Strange Mismatched 37 Pattern Cartridge Pouches

[Spitace41]

Hi all. Thought I would post this pouch as it appear to be unusual. The top pouch was manufactured in 1943 by I think Bafa, which I thought was a Canadian company, while the bottom pouches were made by MW&S in 1940. I have not seen this before and cannot think why it would have been done. Surely during and even after the War there would have been plenty of examples of this pouch to make such repairs unnecessary? Any thoughts? Cheers.

[Mark K]

IMO not a repair looks to be straight on modified to my eyes the thread used to attach the buckled chape on the rear looks like new thread as well perhaps used for a personal firearm and the ammo size was a bit different and or a compass perhaps.

Regards Mark

[karkee]

Hey Spitace41,

There was a lengthy thread on these P37 triple ammo pouches on another forum a few years ago…

WWIIReenacting.co.uk Forums

I personally believe that your pouch was a wartime modification carried out by the Indian Army and made up of early British-made webbing and mid war Indian-made webbing produced by BATA (Indian-made Pattern 1937 Webbing Set Overview) which would have both been available to the Indian Army. Prior to the war, a reduced set of Pattern 1908 pouches was introduced for Indian soldiers, supposedly because the full size pattern swamped Sepoys of thinner build.

Here is an example of the reduced Indian P08 cartridge carrier (from Karkee Web).



Apparently, the double pocket Pattern 1937 cartridge carries did not offer enough ammunition carrying capacity and so were modified by splitting one carrier in half, attaching a fabric border around the edge, and attaching it above another set of pockets.

Here is a set of unmodified Indian cartridge carriers, made by Bata in 1943.



Here is a modified pouch similar pouch to yours that uses only webbing made by the Indian Bata Shoe Company (as well as a postwar Italian triple pouch).



Here is an Indian pouch of the same configuration, but with a factory-made upper pocket.



Here is a photograph of some soldiers from the 4th Indian Division. Note the triple ammo pouches shown on the right.



These modified triple pouches should not be confused with the triple pouch pockets of South African Braithwaite equipment or Pattern 1940 cavalry webbing. Additionally, they are different from the triple pouches produced in Italy after the war.

Here is what the triple pockets from the aforementioned sets look like (These are actually Pattern 1940 carriers).



Here is a postwar Italian carrier with a fake broad arrow/date stamp (these feature smooth snaps with Italian maker marks)

[Spitace41]

Thanks very much for the info Karkee. Incidentally, it came with some of the Italian pouches. Cheers.