COMPASSIPEDIA
The OnlineCompass Museum
A & F retailed probably in the years
following WW1a mirror compass resembling the famous PLAN Ltd
and Cruchon
& Emons items but mostly
aimed at outdoor sportsmen.
Unlike
the military items, it contains no radium paint and has no
additional oscillation brake. The loop is not
hinged with
screws and the transit lock is a simple push-down lever located on the
loop's fitting and actuated when closing the lid. The sighting aid in
the lid above the
polished brass mirror is a round hole where it is arrow-head-shaped on
the other models.
 The
two lid versions
(Pict. at left courtesy zonamilitar.com.ar) |
 Click on the images for enlarged views |
Technical
Data See detailled description in PLAN Ltd. - Dia.: 54 mm ; thickness : 18 mm - Divisions: 360° - Markings: B. N° 10816 (Brújula Número = compass number) - Luminous markings: no Radium contrary to C. & E. and PLAN Ltd. |
(Click
on picture for an enlarged view)  |
This
compass
bears the logo consisting of three intermingled triangles
representing the three "A"s of the company's name "AskAniA" (right).
The shape of each of the three "A"s reminds of masonic symbols. In
the lid is the plant's name BODENSEEWERK (Lake Constance facilities)
engraved. |
The
company's
name with three upper case "A"s (AskAniA) on a Dutch Army compass.
Placed above an elongated oval, it looks like a crown.
(Click on picture for enlarged view) Picture Ted Brink / LINKS, Military compasses Technical Data - Dimensions (folded): 70 x 70 x 18 mm - Weight: 140 gr - Ruler: 100 mm - Divisions (Germany): 6400 mils - East-West stripe like on the Bézard compasses. On Warsaw Pact compasses (see FPM), this stripe is always oriented along the North-South axis. |
 |
Belgium's
compass version:
 |
A
very similar
model was already in use during the late 1940's/early
50's in Belgium's and Netherlands' Armies. Belgium's Army (ABL = Armée Belge / Belgisch Leger) used compasses made after Askania's name change to BODAN. On one face, there is a logo with the letters W and V inside a circle above the German city's name of BIELEFELD where there probably was a plant. This compass featured double graduation: degrees and mils. |
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 |
 The value of the magnetic deviation at this time (9 degrees West) was taken into account by glueing the paper pointer onto the magnetised metal plate askew by this angle. The paper arrow and the frame under the crystal were covered with a luminescent paint |
Technical
Data - Diameter: 46 mm - Weight: 35 g Materials: - case: wood - lid: aluminium - bezel: nickel (?) |
| Advertisement
(1915) found in the VONIN
papers (Click on picture for enlarged view)  |
The box' lid with the
flags of the allied countries
(before the U.S. declared the war to Germany): France, Great-Britain,
Belgium, Holland, Luxemburg and Russia |
User's
Instructions (copies can be ordered)  (Click to view page 2) |
(...) |
 (Click on the pictures for enlarged views) This item features cardinal points in German language (N-O-S-W). It was probably exported to the former communist East-Germany (GDR). The black magnetic needle is almost not visible but a large orange plastic arrow is glued on top of it. |
 The logo (three bars in a circle) is located above the zero marker of the ruler. |
 The mfr's name on the box is written "a3uMym" (m = t!) in lower-case letters |
Technical
Data - Dimensions: 85 x 60 x 19mm - Divisions: 360 deg. - Luminous markings: 2 dots for North, 1 dot each for E, S, W on the chapter ring and a triangle on the arrow head. - Ruler: 60 mm (white paint) The manufacturer's name on the compass base written in upper-case letters: 
|
PROFILE - The French company LEMAIRE
was part of the BAILLE LEMAIRE Fils & Cie group which
had built cars at the turn of the 19th/20th century (1898-1905).
This company filed under this name a patent (no. 1.041.917,
issued on
June 3, 1953) for an improved version called Modèle
49 of the
well-known compass called Modèle
1922 and a
prismatic, fluid dampened Model 1922 (examples: see Lemaire compasses).| Patent
Drawing -
Three-sight-view (Lemaire Modèle 49)  |
Patent
addition -
Level function (Click on the drawings for enlarged views) |
This
compass was based on the Modèle 1922 with
transparent capsule but it featured in addition a hanging
mirror that automatically came to rest at an angle
of 45° like those made by the Swiss companies RECTA
and BÜCHI.
This patent was completed (no. 62.195 issued on
Decembre 29, 1954) by a system that allowed the measurement of
slope angles (level). This project was tested in the 1st Vietnam war.
At about the same time, the French Army
commissioned the German Bézard
compass. Its special
version called UBK (Universal-Bézard-Kompass)
had already been offering these functionalities since the
1930's. This decision may have been one of the reasons for the decline
of the French compass industry. It is possible that the German industry
offered this product at very low price after WWII. |
 (Click on the picture for an enlarged view) |
 |
Technical
Data - Dimensions (w/o pouch): 74 x 50 x 18 mm - Weight: 65 gr - Material: . Case: Acrylic . Pouch and lanyard: leather - Sighting: through a square-shaped opening and a metallic mirror inside the lid - Highly luminescent film inside the pouch below the compass. NOTE: Handling the acrylic compass body outside the pouch is risky when wearing woollen clothes because it gets very quickly a strong static charge and the needle sticks thus on the capsule ground, placing the instrument out of function for a long time... |
PROFILE
- Francis Barker & Son was a British manufacturer (more
information HERE
and in our LINKS).
1939 - Mk IX Dry Card Prismatic compass (a normal Verner's pattern)0 -
The ancestors...? Large
marching compass of the same size as the Schmalcalder
survey
compass but with an hinged lid.
|
  The
riveted thumb ring seems to have been added as a further
development step.
|
Technical
Data - Case dia.: ... mm - Compass card dia.: mm - Thickness: mm - Divisions: 360° - Engraving on obverse: D /|\ D (broad arrow, Dept. of Defence) A.860 (S/N?) - Transit lock: sliding side button - Brake push-button under the hinge (like on next item below) - No protection tab above the prism's lens Although unsigned, the case is identical to the item below. It can have been built in the 1840's. Compare with the large marching compass models made by Stanley and Steward. TOP OF PAGE |
0 -
...? Late 1800s Pictures Jaypee/Compassipedia |
 F.BARKER & SON - LONDON E.C. Manufacturer's name and address on dial below the West/East line |
Technical
Data Dimensions (standard Verner's pattern): - Case dia.: 52mm - Compass card dia.: 44mm, aluminum - Thickness: 20mm - Divisions: 360° - No engraving on obverse - Transit lock: sliding side button (Verner's pattern VII) - Brake push-button on the right side (only item know with this feature). TOP OF PAGE |
1 -
Model name (?)
 The case design is a mix of the classical hunter-type featuring a loop fitting and a Schmalcalder-type sighting prism. Technical Data - Dia. case: 2" (50mm) - Dia. sighting window: 3/4" (19mm) - Transit lock: Push-pull button in the loop |
The
retailer's name on the Singer's
pattern dial reads: E. Lennie -
46 Princes St., Edinburgh Below: A plain card version. It is unsigned except for the words Trade Mark London (pic. at right):  (Pictures above and at right courtesy Jaypee) |
 Note the tiny push-button card brake below the hinge.  F. Barker & Son's old logo on the prism's fitting. Note the S engraved the normal way, meaning that this item was made before Francis Barker's death in 1875. TOP OF PAGE |
2 -
Verner's
Pattern Mark
V
 Pictures courtesy of Mark Thompson |
 F. Barker & Son's signature on reverse, 1907. |
 TOP OF PAGE |
| 3 - Lensatic
Compass Barker developed and patented in 1916 (no. 103,019) the principle of the lensatic compass. This solution was implemented in several instruments but abandoned by Barker who favoured the more precise prismatic system. The card's rim is upturned in the patent's description (Fig. 1, letter "g" - to view an example, click HERE). |
 Picture courtesy of Nick Godridge Click on image for a view of the dial The window in the lid was large and centered on this model but smaller and nearer to the hinge on the definitive version (right). On this instrument, the card's rim is flat. |
 (For description click HERE) TOP OF PAGE |
4.1 - Models
'42
Pattern' and Mark
III 42 Pattern descr.: It has a different shaped prism guard, dia. is only 2", the clamp screw is located at the 2 o'clock position and the thumb loop can be flat. It also existed with a Mk III card (for pic. click here). Mark III descr.: (s. T.G. Co. Ltd) The 42 Pattern and the Mark III still featured cardinals and divisions all around the case (click on link for side view comparison). |
4.2 -
Model Mk 1 Modernized Mk III with MILS card. It was used in the French Army from the early 1970s until the late 1990's (Honest John nuclear head rockets unit).  Technical Data - Dia.: 58,5 mm - Gradation: 6400 MILS (every 20) - Precision: ca. 5 Mils. - Weight: +300 gr - Illumination: Tritium vials  |
MK1
French Army
- Documentation (in French): • Notice MAT 1884, Version 1970 (12 p, A5 format, issue. 1970, see pic. below.) • Manuel Technique MAT 1935 (Descr., User Instr., Illustr. Parts Cat. and Repair manual, 96 p. A4 format, issue 1986). 
 (Photocopies available) TOP OF PAGE |
| 4.2
- Model Mk III (signed OMI) with Arabic
letters and figures (See also ISRAEL's version)  Pictures courtesy Ion Argyriadis Click for enlarged views |
The
dial, the card and the external markings are only in Arabic
language (see Miscellaneous/Cardinals points).  Signature
on
reverse: NISTRI OMI* ROMA.
*Ottica Meccanica Italiana This company which was probably acting as a retailor was closed in the 1980s. |
Technical
data Divisions: 360 deg. clockwise, radium paint on card, Tritium phials in index ring Reverse: The words below the crossed swords read: Saudi Army - S/ No. 1472 
TOP OF PAGE |
5 - Model M-71
(left)
/ M-72 (r.) 
 Pic. at r.: Mixed version with MILS divisions on a M-71 card (with a triangle for North) |
Compare with the M-73's reinforced version below Detail view of dials: click on pictures at left in rows 5 & 6 |
M-71/M-72
- Technical
data Material: brass body and lid Weight: 315 gr The M-71 featured a triangular mark with a tritium tube on the card's and on the chapter's background North reference. This system superseded the Mk III's lozenge and broad radium markings (example: see T.G. Co. Ltd). Divisions: M-71: 360° / M-72 : MILS TOP OF PAGE |
| 6.1 - Model
M-73
(here with 360° dial) The best military compass in the world 
Technical data See the resp. websites of the manufacturer PYSER and of its sole certified representative abroad Trademarklondon. |
 (Pictures Jaypee) Compared hinges attachment Left: Mk III (brazed) /Right: M-73 (screws) Compare with the models G150 (Stanley), Mk. 4 (Glauser), Israel and Sisteco. User instructions: free download from the website trademarklondon.com |
A
new
feature on the M-72
and M-73 was a
reinforced hinge in which the
pin was a predetermined breaking part. A former head of
Barker (Mr. Leach, who also designed the L1A1)
explained that the Australian soldiers used to test
their strength by holding the lid in one hand and the case in
the other and break the connection with a single twisting
movement*. For this reason Barker
developed a new hinge fixed by screws instead of a brazed tab
(see at left the pic. of a partly unpainted
instr. marked only M-73
PAT. APPL. (click for pic.).
The protection grid of the sighting window was also reinforced and
attached by screws and
threaded bushes. * Source: courtesy TML Below: Tritium lights glowing in the dark  |
| 6.2 - Variants of Model
M-73 - DICI
(Soviet system: 6000 Mils gradation) These instruments feature the Arabic letter jim within a triangle, the Iraqi Army's emblem during the 1970's.  Several manufacturers or retailers signed this version like ENBEECO and DOMINION. |
Manufacturer: ENBEECO Enbeeco (Newbold & Bulford Co. Ltd.) was part of the same group as Francis Barker & Son Ltd for a short while, and they shared common ownership of the technology and tooling, so there are Enbeeco compasses that are very similar to M-73. |
Manufacturer: DOMINION Dominion was an arms supplier which had bases in Canada and other Commonwealth countries. They later changed their name to Imperial. They were probably taken over by another company. They produced definitely no compasses but bought them from a wholesaler and then branded them as their own. This instr. can in fact be a STANLEY G150. (Source: Trademarklondon.com)  Picture courtesy M. Jamison TOP OF PAGE |
| 6.3 - AEROLIGHT This instrument was produced during the 1980s but replaced by the improved model M-88 due to sealing problems. This design was used as the basis for the Israeli IDF (Israel Defense Forces) standard compass.  |
 Pictures courtesy Gail & Phil Ralph (Click on images for enlarged views) The Aerolight never had a NATO Stock Number but only a sticker bearing the manufacturer's name |
Technical
data Divisions: only MILS  The information that the MILS numbers are to be multiplied by 100 is repeated FIVE times on the compass card! |
| The
(original)
Bézard compasses were built by the German company LUFFT.
They are described in a specific chapter (see THE
BÉZARD COMPASS) Picture
at right: a
typical
Bézard compass with its leather pouch
|
 |
PROFILE
- German compass manufacturer (for more information click HERE)
  Military marching compass Brass model |
Official
user's
manual (1940, unchanged reprint of the 1928 issue)  This was the typical marching compass of the Wehrmacht soldiers until 1945. There were several models: most probably, they were first entirely made of brass (case and lid) and the folding ruler measured only 50 mm. Because of lack of material during WW II the products were changed to aluminium. On the other side, the ruler became longer: 60 mm. All compasses featured 6400 mils divisions, counterclockwise. Numerous other details differ (see technical data). |
Compared
lid
shapes (see also Zeiss Ikon):  Technical Data - Diameter: 54 mm - Depth: 17 mm - Weight: 130 g - Case: brass - Lid: brass (narrow nose), hinge with 3 rivets - Ring: nickel - Folding ruler: 50 mm |
 Military marching compass Aluminium model |
 |
Technical
Data - Diameter: 54 mm - Depth: 17 mm - Weight: 60 g - Case: nickel - Lid: aluminium (broad nose), hinge with 4 rivets - Ring: brass - Folding ruler: 60 mm |
 This model features the same case and lid shapes as the BUSCH "Jungendienst-Kompass" which was also manufactured by several other companies. |
 Stamp of the official material control on obverse: the letters "M P" stand for Material- Prüfungsamt, whereas the letters S and OW stand for bakelite and the supplier's code. For more information click HERE. |
Technical
Data - Divisions : counter clockwise - Dimensions: 75 x 55 x 20 mm - Weight: 110 g - Case: bakelite - Lid: brass (?), black rough paint The company's name appears in the left corner near the mirror hinge and reads BREITHAUPT or clk depending on the manufacture date. |
 The lid with a big upper case A appears from 1944 on. The case bears no marking at all. |
Official
user instruction (January 10,
1945) The notice to infantry-men (Heeresmitteilung, June 5, 1944) indicates how to use the new A-marked compass with clockwise divisions |
Technical
Data - Divisions: 6400 Mils, clockwise On this model, the needle's main part is concealed behind a black patch with a white bar. This design is also to be found on the F52 and F58 compasses later manufactured by the former Eastern German company Freiberger Präzisionsmechanik (now Holding FPM). The central white bar is located on the W-E axis whereas it is located on the N-S axis on the instruments used later by the Warsaw Pact armies (GDR/Eastern Germany, Poland and Russia - links to examples of items). |
Model
COKIL
(COmpass KILometer)  |
 Comment: This compass is now called COKIL (KIL for "kilometers") when equipped with a map reader and COMAR (MARching) when without map-reader. It was and still is being manufactured in China. Different versions were issued to the Vietcong troops during the US vs. Vietnam war and to the People's Republic of China's Army. (See below in chap. CHINA, models 5-1 and 6-2). |
 Technical Data - Serial-No. (hidden): 65142 - Diameter: 60 mm - Depth: 20 mm - Weight: 150 g - Case: Aluminium - Ruler (open): 10 cm - Clinometer in degrees - Map reader: 4 scales - Paint: Wehrmacht verdigris |
 On the dial is the registered trade mark abbreviation for the IIIrd Reich (DRGM) but the cardinal point for EAST is indicated with two letters: OE, the O being for the German OST and the E for EAST which would have been unthinkable before 1945. |
On
the exterior
faces is a scale for slopes which is also to be seen on the French
PEIGNÉ survey and artillery compasses (s. this category). (Pictures by courtesy of Peter Spielberg). |
Marching
compass
(late 1940's) This type had a transparent capsule and a bubble level. Technical Data (same as above) It has at both ends of the 10 cm ruler a red and a black sighting device for elevation angle measures. The magnetic needle locking system was a dedicated lever near the compass rose. |
After
WWII, Breithaupt built from the late 1950s on a fluid-dampened
compass called
CONAT
(COmpass
NATO)
for the newly re-created Armed Forces of the Federal
Republic
of Germany (Bundeswehr).
As one can see on the patent's figs. (see table below) and on the pic
at r., the divisions were first printed under the capsule's upper
surface.
The serial no. (900 on pic. at r.) was engraved on the
rear side, left of the thumb loop and the pale surface
(designed for hand notes?) was located on the left-hand side of the
rear sight. The front sight was flat and received a groove on
the version produced later. The screw for the automatic
setting of the mirror at 45° when opening the lid was
first located in the middle of the axis. The photograph at r. was
published in a description
in French language dated 1958. Model
CONAT
(COmpass
NATO)  The patent (no. 1,730,856 - 1956) described a system with a lid/mirror that automatically locked at 45 deg. when deployed and was raised via a double hinge. See pic. below Fig. 1-4.  |
  A Bundeswehr recruiting advertisement dated 1967 featured a soldier's face in the mirror. Click on the image for a full view of the ad (full-size photocopy available) :  "On the right path..." Technical Data - Dim.: 65 x 58 x 20 mm - Weight: 4 ozs. / 120 g - Side rule: 110 mm - Divisions: 64oo Mils, clockwise |
Markings
in the lid: - the manufacturer's logo, - the NATO Stock Number and - the client's designation: BUNDESWEHR or BUND There has been two different versions: one featured Tritium illumination* (³H Symbol) or a phosphorescent paint. Another (older?) one featured a green capsule and the divisions were printed under the crystal instead of the bottom plate. Two different NSN are known: - 6605-12-341-8467 - 6605-12-135-2210. * Decommissioned in the early 90's. The military documentation (user instr. and maintenance manual, see pic. below) does exist but is unfortunately not available in full extent. We can only provide a manufacturer's user instr.  |
 (Click on image for enlarged view) |
Standard
M-1950 lensatic
compass
used by the U.S. Army. Almost identical with the instruments made
by Cammenga, Stocker & Yale (SandY) etc. These compasses contain self-luminescent Tritium paint (³H) and are weakly radioactive. For more pictures of M-1950 go to CAMMENGA |
Technical
Data - Dimensions: 75 x 57 x 23 mm - Weight: 140 g - Date: 12/62 User instr. available |
BÜCHI, small
Model I |
 Click on the pictures for enlarged views. |
Technical
Data - Dimensions: 92 x 65 x 18mm - Weight: 130 g - Double distance side scale: 1:50.000 / 1:100.000 User instr. in German available.  NIEDERMANN's Patent: Fig. 1 on page 3 |
Large
model BÜCHI
II  A discrete device (two pins) allowed to measure slopes with the scales engraved on each side of the brown bakelite compass capsule casing (see techn. data) Here: 58% positive |
 View of the side ruler On these compasses a reference is made to a NIEDERMANN patent. Albert Niedermann was issued the patent no. 199,512 for this system on August 31, 1938 in Switzerland (see at right). |
 View opened for placing on a map  Drawing:
NIEDERMANN's
patent (Fig. 1 on page 3)
Technical Data - Dimensions : 94 x 65 x 20mm - Weight: 190 g - Double inclination scale: 0-110% (positive and negative). - Side ruler: distance scale 1:50.000 = 8 km |
PROFILE
- Former French manufacturer of instruments for hikers
(full name Baudet-Burnat see HERE
-
altimeters, podometers, etc.). He filed several patents. One
about a new system to attach capsule in
compass casings.
 (Click on picture above for an enlarged view) Below: The compass card and the 3 luminous points on the capsule:  |
  Top left: The clinometer dial graduated in degres and percent, each scale being printed normal and mirrored. Top right: Measuring a vertical angle by means of the groove and the pin. The angle can be read in the mirror (the red line is only a drawing). Below: descr. in the catalogue of the French camping materiel retailer Au Vieux Campeur (issue 1964).  (Click on pictures for detailed views) |
Technical
Data - Dimensions: 85 x 68 x 20 mm - Weight: 90 g - Double face mirror for compass and clinometer readings - Ruler: 50 mm on hinge - Clinometer graduated in degrees and percent. - Liquid dampened compass card with two luminous points at North. The capsule could be refilled via a special opening (screw on left side). - Three luminous paint points on the capsule: one in the sighting axis, two at 60 deg. on each side.  (Pictures courtesy B. Gairaut - priv. coll.) |
PROFILE - Former German company located in Rathenow (north-west of
Berlin). For more information click HERE.
Look also at the Pocket and the Survey compasses.
  |
 (Pictures in top row by courtesy of A. Brenner) 
(Click
on the images for
enlarged views)
|
Technical
Data - Dimensions: • Overall length (closed): 85mm • Thickness (closed): 20mm • Dia. (case): 55mm - Divisions: 360 deg., clockwise, cardinal points in German - Transit lock: automatically when closing the lid. There were two versions: the probably late one didn't feature the base plate with the sighting aids but only a serrated ring. The face was bright and the lid contained a mirror. The illumination system consisted of stripes of luminous Balmain paper behind mica protection covers in the lid and the loop fitting, on the needle's north pointing end and of two tiny square pieces* glued besides the N on the base plate. * blackened, almost invisible now. |
|
Model
no. 3350 (BUSCH
catalogue 1930s?) called Militär-Kompass
This model was probably not manufactured but only imported by BUSCH. We only know of versions in Nowegian language.  Click on image for view of description in the catalogue. |
Norwegian
version
(with V for Vest = West).
The museum possesses a version with the following engravings on the lid: the actual manufacturer's name (?) HAKON LUNDE, located STORGAT. 24 and a date (creation of the company?) : 1874.  Picture courtesy Totto EIDE (Click on the images for enlarged views) |
Technical
Data - Diameter crystal: 50.5mm / 2 in. - Diameter base: 54.5mm / 2 1/6 in. - Height (case): 14.4mm; sights erected: 33.5mm - Weight: 83grs - Marching line: luminous paint (radium compound on some items) - Cardinals: either black or lum. paint. - Division on the capsule bottom: 360 deg, not visible because masked by the upper ring - Division of the upper ring: 0-60, numbered every 5, each being subdivided in 15 units (3 x 5) i.e. 180 in the whole, each unit equalling 2 deg. - This item also features two lugs. They were however not suited for a wrist strap but to attach the instrument to a small gun (?). Picture of protection cover and cylindric box. |
 Model X - without mirror (see catalogue below) Compass designed for the paramilitary youth organisation Jungendienst (see MISCELL. / Terminology) 
 Booklets for paramilitary and for civilian users (only the cover picture differs, the issue at right is priobably the older one) |
 Jungendienst compass model XI (with mirror) This case's basic design was used for many compasses also made by PASTO, WILKIE and FPM after WWII.  The compass pouch was made of brown fabric (like the famous shirts). |
Technical
data - Dimensions: 70 x 55 x 18 mm - Weight: 67 g - Case: bakelite - Pouch: fabric - User instr. in various documents like Wehrsporttafel 8 (red, see SHOP) 
 BUSCH was deeply involved in equipping the youth organisation JUNGENDIENST, that replaced the boy scouts (Pfadfinder) organisation and provided a paramilitary training although politically differing from the Hitler-Jugend. In this organisation's manual ("DEUTSCHER JUNGENDIENST", 1933) it is said that the Jungendienst compass was especially developed for the organisation. (Compare with the official Boy and Girl Scouts compasses made by Taylor and U.S. Gauge) Logo in white paint on bakelite cover.  |
 BUSCH catalogue and user's guide, c. 1935  (Click to view teh document open) |
This
case design was also common:
the BREITHAUPT with map reader and clinometer used it and many China
made products also. The first FPM compass used by the East-German
police had the same form. Marschkompass II (marching compass) (Click on the picture above for an enlarged view of logo and leather pouch) At right: An Oberscharführer and a Waffen-SS Sturmmann with a Mod. II compass |
The
same case but with a
fluid capsule and inverted
colours:
 Technical data - Dimensions: 65 x 57 x 16 mm - Weight: 70 g - Case: bakelite - Lubberline : East-West - Pouch: leather 
 |
 Marschkompass I (military marching compass) Export version for  |
This
is BUSCH's most famous WWII compass. Two different versions existed: a
dry
one (below) and one with a fluid capsule (at right). Technical data - Dimensions: 68 x 55 x 18 mm - Weight: 130 g - Case: brass - Ring: nickel - Folding ruler: 50 mm (Click on the picture for view of compass open) |
 Technical data - Dimensions: 68 x 55 x 18 mm - Weight: 75 g - Case: aluminium with fluid capsule - Folding ruler: 60 mm - Lubber's line: North-South (Click on the picture for view of compass open and dismantled) |
| This compass was found in the foot locker in the estate of an American soldier from World War II. This soldier was a member of the First Special Service Force, also known as “The Devils Brigade”. These soldiers were a combined group of American and Canadian Commandos and saw extensive fighting in Italy including much time at Anzio. | Export
version of the
standard model
evolved from the basic design of the Jungendienst for Fascist Italy's
troops.   (Click on the picture at right for detail view of the dial - Courtesy T. Schifani) |
Technical Data - Dimensions: 75 x 55 x 20 mm - Weight: 110 g - Case: bakelite - Divisions : 360 deg. clockwise, cardinals in a latin language (NESO - see Miscellaneous / Cardinals - France) - Radium markings: 2 at North, one at each other cardinal point - Marker for magnetic North at ca. 6 deg. West |
 (Detailed
view: click on the picture at right)
 Note the West- East bar similar to Bézard's. |
Bundeswehr
model 
 The pouch was rectangular like Bézard's. |
 Busch-Göttingen
developed for the Bundeswehr (Bw) a marching compass made of plexiglas
with a transparent capsule and height symbols (building, truck, man
standing) for distance assessment on its casing right side. In addition
it had an adjustable declination mark, rubber feet for better stability
on the map and a slot in the mirror for easier sighting at high
elevation angles.It was probably produced is small quantities at the moment of the Bw creation (1956). Its NATO Stock No. was 6605-12-120-1507. COMMENT: most probably this instrument would have been very sensitive to static charge like the BARIGO (see above). |
 Note the East-West bar on the dial |
  Pictures courtesy D. Engstfeld (Click on images for enlarged views) |
The Police
of Nordrhein-Westfalen
(North-Rhine/ Westphalia) used this black compass type until the late
80's. They possibly have all been discarded but this one! The plastic pouch had a sharp shape. Compasses were utilized by the Police to search large areas with their dogs and possibly riding horses before they had radio and helicopters. |