[MiamiArcStudent]

Hi,

I was wondering what pens would American, German, British and Russian soldiers be using to write letters, sign documents, etc. What would be the average pen they could afford?

Thanks,

MiamiArcStudent

[jar]

Mostly pencils, a few liberations, then Sheaffer, Parker, Waterman, Pelikan, Troppen, Onoto, Conway Stewart, Swan, Diplomat, Mentmore, Eversharp, Esterbrook...

[Chemyst]

Pencils. They don't freeze, spill or require refills. They can be sharpened with a penknife and will write on wet or greasy paper.

[jar]

So I pulled out some of the mail from Dad, and all was written with a pen, most in black ink.

http://www.fototime.com/727845C8749ADC2/standard.jpg

[FrankB]

For that period of time, I also think pencils were the more frequent writing instrument. The letters my dad and mom's brothers wrote home are all in pencil. I think FP's would have been used mostly by administrative personnel.

[dcwaites]

MiamiArcStudent, on 18 October 2009 - 09:04 AM, said:

Hi,

I was wondering what pens would American, German, British and Russian soldiers be using to write letters, sign documents, etc. What would be the average pen they could afford?

Thanks,

MiamiArcStudent

I am sure that all of these countries have War Museums, the equivalent of the Australian War Museum. If they have any collections of servicemen's possessions, they may be able to tell you what, if any, pens they had.

While pencils would have been common because of their practicality, fountains pens would not have been uncommon. I remember somebody on the FPN bringing up a model of pen that had ink pills. Put an ink pill in the barrel, fill it with water and you have a functioning fountain pen.

As well, Parker wouldn't have developed the Microfilm Black ink, as described in this eBay item, if there hadn't been the need. This implies that there would have been many servicemen using this ink, and hence fountain pens.

[JakobS]

I would imagine the use of a fountain pen would be based on rank, social background, and importance of the document being written. As well, I would imagine pen ink would hold up better over long distances than pencil, as well as the rough conditions that the mail may have traveled through to get from solider to family. I know a number of pen companies made fountain pens with military clips that for the most part met a US military regulation that the pen cap could not be showing beyond a certain length in the pocket. So, I would imagine that fountain pens were common enough. If you do a search for military clips in the Sheaffer, Parker....etc specific forums you will find a number of posts on these pens, as well as the Writing Instruments section. A Google search for "Military Clip Fountain Pens", or similar will give you a good start. Hope this helps!

P.S. I would imagine as well that fountain pens were given by their families to those in the military as departing gifts as they went off to Europe and Asia.

This post has been edited by JakobS: 18 October 2009 - 12:45 AM

[zubipen]

There were some special models developed for the war as Schaeffer with those little clips, that may be covered by the flap of the pocket of the uniform shirt. In BBC site is also a link about war memories and there are some mentions to letter written with Conway Stuart pens, which also was used by W. Churchill. In the German side we have also examples of documents signed with pens. There are some links about Soldbuchs (Germans IDs) were you can see that they were completed by fountain pen, most of them in blue black and also green. Some German officials used to sign some documents color pencils or wax pencils (almost green or blue). In the case of the German Army I wonder if there were some official supplier.

[ZeissIkon]

Probably worth noting that the US Army, at least, had standards for pens carried in a uniform, essentially that the pen couldn't be visible in the pocket. That meant a clip attached at the very top of the cap so as not to push up the pocket flap and short enough not to show below it, and a pen short enough not to "bottom out" in the pocket and thin enough not to make much if any bulge. This didn't necessarily have much to do with what soldiers used to actually write letters from the combat theater, or course; in that environment, there were few officers anything like as concerned with whether a soldier's pen was visible in his pocket, as with whether he had a clean weapon, ammunition for it, water and ration packs or real food available.

[HBlaine]

The Tintenkuli, a stylographic pen created by Wilhelm Riepe, founder of the company that became Rotring, was purchased in bulk by the German military for use by their troops prior to/during WWII. There's a reference to this in Dietmar Geyer's Collecting Writing Instruments. He refers to it as "every soldier's writing instrument."

This post has been edited by HBlaine: 18 October 2009 - 11:39 PM

[Ernst Bitterman]

The average soldier may or may not have had his own pen-- when time came available for writing home, I imagine the guys that had one were very popular. As to what kind of pen it would be, it would be whatever was available to the civilian population, and dependent on the soldier's personal means. The guys without a lot of money might have (in the US or Canadian military, which are the only markets I've got a firmish grip on) Wearevers, Champions, Packards, Arnolds, or a zillion other makers that you've never heard of who have since vanished. Wealthier soldiers would have pens we know and want; Sheaffer, Parker, Waterman, Wahl, &ct. Translate those makers into the home market of wherever the soldier came from, Allies or Axis, and you've more or less got your answer

Microfilm Black was also for the home market, of course-- V-Mail went both ways.

[MiamiArcStudent]

Thank you very much everyone for your responses! Since I am getting into reenacting this summer I thought I would inquire as to what soldiers used to write with.

Thanks,

MiamiArchStudent

[Johnny Appleseed]

dcwaites, on 17 October 2009 - 04:00 PM, said:

While pencils would have been common because of their practicality, fountains pens would not have been uncommon. I remember somebody on the FPN bringing up a model of pen that had ink pills. Put an ink pill in the barrel, fill it with water and you have a functioning fountain pen.

Those pens were called Trench-pens and were aimed at the troops in WWI. By WWII, they would have been dinosaurs.(Actually, Ink Tablets were popular in the 1900-1920 era and could be used in any eyedropper-filling pen. Swan, Parker, and a couple of other companies made "Trench pens" that had special compartments for

There were a couple of pens from the 1940s that worked on similar principle (see the Ink-maker pen thread), but I don't think they would be very common.

John

[baazjg]

I recently read Tears in the Darkness by Michael Norman. The book is about the war in the Pacific, specifically the battles in the Phillipines and the Bataan Death March. The author tells how members of the Japanese army would strip the captured American soldiers of their personal belongings. The Japanese soldiers were particularly looking for cameras, flashlights, mechanical pencils, and fountain pens. When it came to fountain pens, they preferred Parker Duofolds "Pah-kah," the guards wouuld demand, "Pah-kah pen."

By the way, I recommend this book to anyone looking to gain some basic knowledge of this aspect of the war.

baazjg

[Bearcat]

My Father had a short, brown celluloid Sheaffer with the "military clip". He also had access to a typewriter as he cajoled his way into the Quartermaster Corps.