Article about: The Photographs of Fusilier Tom Payne, 11th Platoon, 'B' Company, 6th Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, 12 August 1944. are often seen but they were only part of a sequence of photographs sh
The Photographs of Fusilier Tom Payne, 11th Platoon, 'B' Company, 6th Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, 12 August 1944. are often seen but they were only part of a sequence of photographs showing what an Infantryman carries into battle. Some of these pictures are in Jean Bouchery "The British Soldier" Volume 1 but the personal items are missing.
The pictures are from the Imperial War Museum website and are free to share but not for commercial use. The words are from IWM
A soldier in a slit trench ready for action, shovel at his side
Entrenching tool case packed
Contents of entrenching tool carrier. Head and handle of entrenching tool. 4 x 2 for rifle cleaning lying on head of entrenching tool, oil bottle and case pull through, rifle cleaning brush, dubbin and brush gauze
Picture Shows contents of small pack Top row left to right: Spare boot laces, washing and shaving material, spare socks, gas cape. Centre row: Hair brush, water sterilising outfit, cigarette and chocolate tin of emergency rations. Bottom row: Knife and fork, spoon, balaclava, face net, mess tin. Kit is spread on a towel.
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Field dressing and additional medical kit he has found useful from experience carried in a gas wallet, elastoplast bound around pencil, bandage, lint and scissors
Photographs of his wife and child
ucky Charms: Pen given to him by an officer now dead. Book view of mirror that has name same as his pal stamped on back, ap enny splashed with yellow paint that he has carried with him for years as far as Alexandria, Seuz Canal, Haifa, Nazareth, Gaza, Bethelehem, Hebron, jeruslaem, Jericho and back to Alexandria and on to Malta, Marseilles and to Cherbourg in 1940 and back to southampton, 18 months in Ireland, south and North of England and then back to France again.
Close-up of a letter from his 5 year old daughter
Many thanks for posting those pics. I have the Bouchery book you mention but it's very useful to be able to view the full set ; this is a thread I'm sure to be referring back to !
What a fantstic and interesting set of photographs... Although I don't collect or have an interest in British kit I know how invaluable pictures like these are as it took me a long time to find Australian versions of this but the quality of the pics were nowhere near as good or as detailed as the ones posted.
Glad you are enjoying the photos, I find it shows how common sense prevailed and items were packed into the entrenching tool canvas, much easier and quicker than trying to get the oil bottle and pull-through back into the rifle butt !
I am pretty sure the boxed razor is a civilian Valet.
The note from his daughter is a real reminder of what a strain it was (and still is) to be fighting away from loved ones.
What an Infantryman carries into battle.
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