Today on Gus’ Gear, I present some of the items that would be found in the packs and haversacks carried by the soldiers of the Great War. Over the next few weeks I will show a variety of different personal items that were carried by nearly every soldier. This post covers underwear, and as I only have a few examples, it will be brief.
This is a pair of U.S. issue briefs dated 1918, also called shorts. They are made of a fine weave cotton fabric with a three button fly. These would be normally worn with summer weight cotton uniforms.
This is a pair of U.S. issue long underwear dated 1917, they were issued to be worn with wool uniforms, to protect the wearer from the scratchy wool and the wool from the wearer. This is the part of the uniform that the soldier would wash or have a washerwoman clean on a regular basis. It is made of heavy cotton fabric with a two button fly and a tie in the back to adjust size. The bottom of the legs have a stretchy, double knit cotton fabric.
This is an unissued pair of U.S. issue socks made in 1918, still safety pinned together with the contractor’s paper label.
This is a pair of French long underwear, made of a medium cotton fabric with a three button fly and tie in the back to adjust size. The bottoms of these have a tie and are dated 1917. These garments are pretty much the same for all the combatants in the Great War.
This is a pair of French long underwear, made of a medium cotton fabric with a three button fly and tie in the back to adjust size. The bottoms of these have a tie and are dated 1917. These garments are pretty much the same for all the combatants in the Great War.
This is an Austrian undershirt, made of fine cotton fabric with a half fly opening common to most shirts and under shirts of the time. This example came from the Alfons Bartsch grouping and bears his initials and no other markings. The German and French issue undershirts were very similar to this example.
his is a German issue neck stock, used to protect the uniform collar from the wearer. This example is undated and marked to a soldier in Infantry Regiment 18.
This is a pair of British long underwear, made of a medium cotton fabric with a single button fly and tie in the back to adjust size. The bottoms of these have a tie to secure them.
This is a British dicky, issued to H.V. Donald in the Royal Navy. This was worn under the jumper to cover the wearer’s bare chest. This is constructed of two small squares of medium cotton fabric attached at the two upper corners with ties to secure it around the body. These were no doubt cheaper to produce than the T-shirt style undershirts used by most other navies.
These are a pair of Canadian slippers, made of jean cloth lined with cotton flannel. They were issued to soldiers that were in hospitals along with a convalescent uniform.