Today on Gus’ Gear, I present a few bandoliers. These are difficult to find as they were normally considered disposable
This is a hard to find example of a German bandolier. It has 10 pockets that held 2 stripper clips of 5 cartridges in each pocket for a total of 100 rounds of extra ammunition. Very few of these survived as they would no doubt be re-purposed when empty. I am lucky to have this example due to an extreme shortage of bubble wrap in Norway, when Maggie received a gift from a good friend in Norway, he wrapped it with this, reaffirming that these were re-purposed after use.
The date on this example give some indication of how it survived the war. It was filled on the 25th of October 1918, just over two weeks before the Armistice.
The maker’s name is not fully legible, the 1918 date and Augsburg are.
This is a well known photo of German soldiers on their way to the front carrying two extra bandoliers of ammunition. The soldier in the front also carries two ammo tins that are too small to be belted cartridges for the MG 08, and are more likely rifle cartridges on stripper clips.
This is a British 5 pocket bandolier for .303 cartridges. These are a little easier to find as the British never threw anything away. This example, while dated 1918, was refilled during the Second World War and reused.
The markings on the British bandolier, Nielson 7-18, indicating it was produced in July of 1918.
This is a U.S. 6 pocket bandolier that was loaded with 30-40 cartridges for the Krag rifle and carbines. Each pocket held 10 cartridges in a cardboard box, this is the same bandolier used for 30’06 cartridges for the 1903 and 1917 rifles, those cartridges would be in 5 round stripper clips. This bandolier would carry 60 cartridges.
The markings on the U.S. bandolier show that it was filled December 22nd of 1906.
This is a Russian bandolier, while configured like standard cloth bandoliers, these were also used as ersatz ammunition pouches due to shortages of equipment suffered by the Russian forces.
The Imperial markings were usually blacked out by the Bolsheviks when they were reissued.
This photo shows three young Russian soldiers equipped with cloth bandoliers.