MP40 Pouch opinions wanted please.

[aghsmac1]

This is my MP40 right side pouch. I know its original, but i want your opinions about the leather tabs on the back (canvas made instead of leather, why?). The pouch has an ink stamp on the back -photo 13-but its dimmed and i cannot read it.
Thanks for your answers, aghs

[aghsmac1]

anybody please?
thanks, aghs

[Adrian Stevenson]

Are you certain the web strap on the back are not replacements?

Cheers, Ade.

[Horrido]

Hi Aghs,
the pouches look ok and as far as the belt loops are concerned your opinion is as good as anybody else's; they could either be post-War replaced loops (many equipment have been "demilled" after the War for a reason or another) or loops made of webbing material out of necessity!
HTH
Horrido!

[aghsmac1]

Perhaps there are replacements, but why ? Canvas straps seems to be from the same material as the pouch.
thanks, aghs

[Horrido]

Perhaps there are replacements, but why ? Canvas straps seems to be from the same material as the pouch.
thanks, aghs

Hi Aghs,
the loops look like they are made of the same material simply because they're made of...the same material! ;-)
I mean...they're made of genuine WW2 German web but chances are they're replacement sewn after the War.As I've told you before many equipment have been "demilled" after the War for a reason or another(I've personally seen and found many) and since both MP 40 and STG/MP 44 have been used after the War their ammo pouches have been re-issued along with the weapons and, if these pouches had their original loops cut off,restored.These straps could be original to the pouches,mind you,but in my opinion they're not.
As I've told you in my previous post your opinion is as good as mine,Ade's or anybody else's for I think we'll never know for sure.Nice pouches nonetheless!
Horrido!

[JPhilip]

Hello Gentlemen,
If i understand well the last posts, IMO there's not even a chance that belt loops and the pouch itself are made from the same material. The pouch is made of thin ersatz green cloth while belt loops are made of thick canvas which by the way does not look very german to me.
Thanks

[Horrido]

JPhilip is correct,
I've talked too soon watching the pictures from my HTC...nice things but useless when it comes to enlarge pictures (they even looked faded Luftwaffe blue!!!)!My brother-in-law hipad's much more useful,so here we go.
The weave of the pouches and the loops are quite different indeed,and the loops are way thicker but that doesn't mean that they cannot be "period"!In my opinion the loops are not original to the pouches though!
Without a hands-on inspection EVERYBODY is a teacher on fora,and having seven thousand posts under your (as the "royal" you) belt or twelve means nothing,nada,zip in effectively helping a fellow collector,so let's not forget a few things;
1)The Germans occupied twelve thenths of Europe and webbing material was made for and by them just about everywhere,and other Countries' materials have been widely used,especially Italian "dicker segeltuch" and even "liberated" British webbing.
2)After the War the Germans made use of their own type of webbing used,in the making of the gas mask carrying straps for example,but that doesn't mean that the same weave and thickness couldn't have been found in some webbing material made in Bohemia in 1943!
3)A further example could be the holsters produced by the Hungarians even before the outbreak of WW2 for their own Sauer 38 pistol.These holsters,apart from looking 100% German in the way they're made (leather,sewing,closure aso) and being pushed as "Tropical" sometimes and sold for crazy money,had a very peculiar weave to them,and many of them were made anew in Germany by the Cobau firm in Berlin with the very same thick webbing material used by the Hungarian in Hungary.Cobau even "helped" the Hungarian and completed thousands of un-finished holsters and marked them with "hsy".i.e. the secret code allocated to the Cobau Fitm.These pistols and holster were used by the Germans and the Hungarians and you can be sure that the latter may have had more types of webbing material!
4)A few years ago an incredible number of pouches for the Gew43 have surfaced in Russia,they were absolutely original and a few pouches made in 1944 of yellowish canvas (segeltuch) material had a weave that was reminiscing of the one used in the making of the magazintaschen made for the MP44.As a side note the MP 44 pouches made by Hans Roemer in Neu-Ulm/Donau had VERY THICK rear straps,i.e. the strap that secured the left pouch to the right one.
5)Weaves may vary due to the machinery used in the making of the webbing,and it's unlikey that a stock of web slings would have been destroyed because it was thicker or sligthtly thinner in that the producer used to make camping items before the War and used the same machinery in the following years.
6)The weave can become "loose" with the use of a particular item,and even storage (wet...dry...damp conditions) could be crucial.
7)I'm going to post a few pictures of the small bag off an A-frame made by jewish forced labourers in the strreets of Litzmanstadt (Lodz,Poland) and the materials used are different,not to speak of the way the pieces have been sewn together!
8)Ditto for a "last-ditch" brotbeutel made of several different types of webbing and thick fabric.
As I told you before and I'll tell you again,apart from telling blatant fakes/copies/repros from the real thing the last word on items like yours is better left to a hands-on inspection which,unfortunately,is nearly always unlikely.Since this is the case, any opinion justified through sound reasoning could be acceptable,and in my humble opinion these pouches are OK,the rear loop are (always in my humble iopinion!) probably replacements and the web/segeltuch/canvas/you-name-it material they're made of could have well been produced during the War.
We'll never know for sure and as in many,many other cases this become a "matter of faith"!
Sorry for the long,boring post!
Horrido!