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WWI US Field Gear


Mitter2k1

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As requested, here is some of my WWI US Army Field Gear. I have been putting this off for a while as it is a bit of a pain to photograph some of the items in a manner that doesn't create a huge pic heavy thread. I am not the best at photography or editing, so please bear with me. 

Thank you

First up is a M1917 Garrison belt. This one is made by Russell and is unmarked. The only way that you can tell is by the style of the pouches. Only two companies made woven pouches, Mills and Russell. Mills pouches are ribbed at the bottoms while Russell has this gathered look about them. I will post a Mills pouch further down so you can compare the two. 

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Next up is a M1917 10 pocket ammo belt made by LONG in February of 1918. This is an example of a wartime belt as it has sewn pockets vs. woven. The manufacturers of this style were RH Long, Plant Bros. & Co., and L.C. Chase.

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Following in the wartime production style of belt, we have a M1918 mounted belt. These were not necessarily used by Cavalry troops, but rather NCOs and troops that would of been issued a sidearm. The pocket nearest the buckle on the wearers left is omitted so a magazine pouch or pouch for the moon clips for the M1917 revolver could be added. This particular belt was made by Plant Bros. and is marked inside of the pouches on both halves. I added a P.B.&Co. magazine pouch to this to round it out.

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Last up for ammo belts is a M1918 BAR gunner belt. This belt is rather interesting as it was not widely used prior to the war ending in November of 1918. It has a steel cup on the right half that allowed the wearer to insert the buttstock of the BAR into it and be able to perform "walking fire" while advancing on enemy positions. It also features an integral pouch for two M1911 magazines. The BAR at the time was a crew served weapon and the gunner was assisted by two men that carried extra magazines in another belt and with bandoliers specialized for the mags. This example has some Korean writing on the flaps and was made by Long in July of 1918.

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Continuing on with a M1917 pistol lanyard. This would of been used with the M1911 semi-auto or M1917 revolver. 

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Next is one of my favorites. This is a signal flag kit used for communication via semaphore code and probably wasn't used much past WWI. It has two large flags that could be tied to the metal pole and then two hand flags for "transmitting" your message.

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Last up for this post is an unissued 11 pocket grenade vest. As far as I know, and the information is slightly varied, these never made it to France or saw extensive use during WWI. It is still a neat item in the fact that they had plans for it, but the war ended too soon for it to be used. These can easily be found like this one with the straps still tied after 98 years.

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Now on to some of the pouches. Here we have the M1910 (3rd model I think) First Aid pouch. Every soldier had one of these and it was used to carry the tin that contained the Carlisle Bandage. 

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Next up is a Mills M1911 magazine pouch dated November, 1917.

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Last up in this post, is a M1916 Squad Leaders pouch. This is much larger than the first aid pouch, and was used to carry a number of items. I don't believe it was ever designed for any one specific item, just used to fit the role of a do all pouch.

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Now on with some mess kit items. 

First up is a M1910 canteen set. The cover was made by Powers in Jan. of 1918 and the canteen and cup were made by AGM CO. in 1918. 

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Next up are a couple of curious items. The ribbed can on the top is a condiment tin that is a rather neat design. There is a lid on each end of the can and inside the can itself is a divider. This was used to store the coffee and sugar rations a soldier would receive. The lid on the left then fulfilled another purpose. It has a small cap that you could pop off and it was used for the salt. Below this is the Model of 1916 Bacon can. This was used to store the meat ration, though I would not trust it today for that sort of use. HAHAHA!

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Continuing with mess items are two meat cans.

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And last but not least, utensils. The set of fork, knife and spoon on the left are part of a small grouping named to on soldier and the set on the right are a few items I had picked up over the years. 

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Here is one item that is probably my luckiest find to date. This is a supplementary spec. wool blanket. According to a fellow collector and researcher, the spec number on this blanket dates it to around mid 1918. They began production under this specification around April, 1918 and continued on for a couple of months before changing it.

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And the best for last. This is my M1910 haversack that I have pieced together. It is nearly complete with the exception of a handful of items that I need to actually fill it out properly. I am using a reproduction M1910 bayonet scabbard for display purposes as I do not want to damage my original M1917 scabbard by attaching it to the haversack. Right now, there are no original components inside the haversack as I have used a box to fill out the top and an old blanket to make the roll at the bottom. Its much lighter than using original items and I am waiting until I have everything to fill it out. 

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Thank you for your interest in these items and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Thanks,

Mike

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Guest Fred Karno's Army

It always strikes me as an awfully awkward set to put together and use,I believe the basis of the design was from a native Indian pack ?. I completed a couple e of WW 1 doughboy sets myself and always couldn't comprehend the design O.o

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2 hours ago, Fred Karno's Army said:

It always strikes me as an awfully awkward set to put together and use,I believe the basis of the design was from a native Indian pack ?. I completed a couple e of WW 1 doughboy sets myself and always couldn't comprehend the design O.o

Believe me when I say it's a pain to put together. The worst is the pack tail and roll as it takes 2 people and practice to do correctly.

Thanks,

Mike 

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Thank you guys. I plan on taking some more photos of some of my items this weekend. Maybe I will cover something I haven't done yet before, but I am not sure yet. I think dog tags would be good since I can just copy and paste my information into the thread. We will see. 

Thanks again,

Mike

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  • Major General

Very interesting post with items we don't usually see.just love the variety of gear you post Mike.terrific stuff!

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19 hours ago, Bil4338 said:

Very interesting post with items we don't usually see.just love the variety of gear you post Mike.terrific stuff!

Thank you and I will try to post more of it in the near future.

Thanks,

Mike

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On July 10, 2016 at 16:48, Mitter2k1 said:

Here is one item that is probably my luckiest find to date. This is a supplementary spec. wool blanket. According to a fellow collector and researcher, the spec number on this blanket dates it to around mid 1918. They began production under this specification around April, 1918 and continued on for a couple of months before changing it.

IMG_0931.JPG

And the best for last. This is my M1910 haversack that I have pieced together. It is nearly complete with the exception of a handful of items that I need to actually fill it out properly. I am using a reproduction M1910 bayonet scabbard for display purposes as I do not want to damage my original M1917 scabbard by attaching it to the haversack. Right now, there are no original components inside the haversack as I have used a box to fill out the top and an old blanket to make the roll at the bottom. Its much lighter than using original items and I am waiting until I have everything to fill it out. 

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Thank you for your interest in these items and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Thanks,

Mike

I  just posted my haversack and was wondering if you could take a look at it and give me some information about the sewing kit. I really enjoyed your display. Thanks 

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23 minutes ago, Beastly said:

I  just posted my haversack and was wondering if you could take a look at it and give me some information about the sewing kit. I really enjoyed your display. Thanks 

Sure thing and thank you. I am glad that you enjoyed it. 

Mike

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Here is something I forgot to post the other day and when I saw Beastly's kit, it reminded me. Here is my Valey Auto Strop shaving kit. Every doughboy in the trenches had to be clean shaven to allow his gas mask to seal properly and to think that this small item may of helped save a soldiers life is pretty cool to say the least. 

Thanks,

Mike

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