M1 Fire Starter, Harvard Candle or Shaving Stick Incendiary?

[WWIIBuff]

Hello All,

I am hoping someone can help with my confusion on this item. I just bought a deactivated example for my collection and am trying to confirm the actual name and who it was used by. I am assuming all the names I used in the title of this thread are one and the same item, but would appreciate confirmation. Here are the references I have so far:

1) It was sold to me from France as a Le Fire Starter as referenced on page #120 of the book Tombé du ciel! by Eric Pierret and is listed as a late-war O.S.S. item.

2) I was also referred to David Sampson's awesome site Millsgrenades.co.uk where I found it listed as a Shaving Stick Incendiary

3) In the report Fire Warfare - Incendiaries And Flame Throwers it is referenced on page 47 as the M1 Fire Starter, aka the Harvard Candle

4) I also found something referenced in the report Enemy Sabotage Equipment (The Red Book) called the Naptha Incendiary C that looks like it might be the same thing, but I am not sure.

Can anyone clarify this for me and confirm if is was an S.O.E. or an O.S.S. item?

 

[MINENAZ16]

Starter, Fire, M1

Description The M1 fire starter is used for starting fires under adverse climatic conditions, such as in wet jungles or on snow-covered terrain. It is a cylindrical cellulose

www.bulletpicker.com

 

[kiwieod]

heres some good info on the development of it,looks like it was both an SOE(who used their own version) and OSS who used their improved version
they seem to be different sizes so you could measure yours to get some idea which one you have
also they had different striker mechanisms ,so if any of yours is present you could tell that way also

 

[WWIIBuff]

MINENAZ16 - Thank you for the link. That is a somewhat clearer picture of the M1 Fire Starter, and it sure looks to me like it is the same thing as the Shaving Stick Incendiary.

kiwieod - Thank you for the article. It does reference the M1 Fire Starter as the item they chose as reference when developing the Pocket Incendiary, but it is that incendiary which they mention has the differences from the S.O.E. pocket incendiary. Below are pictures of the S.O.E. Pocket Incendiary (Grey), and the O.S.S. Pocket Incendiary (Black - from www.Millsgrenades.co.uk) that the article refers to:

 

[kiwieod]

yes your right i misread it a bit,still gives good descriptions of the original H1/M1 though

 

[WWIIBuff]

yes your right i misread it a bit,still gives good descriptions of the original H1/M1 though

Yes it does, and also a bit of the history. I appreciate your post.