8cm Gr.W.34 Gebirgsjäger Ice Baseplate

Original and rare 8cm Gr.W.34 mortar Gebirgsjäger ice baseplate. It was intended to help fire the mortar from atop a glacier or ice sheet, but the ever clever Gebirgsjäger found a way to pound it into notches in trees and rocks so they could direct fire the 8cm mortar. Wild. We did speak with a fallschirmjäger vet that said they were issued an ice baseplate to jump with which the jäger was expected to simply hold on to when he lept from the plane.This is from my personal collection. It is a lake find and is covered in a layer of rust which is a common condition for these. I don't believe any of them ever had a very good paint job. It needs sandblasted, but will clean up very well. These are very hard to find, since relatively few were produced compared with the standard baseplate - many were likely scrapped after the war, as it is fairly useless to anyone other than the German army and collectors. I only come across one of these about every 4-5 years, so it will not be easy to find another.Free shipping inside the US.