My Dad bought this for me in the 70’s when I was a little kid. Years later I was told (a number of times) that these masks/Kanisters were re-painted "tan" to be sold to the Egyptians (or some other country) post war. And the grey paint? That too was added post war by who knows who…..So the whole get up was messed with. Having never seen another like it I believed this story. I didn’t really care one way or the other. But still loved it because it was from my Dad.

So it sat on my shelf supporting a helmet for the last 15 years or so.

But in perusing Ratisbons auction today, I saw the EXACT same M38 Gas Mask and Kanister.

Here is their description.

Extremely rare 1941/42 dated tropical Wehrmacht gas mask with can issued to Afrikakorps troops.
The can comes with full original khaki paint which was however period time overpainted with grey color for camo reason. The grey color is typical for being Kriegsmarine. The grey color goes off easily with your finger nail. (as noted above…it is exactly the same as mine, right down to the grey paint chipping off.)

Here is the link to Ratisbons -> https://www.ratisbons.com/18th-Conte…-mask-can.html

So…what do we have here? Story A (Post war surplus) or Story B (DAK with KM overpaint)???

The grey paint on mine is very old and I’ve had this from the 70’s. Even then it looked old. But it could easily have been painted in the 50’s.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Here is mine: (double click to enlarge).

Click to enlarge the picture