Bandoliers

[wainfleet]

Hi Keith

The OS haversack referred to in post 47 is the Other Services haversack, initially made of the same canvas as the messtin covers and later on in webbing (which is what the 08 web braces listed were for - one per haversack). It was however not part of the 1908 patt. web equipment, but was intrinsic to the 1903 patt. bandolier equipment. The 1903 patt. belt was also eventually made in webbing. So I suppose you could stretch a point and say webbing items were sometimes worn by mounted men, but they never wore the 1908 patt. webbing, unless perhaps very occasionally the 1908 patt. haversack (of a different pattern to the OS haversack) if for whatever reason that was all there was to hand.

Best wishes,

W.

(Edited 1615)

[Rockdoc]

Ye Gods! The Army can be a complicated place! It makes you wonder how on earth they managed to keep all these items properly listed in the various stores. There's a real potential for trouble. An issue of the wrong haversack might be a trivial problem but I'm sure there were plenty of more serious ones waiting to be made.

The same happened in WW2. While researching a book on the Matchless G3L motorcycle at Kew I found a file of correspondence where they were trying several things to reduce the number of marques supplying the Army and, hence, the amount of spare parts they needed to stock. One was to issue templates to Base Workshops for plates to fits various combinations of engines and gearboxes into spare frames from pretty much any manufacturer. The same kind of problem applied to other vehicles and attempts to have all makers produce one design, as they did with railway locomotives, met with enormous resistance.

Keith

[MrEd]

On 08/02/2009 at 15:35, Peter Doyle said:

One of my favourite pics from my collection. Men of the RGA in pretty much full 1903 pattern bandolier equipment.

Peter

@Peter Doyle  This is a great photo, I have come across it while reading about the equipment of the RGA - are they wearing the web or leather 1903 belt? Or a mixture of both? Are you able to differentiate between web and leather on the hi-res version?

 

thanks

ed

Edited 6 January , 2023 by MrEd