How was ammunition carried in web gear?

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OldBill
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Joined: 04 Mar 2012, 10:19

How was ammunition carried in web gear?

#1

Post by OldBill » 10 Sep 2018, 18:39

Please forgive my ignorance of this most basic of necessities in gear, but today it occurred to me I cannot reliably say how an infantryman of the B.E. carried his ammo in his P37 web gear. Other nations had dedicated ammo pouches, but I don't see these on the P37 gear. Were clips for the Enfield simply dumped into the two pouches on the front of the web gear?

Gary Kennedy
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Joined: 28 Mar 2012, 19:56

Re: How was ammunition carried in web gear?

#2

Post by Gary Kennedy » 10 Sep 2018, 19:59

Chargers, not clips ;>

My understanding is that it was simply a pouch, no internal divisions, as it had to accommodate chargers, Bren magazines, hand grenades, etc.

There are some nice close up pics to be found in this thread on MLU forum, though a lot more in it are now deleted it seems;

http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/showt ... hp?t=13036

Gary


OldBill
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Posts: 358
Joined: 04 Mar 2012, 10:19

Re: How was ammunition carried in web gear?

#3

Post by OldBill » 11 Sep 2018, 11:24

Thank you for this! The thread was very good, very good indeed and I learned from it. Also for pointing out about the charger vs clip, I looked that up and learned the difference. Some folks would think it pedantic but when dealing with ordnance terminology is vital.
Years ago I bought a couple sets of the 37 pattern web gear from Sportsmens Guide. I still use some of it. Now I need to dig the rest of it out and check the stamps, just to see what I can come up with online. Thanks again Gary!

LineDoggie
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Posts: 1275
Joined: 03 Oct 2008, 21:06

Re: How was ammunition carried in web gear?

#4

Post by LineDoggie » 14 Sep 2018, 15:42

OldBill wrote:
10 Sep 2018, 18:39
Please forgive my ignorance of this most basic of necessities in gear, but today it occurred to me I cannot reliably say how an infantryman of the B.E. carried his ammo in his P37 web gear. Other nations had dedicated ammo pouches, but I don't see these on the P37 gear. Were clips for the Enfield simply dumped into the two pouches on the front of the web gear?
Using standard Pattern 37 webbing a British soldier had 1- 50 rd bandolier of .303 rifle ammo in 5 round chargers in one basic pouch. the other basic pouch was reserved for 2x Bren mags for the section lmg
"There are two kinds of people who are staying on this beach: those who are dead and those who are going to die. Now let’s get the hell out of here".
Col. George Taylor, 16th Infantry Regiment, Omaha Beach

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