MHillyard Posted December 26, 2011 Share Posted December 26, 2011 Anyone know what it is for? what they small slips at the top for? Dated 1945 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Suslowicz Posted December 26, 2011 Share Posted December 26, 2011 It looks like a standard "Utility Pouch" with added cartridge loops. Could they be for Ballastite cartridges for use with rifle grenades? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHillyard Posted December 26, 2011 Author Share Posted December 26, 2011 the main pouch itself seems fairly normal, its those bits at the top that puzzle me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Suslowicz Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 the main pouch itself seems fairly normal, its those bits at the top that puzzle me They're obviously .303" cartridge loops, either for a rifle grenade or (as now seems more likely) tracer rounds. I vaguely remember being taught Fire Orders, one of which was "N rounds, range X hundred yards, watch this tracer" with the footnote that this would only apply once tracer rounds were on general issue to the infantry. I'd lay odds it's so that half a dozen tracer rounds could be carried, and kept separate from the rest of the ammunition carried. Chris. (Equipment of the WWII Tommy shows examples of Canadian and Indian made pouches with these loops (page 13) and reckons they were indeed for Ballastite or Tracer/Incendiary rounds. (I've just dug it out and looked).) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHillyard Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 so i'm guessing they would go in like this... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woa2 Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 It's a standard 1937 pattern Bren Pouch but made in Canada. The Canadian made ones had the loops for the 3 cartridges, the British made ones didn't - I don't know why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdbikemad Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 These loops in the pouch lid were part of the original design specification for the 37 pattern universal pouches, and factory fitted to the British-made MK1's between 1937 and 1940 (at the latest)......they also featured on the similar, larger "utility" pouches for the same period........they were (apparently) intended for "ballistite" rounds for rifle grenades....... Although disappearing from British production, they do seem to have continued to be fitted to some Canadian, Indian, New Zealand, South African and Australian-manufactured pouches, right up to 1945 in some cases despite the use for the loops having largely disappeared well prior to then...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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