There’s not a lot of military history for this kit. It’s a pretty standard European-style shopping cart. I have pushed a bunch of these around stores in Italy when I was TDY at Vincenza. From my experience working at Kroger’s I know that the American version has a different wheel setup and a shelf below the main basket.
This kit is a marvelously done piece of photoetch. Everything except the push bar, which is done in resin, is on one fret. The basket is one piece with the legs attached. The wheels and axle supports are separate pieces, and there’s a chain which attaches to the push bar. I remember that this chain hooks into a dispenser outside the store, and you put a coin in the dispenser to get your cart. When you’re done, return the cart, and you get your coin back. That’s one way for the store to make sure you don’t leave the cart out there in the parking lot. And if you do, some kid would probably take it back to get the coin.