The Vz.33 was a mask developed and produced by Optimit, derived from the British Mark IV respirator. It was competing for a government contract against the Vz.35 (Leyland license), however, lost due to having exhale valve trouble, and overall being more expensive and complicated. The kit cost 650 koruna in 1936. The mask remained in limited military service until 1939.
Construction[]
The mask, whilst similar to the GSR, differed in many ways. It was made out of dark grey rubber, covered with a layer of light brown stockinette from the outside (same color as the Vz.35). On the inside, it featured a leather seal and chinrest made from light gray smoothened leather. The mask had a six-point harness, however, the upper two points fused into one after about 7 cm, thus resulting in a 5-6 point hybrid. The whole harness was made out of fabric of the same color a the harness, with springs on the inner part of the harness. All 5 points connected to a square-shaped headrest, usually made out of dark gray leather. The two bottommost harness points were detachable, having a D ring to snap onto hooks sown onto the facepiece. It had a valve assembly reminiscent of some older Czechoslovak models, with the filter thread being in the lower portion of the mask, at a 45-degree angle, attached to the assembly itself, where the exhale valve was. The exhale valve had caused some problems at the start, however by the start of 1936, all of these problems were remedied (resulting in the Vz.33b). The valve assembly is painted gray, whilst all other metal parts are painted black.
Versions[]
The Vz.33 had two main versions - A and B. The main difference was fixing the exhale valve, the unreliability of which being one of the reasons it wasn't accepted as a main military mask. Looking from the outside, there is no way to differentiate between the two, except for the marking.
Kit[]
The mask came with the standard Vz.35 kit, consisting of a Vz.33 facepiece, Vz.35 haversack, Vz.27 filter, hose, and antidim soap container. The haversack has a divider in the middle, thus creating two compartments (one for the mask, one for the filter). On one side it has a pocket on the outside for the antidim soap, whilst also having two pouches (one on each side) on the inside, containing decontamination kits. The filter itself has cloth tape on the bottom, and a filter cap on the top, both meant to be taken off before use. The hose is covered with stockinette of the same color of the mask, and is fully detachable from both the filter and the mask.
