This Nazi field shop trailer welder's tool set is **SOLD**.

We do not know what some of these things are only because we are not conversant about welding. What we can tell you is this: ALL OF THESE ITEMS are from the same single set of Afrikakorps Wehrmacht tools captured in a German Army shop trailer in 1943 in North Africa by a local western South Dakota soldier, a Tech Sergeant (T4) in the 776th Tank Destroyer Battalion of the United States Army.

Sergeant S. (his name and service data will be provided to the buyer of these tools) was an Army mechanic and welder in the 776th Tank Destroyer Battalion who was sent with his unit to Casablanca at Christmas time in 1942. He campaigned against Erwin Rommel’s Afrikakorps and fought his way through Italy almost to Rome before being sent back to the United States in June 1944 for medical reasons.

While in North Africa the 776th Tank Destroyer Battalion captured a column of German vehicles including a military vehicle shop truck that contained this set of German Wehrmacht welder’s tools and an electric welder. He sent these tools home to this mother and adapted the German welder to a jeep motor and used it all the way up the Italian peninsula.

After Sgt. S.’s discharge in 1945 he mounted these welding tools on a display board where they spent the next 60+ years on the wall of his den.

Anyone familiar with World War II German welding equipment will likely know what each of these items is. All of the items appear to have been made by or for a German company called Original Messer and most bear its logo. In addition, many pieces are marked with a relative size in millimeters, and a DIN (Deutsche Industrienorm or German Industrial Standard) number, a three letter manufacturing code (such as acu) and in some cases a serial number and year of manufacture (304387/40 for example).

In our first photo above there are three aluminum screw top cans (8). Items 9, 13 and 14 came in those cans. Item 17 is a torch lighter and item 14 is a quantity of spare flints for it.

Items 10 are nozzle cleaners that came in item 18. Items 15 and 16 go with cutting torch number 1 and are made for cutting circular holes in armor plating for example. Item 12 contains a very heavy block of copper, and items 19 are the cut-off ends of original German hoses for item 1.

This is a spectacular set for an advanced collector of German Third Reich military or automotive tools, or anyone with a German World War II tank, field gun, military vehicle or shop truck. They belong in a museum. Nice used condition.