EM33 American Web Equipment 1910-1967 E-Book

Martin J Brayley

• Herausgeber: The Crowood Press
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: EM33 Europa Militaria Series
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 121

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2006

Beschreibung

In this book, a follow-up to the same author's well-received study of British web equipment, Martin Brayley gives a detailed illustrated overview of the webbing straps, holsters, carriers and haversacks used by American combat troops from before World War One to the Vietnam War. Hundreds of different items are photographed, and the often small differences between suppliers and periods are pointed in the learned and informative text. This book offers collectors and students of militaria a detailed and authoritative review of the development of the US Army's web equipment. It tells the story from the first M1910 set taken to France by the 'Doughboys' of World War One to the M1956 and its M1967 replacement worn by the 'grunts' in Vietnam. Superbly illustrated with more than 100 full-colour photographs. Martin Brayley is a prolific collector of military equipment and is a photographer by profession.

Leseprobe

First published in 2006 byThe Crowood Press LtdRamsbury, MarlboroughWiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2024

© Martin J. Brayley 2006

All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 0 7198 4353 2

Author’s note

This work covers the equipment issued to US dismounted and mounted troops. It does not include items unique to the cavalry, such as the M1914 equipment, or Navy and USMC equipments. I hope readers will forgive the omission of some specific items; this was unavoidable in order to allow space for a broader history of the development of US web equipment.

The terms ‘mounted troops’ and ‘cavalry’ are often but erroneously used as if they were interchangeable. Before and during World War II many nations still relied on horses for many tasks, particularly as artillery and transport wagon teams. Soldiers whose duties required them to ride were classified as mounted troops; cavalry were a very distinct arm of service.

The term ‘charger’ has been used here for the item used to hold cartridges (generally five rounds) before their insertion into the weapon, the charger then being discarded. The term ‘clip’ has been used for an integral ammunition holder that was inserted into the weapon complete with the cartridges.

The term ‘pre-war’ refers here to dates before American involvement in the two World Wars, respectively in April 1917 and December 1941.

Collectors should be aware that many of the items shown in this work are now being reproduced, from early M1910 ‘eagle snap’ equipment through to M1967 Vietnam kit – caveat emptor. Every effort has been made to ensure that all the items illustrated here are original to period.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my wife Caroline for correcting my original manuscript and tolerating my passion for things military. I would also like to thank Rog Dennis, Ed Storey, Tom Ready, Frankie A.Gollub Jr and olive-drab.com.

About the author

Martin J.Brayley works as a professional photographer and a freelance author, and is best known for his work on uniformology. Having served for 24 years in the armed forces, he has a keen interest in all aspects of military history, particularly uniforms and equipment of the first half of the 20th century, and is a dedicated militaria collector and researcher. His published works include British Web Equipment of the Two World Wars (EM 32); World War II British Women’s Uniforms in Colour Photographs (EMS 7); The World War II Tommy – British Army Uniforms, Europe 1939–45, in Colour Photographs; and Khaki Drill & Jungle Green – British Tropical Uniforms 1939–45 in Colour Photographs (all for The Crowood Press). He has written and illustrated a number of other works on the British Army, women’s and Home Front services of 1939–45, and a book covering 300 years of bayonet development. He is a regular contributor to the French language magazine Militaria.

Contents

Introduction

The M1910 Equipment

Part I: World War I

Marking and maintenance

Description and evolution of components

Part II: World War II

Marking and maintenance

Description and evolution of components

Part III: Korea and Vietnam

The M1956 Load Carrying Equipment

Description and evolution of components

The M1967 Modified Load Carrying Equipment

Description and evolution of components

Dating post-Korean War equipment

Select Bibilography

Introduction

From the earliest times, leather had been the material from which much of any soldier’s personal field equipment – his belts, scabbards, pouches, and other miscellaneous kit– had been produced; but in 1880 the United States Army became the first to adopt a webbing item for universal issue. Although trials had proved woven cotton webbing to be far superior to leather in many respects, its adoption was at first limited to a dark blue webbing waistbelt looped for cartridges. These loops were stitched around the outer face of the belt, which was closed with a brass ‘belt fastener’. The belt provided the soldier with a ready supply of 40 brass .45–70 cartridges for his single-shot, breechloading 1873 Springfield ‘trapdoor’ rifle.

Belts were originally made by the firm of Gilbert and later by Oberndorff. The Mills Woven Cartridge Belt Company of Worcester, Massachusetts, was eventually set up to manufacture Mills’ integrally woven web belts, the company being incorporated in 1902. The firm had been founded by US Army officer Anson Mills and Charles Gilbert, a weaver. Mills, born in Indiana in 1834, had an adventurous life as a soldier, retiring as a brigadier-general in 1897. In military circles Mills is best known for having invented a weaving loom that was capable of producing webbing belts with integrally woven cartridge loops. Patented in 1877, the principle was soon developed to provide first double and then triple loops. These one-piece belts were much stronger than the previous models with stitched loops. Anson Mills died at the age of 90 in November 1924, and was buried with full honours in Arlington Military Cemetery. He had been prominent and successful in a number of fields, and was an early supporter of women’s suffrage and racial equality; but it was the invention of his loom and the Mills Woven Cartridge Belt Co that had made his name and fortune.

In 1896 the US Army adopted a new khaki webbing belt that took the .30–40 ammunition used with the 1892 Krag Jorgensen rifle used in the Spanish-American War (1898–1902). No expense was spared in its development; the best quality spun cotton was woven, and then treated by new waterproofing techniques that made the webbing resistant to damp and rot – an essential requirement in the Cuban and Philippine campaigns.

The next Mills development was the introduction of belts with integrally woven and partitioned pockets and their top flaps, called the ‘pocket waistbelt’. At the start of the 20th century extensive trials were undertaken in the search for a new equipment set for the US Army; Mill’s pocket waistbelt was found to be the best design, and under the advice of the Board of Officers it was adopted for the US Army as the M1903. Large orders for the new belt, and a set of suspenders (braces) to support its loaded weight, were placed for the Army, Marines and National Guard. A modified version of the M1903 belt, with pocket dividers and cartridge retainer straps, was later issued as the M1914 cavalry belt.

This new pocketed belt was designed to carry the .30–06 ammunition used with the 1903 bolt-action Springfield rifle then replacing the Krag Jorgensen. These cartridges were issued in 5-round chargers; originally the belt was offered with nine or ten pockets carrying 90 or 100 rounds, but the nine-pocket design was later standardized. Mills cartridge belts were adjustable from 30 to 46 inches. The pockets were closed with ‘ball-and-socket’ fasteners (termed ‘glove fasteners’ in official publications, but referred to in this text as snap fasteners). The fasteners were distinctive in that they bore the device of the service for which they were destined, such as the Army’s eagle, USMC eagle-globe-andanchor, or state devices. It was a military requirement that the snap should withstand fastening and unfastening 5,000 times without losing its efficiency.

A studio portrait of a US soldier at the time of the Spanish-American War; his web waistbelt and bandoleer are both woven with double rows of loops. Note also the canvas leggings. It is remarkable to reflect that a century after the introduction of the Mills webbing belt some nations continued to issue their troops with leather equipment in even recent wars (for instance, Argentina in the 1980s, and Yugoslavia in the 1990s).

Initially the Mills company had the monopoly on web production, but the Russell Manufacturing Co of Middleton, Connecticut – the only other company with the necessary looms – were soon producing the integrally woven pocketed web belts. Britain was rather more conservative than the USA and retained leather equipment until 1908, when a Mills-produced web set was introduced into service (see this author’s British Web Equipment of the Two World Wars, EM 32). A licence to produce web equipment in England had been granted in 1898; the War Office purchased web belts and bandoleers from the Mills factory in England, and some saw limited service during the Boer War (1898–1902).

A fine study of a US infantryman wearing the M1903 belt with M1903 equipment suspenders. These items were worn by the first US troops to arrive in Britain in 1917, and period photographs also show that many were still armed with the Krag Jorgensen rifle.

The US Quartermaster General was soon to supply the ‘Doughboy’ with the most modern, complete and fully integrated equipment set available to any soldier. Mills worked closely with the Army, taking field conditions fully into consideration in developing this M1910 system to replace the M1903 belt and a variety of other equipment then in use. Despite some shortcomings this system, with its later modifications and additions, was to see the US soldier through two world wars.

The M1910 Equipment

The new M1910 equipment was made of webbing and canvas in Olive Drab shade No.9. The specification required it to carry a maximum load of 50lb, including ammunition and clothing. As issued, it came in at 48lb, broken down as follows: pack carrier (with blanket, shelter half, pegs, poncho), 9¼lb; cartridge belt (with 100 rounds of ammunition, full canteen, first aid packet), 11½lb; haversack (with bayonet, intrenching tool, rations, mess kit, wash kit), 10½lb. The complete haversack and equipment thus totalled 31¼lb; the rifle added 9lb and the clothing 7¾lb, bringing the soldier’s total load to 48lb. This weight compared favourably with the burden of the infantrymen of major foreign armies. Comparisons made by the QM Department found that the average British soldier carried 52lb, Japanese 55lb, French 56lb, German 60lb, Russian 60lb and Austrian 63lb.

The M1910 equipment system, designed to accommodate all of a field soldier’s needs, included a number of items in addition to the webbing equipment used for carriage of ammunition and necessaries, such as a newly designed canteen, mess kit and condiment can. Primary web equipment consisted of:

Cartridge belt, dismounted M1910

Cartridge belt, mounted M1910

Garrison belt M1910

Garrison belt, officer’s M1910

Garrison belt, non-commissioned staff and first sergeant M1910

Garrison belt, enlisted M1910

Pistol belt, with sabre ring M1910

Pistol belt, without sabre ring M1910

Cartridge belt, revolver M1910

Canteen cover, dismounted M1910

Canteen cover, mounted M1910

Haversack M1910

Pack carrier M1910

Meatcan M1910

Other M1910 components included:

Bayonet scabbard M1910

Bolo scabbard M1910

Bacon can M1910

Canteen M1910

Cleaning rod M1910

Cleaning rod case M1910

Condiment can M1910

Cup M1910

Spoon M1910

Fork M1910

Knife M1910

Dispatch case M1910

Axe, hand M1910

Carrier, axe M1910

Pick mattock M1910

Carrier, pick mattock M1910

Pouch, first aid M1910

Intrenching tool M1910

Carrier, intrenching tool M1910

Wire cutter M1910

Carrier, wire cutter M1910

The impact of the Mills company’s research and development was such that webbing would equip many of the world’s armies throughout the 20th century; but although Mills representatives were active world-wide, its immediate planned sale to many of them was aborted by the unexpected outbreak of the Great War in August 1914. Britain (Pattern 1908) and the USA (Model 1910) had already adopted web equipments; Portugal (P1912) and Belgium (P1915) used a Mills webbing set alongside leather equipment; but most nations entered World War I with leather equipment.

Photographed during the Mexican Punitive Expedition of 1916, these two soldiers wear M1903 belt equipment with M1909 suspenders, and blanket rolls. Although the appearance of the US soldier changed rapidly in the pre-war years with the introduction of M1910 equipment, both the M1903 belt and M1909 suspenders were later to be seen in use with the American Expeditionary Force in France.

The leather shoulder strap (1) used for carriage of both the M1903 haversack (right) and M1879 canteen (left). (2) late production M1887 cartridge belt, with 45 single loops, and (3) Mills belt with double loops for 90 rounds. Both taking .30–40 rounds for the Krag rifle, these belts were standard issue during the Spanish-American War and were still available from the Mills company during the 1920s. (4) intrenching tool cover, and (5) M1892 Krag bayonet.

Below these are two variants of the M1903 belt with integral charger pockets closed with ‘eagle snaps’, introduced for use with the .30–06 1903 Springfield rifle: (6) early variant belt with plain pockets, and fitted here with M1879 canteen on M1903 suspension strap; (7) second pattern belt showing internal adjustment, and the ‘puckered’ pockets introduced in 1906 after pointed ‘Spitzer’-type bullets caused excessive wear on the earlier pockets. (8) the similar M1907 belt, its pockets with internal dividers and heavily reinforced at the base to prevent wear; this too used eagle snaps. (Bottom right) M1908 haversack; this attached directly to the M1903 belt using hooks. Prior to its issue earlier haversack designs had used ‘D’-rings for suspension from the leather (later web) shoulder strap.

The M1903 and M1907 belts and associated equipment were in use during the 1916 Mexican operations and were still very much in evidence during World War I.

PART I:

World War I

Although war broke out in Europe in August 1914, it was not until April 1917 that the USA became embroiled. Following the declaration of war the US armed forces expanded beyond all recognition, and by the time of the Armistice in 1918 more than 2,000,000 Americans had been deployed to Europe. Most of them carried the M1910 equipment, but many Doughboys were still equipped with M1903 belts and M1903 or M1909 suspenders. These pre-M1910 items, along with many other Mills products, were still being advertised for sale in the company’s post-war catalogues.