Italian military mess tins from World War II (Gavetta modello 1930) were made of aluminum, a material their owners often used to scratch their names, various inscriptions, or even images onto them. The initials “L. I.” can also be seen on the mess tin presented here, while the difficult to read letters “M O” (or “J W”) and the year “1943” are scratched into it with another hand.
The mess tin presented here was used during the second world war by Albina Mali Hočevar, a former partisan and medic in the Tomšič Brigade, who – thanks to a war time photograph of her – is perhaps one of the most recognizable Slovenian partisans abroad and was later honored as a National Heroine. It is believed to have been seized on 17 (or 16) March 1943 near the small church of St Peter on Kamni vrh near Ambrus, most likely during combat between the Partisan Tomšič Brigade and elements of the Italian Blackshirt Groupment XXI Aprile (Regruppamento CCNN XXI Aprile).
