards.com/showthrea...Mint-%282-6%29

Great photo Christian!

Goodness, maybe it's me getting old, but he looks only a kid!

Wearing 3 double magazine pouches!

Anyone know how young their soldiers really were toward the end of the war? I'm betting that the bar was lowered as things became more dire.
Also, I had read somewhere of advancing troops finding (deceased) women chained to the machine guns. Any truth or a tall tale?
dju

What's the item on his chest, below the shoulder strap? Perhaps a flash light. TH

Tom, this is a "Taschenlampe". Have a look at these photos on ebay.de :

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Foto-Portrait...MAAOSwr81UR5cI

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Foto-I-WK-Pio...4AAOSwQjNW9C86

http://www.ebay.de/itm/1659-Fotokart...oAAOSw~OVWwglE

BTW, the soldiers on these photos are very young.

Great photo Christian!

We were ALL young once... I was only 19 when I entered the Army in October 1967... looking not much unlike the young man in your photo... By the time my 20 years service was over, I had lost a lot of that young look, plus most of my hair! Just check my avatar! :D

John
You got that right. Last night after looking at the picture, I looked up my boot camp picture from 1953, I was 17 years old. The German soldier looks old compared to me!! Bill

If I'm not wrong looks as if he has a pig-skin holster on his left side.

AWM holsters of this type were all calf skin. Only Mars made artillery holsters of pig skin.

The minimum age for enlistment in the Imperial German Army was 17.

Thanks George, I tried to enlarge the picture on my video, but as I often say I'm not an expert on anything, especially on holsters! :rolleyes:
17 ! Poor thing, unfortunately those years were hard ones, and not only for kids.

Thanks you all of your nations' service!