Today on Gus’ Gear I present a selection of cartridge pouches used by Germany, The Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary and Italy, the next week I will cover Russia, Japan, Portugal, France and the United Kingdom.
This is a pair of German M1909 triple pocket pouches. Each pocket would hold 3 stripper clips of 5 rounds each giving a total 90 rounds for both pouches. These were manufactured in 1915 and have brass support rings on the back and brass studs for the closure straps. Early in the war they were natural brown, later orders were issued to dye all leather black, these show signs of having been blackened.
This is a pair of German M1887/88 NCO pouches manufactured in 1916. These have steel support rings and studs of brass. These pouches would hold three stripper clips of 5 rounds giving a total of 30 rounds for both pouches. The pouch on the left has brass frames riveted inside to hold the individual clips. These were issued to NCOs and technical troops who would not require a large amount of reserve ammunition.
This is a pair of German M1874/87 pouches designed to carry 11mm cartridges for the M1871/84 rifle. It has brass fittings and has fiber board inserts to hold 30 cartridges. These could also be used to carry 8mm cartridges in stripper clips by removing the inserts. These pouches were used throughout the war due to shortages of equipment, but mostly for Landwehr.
This is a pair of Turkish M1909 cartridge pouches, they are constructed in the same way as the German pouches, but lack any type of marking and are made of a heavier leather that some have reported as being camel hide.
This is a pair of Austro-Hungarian M1895 cartridge pouches. They have steel fittings and each pocket holds two Mannlicher clips of 5 rounds each for a total of 40 rounds for both pouches. The infantry back pack had a provision for carrying an additional 100 rounds of ammunition. These pouches were not left or right, and are not symmetrical when worn in pairs
This is a pair of Austro-Hungarian M1888 pouches. Originally designed to carry four Mannlicher clips each of 8x52mm cartridges for the M1888 Steyr straight pull rifle, they could also carry 11mm cartridges for the M1886 rifle or 8×50 cartridges for the M1895 and M1888/95 rifles. These were used throughout the war, mostly by Naval and second line troops.
Here are two Austro-Hungarian single pocket pouches. They were issued to mounted and technical troops who did not require a lot of ammunition. These came from the grouping of Ferdinand Holzner who served with the K.K. Reitende Tiroler Kaiserschützen.
This photo shows the different types of belt loops found on the Austrian single M1895 pouches. The one on the left can be removed from the belt without taking the belt of
This is a pair of Italian M1907 cartridge pouches constructed of leather with steel fittings. Each pouch would hold four Mannlicher clips of 6 rounds of 6.5x55mm cartridges for the Carcano rifle for a total of 96 cartridges for both pouches. Italian leather was dyed gray-green and the early pouches are very similar to the pouches used well after the Second World War. The early pouches had stitching around the front of the pouch, while later ones were folded and stitched on the rear.