Souvenirs from the Polish-Bolshevik War are rare. The relatively short-lived and intense conflict resulted in a lack of time for the average soldier to make souvenirs of so-called trench art. Here we have a shell casing from a 76.5mm caliber shell, made on 10.03.1916, which may have lain in storage for 4 years, until fired in or after 1920. The cottage engraving, probably made with a sharpened metal object, definitely fits the realities of the era.
Engraving: Gomel / Grodno (?) / 2nd / Sapper Baon / 2nd / Legionary Division / Stefan Szpikowski / *Firing grenade below heart with arrow and bayonet thrust in; on it crossed anchor with cross* / Souvenir / of the Polish-Bolshevik War of 1920.
Height: 38.4 cm.
Diameter: 76.5 mm.
