The M-1 was the first mask in Yugoslvia which could be bought by anybody. It is a licensed FM-1a. It was one of the best gas masks on the Yugoslav market at the time and at the same time cheaper than imported ones.
Mask overview[]
The facepiece is made of moulded grey rubber. The round eyepieces are held by black painted aluminium assemblies. The valve housing is made of grey painted aluminium. The intake is located on the top and is a bit angled downwards to reduce the down pulling effect by the filter. The exhale valve is under the intake, the fixed, steel lid protects the tulip styled valve. There is a Tissot-tube system leading to the eyepieces to defog them, it is visible from the outside. The 6 point elasticated harness is connected to the face blank via riveted metal buckles. The harness itself is made of elasticated fabric and connects to one pressure reducer rubber slabs on the back and can be adjusted on the buckles connecting to the face blank. It has a non-elasticated carrying strap too.
Filter[]
The filter is a tall, cylindrical gray painted canister. The early ones were imported from Czechoslovakia, Chema made CHF-1, but latter inland production started as well, Nebojša F1. There were two types of filter, one with stamp with the designation and one with embossed designation.
Carrier and kit[]
It came with either a canvas bag or with the metal carrier box of the M-33. The kit also contained a manual. One of the magazines in Yugoslavia to warn the population that a new conflict was near, as well as that readiness and vigilance would save many lives.
External information[]
Manufacturing and price[]
In 1938 Yugoslavia realized that their civilian gas mask is very outdated and isn’t suitable for mass production. Time was short, and it was necessary to procure the equipment, machines, train people and organize production. That task fell on the director of the Bata footwear factory from Borovo, Tomo Maksimović, who made plans and estimates, and nine months after the meeting at the Ministry of the Army in Borovo, a new department for the production of the M-1 started working. Bata was a well-known international company, with many different subsidiaries over the world, including the Czechoslovak Fatra company, thanks to this the manufacturing of the FM-1 license in Borovo started soon by Nebojša as the new subsidiary of Bata. In the factory newspaper from August 4, 1939, a photo of the gas mask of M-1 appeared on the front page, which made it known that Toma Maksimovic had successfully completed the task and that the production of the gas mask in Borovo had begun. Nedeljko Kondic was appointed director of the new department. The production of these masks was entirely done in Yugoslavia. Each mask and filter underwent eleven inspections at the factory itself, and the last, twelfth inspection was conducted on behalf of the Ministry of Trade and Industry which confirmed the correctness of each mask and filter with a stamp. Price of a kit was under 200 Dinar in 1939 and distribution was done trough pharmacies, following the Czechoslovak pattern.
Foreign use[]
Hungary helped Germany in the invasion of Yugoslavia, hence Délvidék (now part of Serbia and called Vojvodina) became Hungarian territory again. The circumstances of applying KÁB (Hungarian: Központi Átvételi Bizottság - Central Acceptance Committee) stamps on Yugoslavian masks are unknown, especially because most Imported Italian masks weren't stamped. However the T.33 and T.35 were allowed to be used by a strict ordinance, while the M-1 didn't. So there is a high chance that M-1 masks were stamped because it was easier to stamp masks than making a new ordinance. Also interesting to note that the only known example is lacking of the Yugoslvaian inspection stamps.
Carrying canisters were also captured, it is belived that the later 42M carrying canister is the updated copy of the captured ones.
Gallery[]
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