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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

The unconventional wearing of equipment


Cymro

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I thought I'd start a thread on this as I find it quite interesting. Also having recently watched Peter Jackson's "They Shall Not Grow Old" where there are a lot of images showing the unconventional wearing of equipment.

 

The wearing of the entrenching tool holder in the front to protect the groin and upper thighs is shown and I know has been discussed here. Also one soldier is shown wearing an 08 right hand pouch and a pistol ammo pouch on the left (either with a brace adaptor of with a sewn in shoulder strap - not clear). The wearing of a waterbottle on top of the entrenching tool on the back. The occasional mixing of 08 and 1914 (although I need to watch again to see how that is possible!). Also the almost universal wearing of 08 or 1914 leather rigs by officers on the front lines.

 

Aside from the film's other great merits I found watching for these ways in which equipment was worn in practice quite fascinating. Can anyone add some more combinations at all?

 

 

Edited by Cymro
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What equipment was provided and how  that was adapted by the soldiers is a case study where the variations are innumerable. Soldiers have been adapting kit since whenever the first "pattern" was issued and still do. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi

One that can often be seen is the SD cap leather chin strap, one part placed below the badge and the other above. Similarly splitting the strap itself and having it braided or pleated. 

Regards

Dave

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1 hour ago, Dave1418 said:

Hi

One that can often be seen is the SD cap leather chin strap, one part placed below the badge and the other above. Similarly splitting the strap itself and having it braided or pleated. 

Regards

Dave

A method that I believe was known as the 'tram driver'.

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Presumably the 'helmets' highlighted in post 3 would be balaklavas rather than steel helmets. 

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This shot of an NCO kitted out for Russia (c.1919) shows an interesting stowage of bayonet and helve, presumably to keep them out of the way on the march or perhaps during embarkation. You can just see the chape of the bayonet scabbard sticking out from the water bottle carrier.

 

Pete

 

 

19333287-03F8-4BE3-A30E-502730540819.jpeg

Edited by Pete_C
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great photo Pete, merry xmas.Mike.

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His shoulder title appears to be T over a number and county

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20 hours ago, gronksmil said:

great photo Pete, merry xmas.Mike.

Cheers Mike, all the best mate. 

Here's another one for you. First one is a crop from a well known IWM image showing the entrenching tool deployed to the front as mentioned in the OP.  The other shot (also IWM) shows the same chap from the rear. If you look closely at his haversack you'll see the side buckles are tied together across the top and the rest of it is tied tightly with some sort of string or lace in the style of the modern compression sack, including his mess-tin. I suspect it was done to stop it catching in the confines of a trench rather than to squeeze in more contents. 

 

Pete

IMG_1225.PNG

IMG_1223.PNG

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9th Hampshires, a Territorial Bn. which had sat out the war in India, despatched to Siberia in 1918 as part of British military intervention in the Russian Civil War. The Hants and their sister Bn. 25th Middlesex were primarily garrison troops and (with the exception of a single engagement by 25th Middlesex at Dukhovskaya in August 1918 in which they did not suffer a fatality) did not fire a shot in anger in Russia.

 

This photo would have been taken near Omsk, Siberia, summer 1919.

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On 26/12/2018 at 17:09, PhilB said:

In post #11, is that an eating iron tucked down his puttee?

Certainly looks as if there is.

 

On 18/12/2018 at 22:20, Pete_C said:

This shot of an NCO kitted out for Russia (c.1919) shows an interesting stowage of bayonet and helve, presumably to keep them out of the way on the march or perhaps during embarkation. You can just see the chape of the bayonet scabbard sticking out from the water bottle carrier.

 

Pete

 

 

19333287-03F8-4BE3-A30E-502730540819.jpeg

Not surprising - one old soldier who carried the 07 bayonet told me that it was specially designed to dig in the back of the thigh while marching when worn as regulation.

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On 18/12/2018 at 20:41, Steven Broomfield said:

Presumably the 'helmets' highlighted in post 3 would be balaklavas rather than steel helmets. 


Indeed. In my local newspapers woolen sleeping helmets and body belts were among the items most sent out during winter 1914 for the local soldiers.

Derek.

Edited by Derek Black
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  • 3 weeks later...

One thing my decades of military service taught me is that uniforms are definitely not uniform!  Except on parades when the big badge is about his work!

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