Smoke Generator No 26 Mk 1 Blue

A No 26 Mark 1 Smoke Generator for producing blue smoke. The generator is made of tinned steel and consists of three cylinders soldered together to make a container of 95 mm diameter and 32 mm height. It has a metal lid on the top and a soldered base of 103 mm diameter. The lid is coloured blue. The top half of the cylinder is painted with blue lacquer. There is a label painted in black on the lid.

This inert blue smoke generator No 26 Mk1 was made in the United Kingdom by the Metal Box Company during April 1943. At some point after this it was sent to the Maribyrnong Explosives Factory in Victoria as a type example for their collection of Allied munitions. After the war the collection was dispersed with many examples such as this coming into the National Collection of the Australian War Memorial. During the war these smoke generators were used by British Commonwealth ground troops in important roles such as to generate specific coloured smoke for battlefield obscuration and marking of friendly positions to other Allied ground and air units to prevent possible 'friendly fire' incidents.