WWI Portuguese Webbing Straps Made By Mills Equipment Company

[karkee]

I just picked these up the other day from a seller in Portugal. In the listing, he stated...

"These are Portuguese Army M/913 supporting utility straps made by M.E.Co for the Portuguese Army during World War One.
Portugal had adopted the Mills webbing early in 1913, a very similar variant of the British pattern 08 webbing, and this was the main equipment used by the Portuguese troops sent to Flanders during World War One.
Many of these sets were made in Portugal with components imported from the Mills Equipment Company (M.E.Co) but as the war progressed and in particular after the Georgette offensive by the Germans and the heavy loss of men and materiel by the Portuguese Expeditionary Force the quantity of materiel directly supplied by M.E.Co increased.
These type of straps were carried over to the M/943-44 webbing (a variant of the British Pattern 37) and used along other items until the early 60's.
These straps were made by M.E.Co in 1918 and supplied to the Portuguese Army, these are clearly marked and in very good condition for their age."

I guess this makes sense as they are not broad arrow marked and are 22 inches in length, rather than the 32 inches of the Pattern 1908 support strap.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Interesting I would never have know. Thanks.

Cheers, Ade.

[Warspite]

And I thought I enjoyed collecting obscure webbing! I must confess I know very little about the Portuguese Mills Equipment, am I right in assuming its pretty hard to find?

[karkee]

I would not have known either if the seller hadn't explained it in the listing. Besides that diagram that I gleaned off the web years ago, I have never heard or seen anything else about this pattern. The short length of the straps mean that they barely reach the bottom of the pack, which the diagram demonstrates. The diagonal straps on the cartridge carriers must have been longer than the Pattern 1908 to make up for this.

It sounds like much of this webbing was lost on the Western Front, so I don't expect to make a set anytime soon...lol

[19mac79]

Hi I've just bought a genuine skeleton set of m1916 Portuguese mills equipment. Made by US branch of mills for the Portuguese expeditionary force and all dated 1916. It's incredibly rare stuff in the UK but I imagine less so In Portugal itself. When I work out how to add a pic I'll load one up.
Andy

[karkee]

I look forward to seeing those pictures Andy!

To upload a photo, simply click 'go advanced' under the text box. Then, from the options, click the picture of the tree inside the frame (aka the 'insert image' button). A box will pop up. In the lower right hand corner, click 'basic uploader'. Make sure that you are under the 'from computer' tab, then simply browse for and upload the picture you want. it will appear in you post as text, but once you submit the post, it will appear as the picture.

Hope this helps!

[19mac79]

Hi karkee I'm struggling adding pictures. I'm on my mobile phone internet at the moment. I've tried the go advanced route but I can't see an option choice to get to the tree in a frame icon. It may be staring me in the face but I can't see it. It only allows me to rate the thread etc. Is it different loading pics up from a mobile phone?
Thanks
Andy

[karkee]

Sorry Andy, I've never tried to upload anything from my phone. I'm not sure if the process is different or not...

[19mac79]

Hi Karkee

Well this is my first attempt at uploading the pics of the Portuguese 1916 pattern cavalry webbing.
Sorry about the clarity of the pics. The two ammo pouches and belt section are 1916 dated and US mills made. The single cross strap has no markings. Although this has the same fittings (blackened brass) as the rest of the equipment, I don't believe it to be part of the 1916 pattern equipment. Most probably just an unusual 37ptn strap. The frog again is unmarked but exactly the same as the 1913 pattern (2nd model) Portuguese equipment. Again this is probably just a 37ptn frog as other than markings they're pretty much identical.
Hope this helps.

Andy

- - ------- - -

Apologies for the poor quality pics. They looked really clear on my ipad lol. Ah well.

Andy

[Warspite]

Interesting how similar it all is to 1940 pattern webbing. As ever Mills dusted an old design (this one) off and just updated it for the British Army