Canteen, Feldflasche of Die Kasernierte Volkspolizei (KVP) der DDR, the Garrisoned People's Police of the German Democratic Republic, or Communist East Germany

KVP troops, in the 1950s.  The NCO at the right, front carries his Feldflasche which resembles the WW2 era M31 canteen.

The Kasernierte Volkspolizei (KVP) was the forerunner of the National Volksarmee (NVA) of the DDR. You will most often see Kasernierte Volkspolizei translated into English as the "Barracked People's Police."  While this is meant to convey that these troops were housed in barracks, that is not the definition of "barracked" in English. 'Kasernierte" means to be on a Kaserne, or military base.  It makes more sense in English to say these troops were garrisoned, which also means to be on a military base.  All of that aside, I will refer to them as the KVP.  

The KVP was formed in July 1952 under the Miniterium des Innern (MdI).  Even after being re-named the National People's Army, or Nationale Volksarmee (NVA), the East German Army was still referred to as VOPOs, which is how the Germans abbreviated Volkspolizei. 

These are KVP emblems.  The one on the left says, "For the protection of the workers and farmers forces."

The early KVP was outfitted with gear that was similar to gear issued to the Wehrmacht during WW2 and the following examples of canteens, Feldflashe, are demonstrative of that point.  The KVP Feldflasche was extremely similar to the Model 1931 canteens carried by German forces during WW2.

Here you can see an early KVP Feldflasche that bears a strong resemblance to a WW2 era M31 canteen.

 Early KVP Feldflasche had the wool/felt covers with leather straps, just like their WW2 counterparts.  The bodies of the Feldflasche were aluminum, as were the cups.  The cup pictured here is a Feldgrau gray/green color with a riveted strap loop.

The manufacturer's mark is clearly shown on this cup. 

 The clip that holds the Feldflasche to the bread bag, or Brotbeutel, is aluminum with a stainless steel clip riveted to it.  There are no markings on the clip.

The screw-on cap has a red rubber gasket in it to keep the bottle from leaking.

There are four black painted snaps on the side of this canteen cover.

The top of the screw-on cap is marked "DDRI."

Here you can the unpainted aluminum bottle and the inside of the four snaps with their cotton herringbone twill reinforcement material.  Other early style canteens had green painted aluminum bottles.

The underside of these snaps are marked, "KIN5."

KVP troops parade in Berlin, 1952.  Note the very early and extremely rare M54 helmets and their WW2 StG44 rifles.