Ammo Pouches

[JPhilip]

Hello,
Concerning 1911 ammo pouches :
For the Luftwaffe, prewar they were produced in brown chocolate leather. From 1940, they were in black leather.
For the Heer, prewar they were produced in natural brown leather and soldiers had to blacken them. They usually have blackened all leather parts that were not in contact with the Feldbluse, you perfectly understand why....that's why the front is black but not the rear....From 1940, ammo pouches were produced in black leather.
Thanks

[Ben Evans]

Many early production pouches show such later blackening.
Are there any unit markings inside the pocket lids?

I actually lied to you, I rechecked and found a DRP mark in one of the pouches, "Deutsches Reich Post"?

[AZPhil]

Thank you JPhilip for the explaination and the lesson.

Stay Safe
Semper Fi
Phil

[PotatoDigger]

I actually lied to you, I rechecked and found a DRP mark in one of the pouches, "Deutsches Reich Post"?

DRP is an abbreviation for "Deutsches Reichspatent"
So it's a Patent marking, you can see DRP on a plethora of items from before 1945, some civic helmets have "DRP ang." (DRP angemeldet=submitted(not yet approved)) and M31 liners made by Schuberth for example also have DRP markings as they held the patent for them.
Luis

[Ben Evans]

Many thanks Luis

[MP44tom]

Hi Luis

What you say is true, however in this case it is very likely that the DRP stands for Deutsche Reichs Post :

I bet the marking is on the 1934 dated pouch.....

In 1934, with the rearmament program, the “Reichspost” was armed, sort of to ignore the Versailles Rules.

I have a K98 (mauser banner) from 1933 which is marked DRP, and also a cleaning kit marked DRP

Most of the time with a abbreviation of the City (Dtmd - Dortmund, Han - Hannover) etc

@Ben, could you check again if there is a stamp for a city present ?

Tom

[Ben Evans]

Thanks Tom, I will have a look when I get back form work

[PotatoDigger]

Hi Luis

What you say is true, however in this case it is very likely that the DRP stands for Deutsche Reichs Post :

I bet the marking is on the 1934 dated pouch.....

In 1934, with the rearmament program, the “Reichspost” was armed, sort of to ignore the Versailles Rules.

I have a K98 (mauser banner) from 1933 which is marked DRP, and also a cleaning kit marked DRP

Most of the time with a abbreviation of the City (Dtmd - Dortmund, Han - Hannover) etc

@Ben, could you check again if there is a stamp for a city present ?

Tom

Hi Tom,
thanks for the info, didn't know that..
Mailmen armed with K98s, must've been quite the time back then!
Usually when I see DRP I just assume it's the patent marking but I wasn't away that this very same marking was also used by the Reichspost.
Luis

[Ben Evans]

Hi Luis

What you say is true, however in this case it is very likely that the DRP stands for Deutsche Reichs Post :

I bet the marking is on the 1934 dated pouch.....

In 1934, with the rearmament program, the “Reichspost” was armed, sort of to ignore the Versailles Rules.

I have a K98 (mauser banner) from 1933 which is marked DRP, and also a cleaning kit marked DRP

Most of the time with a abbreviation of the City (Dtmd - Dortmund, Han - Hannover) etc

@Ben, could you check again if there is a stamp for a city present ?

Tom

Bang on the money Tom, dated 1934 and there is another stamp in it, looks like a Kih I think

[MP44tom]

I love it when i’m right !! Haha, only kidding ofcourse

Kln - Köln !! Nice pouch, if you ever want to get rid of it.... or trade it for another set of K98 pouches....

Or for a good Gasmask cannister strap

Cheers
Tom