great thread ive just loged in and seen this. ive been working on my australian set today.
great thread ive just loged in and seen this. ive been working on my australian set today.
Hi Mike, To answer your question I have seen pics of entrenching tools being carried later in the war during the Borneo operations as well as the folding wire cutters and a few pics of the e-tool in use in New Guinea also but not many, I don't think they were very popular. Although the cover is unissued the e-tool in my carrier is D^D marked well used and painted jungle green.
As for belts it is very uncommon to find Aussie made and marked belts as they were only lightly stamped, usually with purple ink and it wore off after being worn and to be honest almost all of the WW2 belts you will find that are actually named to ww2 diggers will be early 1940-41 British M.E.Co or mid war Canadian ZL&T... I did see an unissued J.J 1945 D^D marked belt 2 weeks ago at a militaria store but I didn't ask the price because in it's untouched unblanco'ed form it was a really horrible green colour.
Luke.
Unfortunately all of my webbing is packed away at the moment as I am going overseas for a couple of weeks but I will get around to doing some pics up as soon as I get back. I do have a couple of sets photographed on my pc which will have to do for now.
Anyway... Here is a mid war Canadian made (Australian issued) officers set, I went with a small haversack instead of the valise as this is a more Australian style configuration.
Every piece is 1942 or 43 dated except the small frame holster (it is dated 1941) and every component is ZL&T Ltd marked bar the haversack and canteen carrier, they are marked MS&U Ltd
Cheers Luke.
Hi Luke,
Thanks for the info on the ET carrier. If you ever have one of the photos handy perhaps you can post a picture and put the myth to rest.
I suspected that Aussie belts would be lightly marked, if marked at all. I would guess that the only identifying feature on an unmarked belt would be extra thick back buckles. Also, I'm surprised that a wartime belt would be made in green webbing, though I have seen postwar belts (marked CGHF) in that shade.
-Mike
That is a great set Luke! Those Canadian belts are very hard to come by in North America and very sought after by the Canadians (they blancoed them and removed the buckles on most of them after the war).
Do you know if the Australians used Canadian-made waterbottles or just the carriers?
-Mike
Hi mate you are spot on that is the exact colour it was that horrible post war 1960's colour I really should have grabbed it as it would have been fairly cheap, although I would never be able to use it in a display it probably would be good to have just to have an example like it.
Have sent you a PM
Cheers Luke.
No mate we just used our own canteens but we did use plenty of Canadian made carriers you can actually still find these and a lot of Canadian gear here in bulk still unissued... I had that much of the stuff I had to offload a lot of it, I think I am down to 20 or so pairs of Canadian basic pouches now lol.
Good Canadian belts are getting hard to find everywhere, I think I have 7 of them now. The last one I got I was quite lucky it only cost me $25 and it came with an unissued Canadian bino pouch as well.
Hi Luke,
Thanks for the info on the waterbottles. I read on some forum that the Canadian made carriers with the added belt hooks were created postwar for civil defense or something...is that true?
Seven Canadian belts, wow! I bought a ZL&T 1941 belt from a seller in South Africa a while back, so I think a lot of them went there early in the war as well. If you ever decide to sell any of your Canadian belts, just make sure you list them on the US eBay (I think they will fetch quite a bit more money).
-Mike
Yeah those canteen carriers were modified post war by the army and were supposed to be used carry the new 1956 pattern plastic US water bottles, they even had almost WW2 style felt covers for the plastic canteens as well... Australia was actually still using 1937 pattern webbing well into the late 1960's.
I have seen a lot of sellers try to sell them as WW2 modified but they you are right, they aren't.
Cheers Luke.
Last edited by AIF; 01-25-2014 at 09:41 PM.
wow just wow
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