Messages posted by: ASR142

Hi every one
Peter contacted me the other day regarding this post and put me in touch with his son I can now say all of his bits have been reunited with his family as they where split up by mistake about 6 years ago and now reside back with them in there proper place for the time being a good result imo for the family as the bits where sadly missed . Steve

As I mentioned it in an earlier post shown below is the woolly pulley [ Jumper mountain troops ] Original designed for mountain warfare the jumper has a straight neck with holes to the front for a long brown shoe lace style cord fitting these are often washed out and appear lighter in the flesh , These jumpers went through 4 patterns from when they where introduced in 1941 with the other mountain warfare items the Commandos and SAS troops liked them over the standard army thin jumper so they used them instead of the normal jumpers the 1st pattern of these jumpers had no elbow pads which the 2nd pattern examples had added the 3rd pattern examples then had pads on the shoulders added and the 4th and last pattern had the shoulder straps added these where used right up into the late 1960's the latest dated example I have encountered being 1962 .They are not common items but are around .

In this picture we see the pouch opened up with 2 hp mags inside [ empty ] note the over lap with the 2 flaps the copy's are butted next to each other .

In these 2 pics we see a 44 pattern bit of belt which has been stitched to the bottom of the pouch which would be fitted to the belt and have the holster hung from the bottom of the belt bit this adaption would be for the far east and mostly likely the R M commandos in Malaya or Borneo in the late 40's early 50's etc .

this example has had 2 holes put into the bottom of the pouch for the holster top clip to be fixed into it this adaption can bee seen in some commando images from WWII The pouch its self is 1943 dated and has always been attached to this holster note the color of the blancoe and its wear and tear matches they came in together .

In the next few posts we look at the twin mag pouch these where used 1st by the RAF then by the Commandos and by the airborne troops it formed Part of the RAF officers webbing equipment from 1925 by those who used the colt 1911 pistol here we see 2 example that have bee used by the army or commandos these are seen in most group pictures taken in the front line from WWII the 2nd one shown is mounted on a bit of 44 pattern webbing belt and then fixed to the holster by the top clip .

The 2nd pattern ammo pouch assault vest AKA bren vest these are made out of 2 sections and being fixed together with a string or shoe lace through eyelets this was to allow for extra room if needed for wear over smocks etc these seam to be always 1945 dated unlike the 1 st pattern of this type of vest dont seam to be seen in pictures from WWII .

The 1st pattern ammo pouch assault vest AKA bren vest
these where developed along side the main assault jerkin this example is 1943 dated and was designed for minor raids and bren gunners they have on the belt a spike bayonet frog section and nothing much easel .

3rd pic
this shows where the jumper would be kept and other soft kit section

2 pic

The 3rd most iconic bit of kit issued during WWII this was at the top of my most wanted items The dark / chocolate brown example made of a more sturdy canvas martial which was harder wearing basically the same front ammo pouches gas mask pouch side pouch and rear pack to the rear small pack and the entrenching tool [ E TOOL ] head pouch with the soft kit bit to the inside which is where the jumper would be kept as extra padding against the head knocking the lower back area .

Those who are wondering what the most iconic bit of commando equipment issued its got to be the fighting knife followed by the green beret which you will see some examples of later in this thread .

6th pic

5th pic

4th pic