Vehicle Shovel

I have this vehicle or pioneer shovel that I purchased some years ago for a very good price but without knowing from which country it is from. The vendor thought that it may possibly be post war East German or Yugoslavian but wasn't too sure. I have seen similar shovels advertised as WW2 German but I have also seen others say that WW2 German shovels were different to that. The finish appears to be possibly a blackened steel finish, painted black, repainted green and then black again. The overall length is about 43 3/4" long. I'm aware that East Germany used a lot of light green painted kit but most of their long shovels were welded, not riveted. Yugoslavia used light/apple green on their kit but also on re-used WW2 German kit that they used post WW2.

Any clirification on age and origin would be appreciated, please, thanks.

No markings? Most shovels have markings somewhere although they are sometimes under thick layers of paint. That would help some if you could find some markings.

I have an extensive collection of normal entrenching tools but haven't gotten into the longer ones except the US Jeep shovels.

It looks exactly like a Finnish entrenching shovel I have only with a longer handle and missing the hole for the tie down. That would seem to indicate it's Russian/Soviet or possibly Finn production.

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

No markings?

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No visible markings but that doesn't mean to say that there isn't any under the paint. I would need to remove some of the paint to check properly.

It looks very similar to the WW! German shovel shown here:

Regimentals | GERMAN WWI PIONEER SHOVEL.

It also shows where the stamps will be.

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Originally Posted by Sapper740

WW! German shovel

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Looks like it.

I made the decision to remove some of the paint and found these markings. The long number sort of looks like it could be a Yugo stock/stores number but I'm not sure.

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Originally Posted by Flying10uk

I made the decision to remove some of the paint

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Paint hinders digging efforts anyway. The only reason military paints a shovel is to hide rust. Hand tools aren't meant to be painted.

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

Paint hinders digging efforts anyway. The only reason military paints a shovel is to hide rust. Hand tools aren't meant to be painted.

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Truth. We cleaned and oiled our tools after every use even our shovels and picks to prevent rust.