BACKGROUND: Each Division in the German Army of WWII had Divisional Support units which included a medical unit that normally consisted of two companies, a mobile field hospital and two ambulance platoons. Within these medical units EM’s and Junior NCO’s with basic medical training acted as medical orderlies or stretcher bearers under the command of Doctors with Officers ranks. The German army also maintained static hospitals in the rear areas for those with more severe wounds and those with the most serious injuries that would require long rehabilitation times would be sent to a hospital in their home military recruiting district within Germany. Generally the German field units preferred to care for their own wounded as much as possible as a convalescents transferred to a rear area static military or home military district hospital could potentially be dispatched to a new unit on their recovery. As a result most of the Divisional medical support units maintained a generous supply of medical equipment and accessories to provide the most favorable "in-house" care as possible. Among the medical equipment and accessories were a wide variety of bandages, wound dressings and basic first-aid items. One of the basic first-aid items were containers of compressed bandages soaked in a poultice to treat burn wounds.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Roughly, 4 1/2" tall, 1 7/8" diameter, stamped, cylindrical, magnetic sheet metal construction, container with a crimped and brazed vertical side seam, a removable friction fit top lid and red and white printed Gothic script. The top half of container has a red background field with white script, while bottom of the container has the colors reversed with a white background field with red script. The script includes, "Brandkompresse 20cm x 100 cm. Gebrauchsanweisung. Zur ersten Verforgung von Verbrennungen je nach Bedarf ein Stück abschneiden, einen äußeren Mullstreifen entfernen, die Kompresse mit der Salbenschicht auf die Verbrennung legen und mit Mullbinde befestigen.", (Burn Compress. 20cm x 100cm. Usage Directions. On being burnt, the first course of action is to cut off a piece of the muslin strip as required, and apply to the exterior of the burn, remove the muslin strip and apply a layer of the ointment on the burn and fasten with a muslin bandage.). The top lid has embossed Roman numerals, "VII", indicating the issuing medical depot in Wehrkreis VII which was headquartered in Munich. The contents are still intact.

GRADE ***3/4                             PRICE $54.00