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Date: |
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Description: | HL. ANNEGER
BERLIN
1914
First World War period German Army ammunition pouches. Each pouch had a capacity to house four clips of five 7.92mm rounds of rifle ammunition - thus enabling the soldier to carry 120 cartridges in pouches and a further 30 in his knapsack
To off-set the weight, metal hooks fitted to the leather knapsack straps engaged into the metal 'D' rings on the reverse of the pouches, but as an improvised alternative, soldiers often fed their adjustable breadbag straps over their necks and clipped them to the pouches, forming a brace.
Initially most German infantrymen's leather accoutrements were of natural tan leather, but from September 1915, regulations stated that leather equipment was to be blackened, though this practice had been pursued on a local level since the onset of trench warfare.
Pouches: triple rifle ammunition pouch made of blackened leather, the back remains the original brown colour. Each pouch is top access and is secured closed by a thin leather strap that engages over a metal stud that is fitted to the underside, centre. To the reverse of the centre pouch is fitted a metal 'D' ring (to accommodate a metal hook on the equipment brace) and either side of this are fitted short vertical straps so that the pouch can slide onto a waistbelt. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | HL. ANNEGER, BERLIN | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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