Description
This reproduction CO2 Cylinder Box is a great add on for your D-Day invasion display.
The official designation for the life preserver issued to all landing troops on D-Day was the USN M1926 Floatation belt. Â Each soldier was issued one of these US Navy belts on D-day along with the CO2 cartridges to inflate them. Each belt used two CO2 bottles
Used by assault troops during the beach landings in Normandy. The lifebelt was automatically inflated by triggering two small carbon-dioxide bottles attached via the screw cap ends. Inside the screw caps were two sharp points surrounded by a spring which held the bottles away from the points until activation. As a safety device, the tubes could be inflated manually in case of malfunction, by blowing air through the Schrader one-way valves fitted to the two thinner black rubber tubes. A significant number of assault troops were drowned on account of the belt being worn too low on the body. Their body and equipment weight tended to turn them upside down in water.
