ww1 Imperial German Tonister

[Henry5]

I am hoping someone could help me identify my 1915 dated great war Imperial army Tonister / backpack.

This Tonister is different to all of the others I have seen, The shoulder straps are not adjustable at the top as they normally would be, and are stitched in place, and always have been. All others I have seen have three holes and a retaining locking pin.

The internals are also totally different in that the top flap has not got the internal set up to hold the soldiers kit, and there are no connections to fit any.

The main body of the pack is also totally different. Again there are is not the normal layout for boots , kit ect. Just a couple of small straps that close the pack with a hessian curtain.

This all seems totally original, but strange as I have never seen one like this.

One person called it a “Artillery mans Tonister” but I can not find any information anywhere.

[Chopperman]

Welcome to the forum.
I'm afraid I can not help with this but be patient as someone will be along
to help you with this. Be patient, Things are a little slow right now due to the holiday
weekend here in the states.

[AndyM35]

Haven’t seen a tornister that is similar, however with the strong internal straps etc it may have been used by a telegrapher or similar.

[Verikauha]

I had similar kind tornister and also wondered long time what was it really.

Later I realized it was Ersatz, cheaper and simplified version of german m/1895 tornister.
Call it Ersatz m/1895 tornister, if you want. They dont have official collector name.

Germany started simplify lot of gear and uniforms starting 1914-15 and then came all kinds of Ersatz bayonets, worse quality gear and such.