British kit questions

I've already ordered the L-straps. Should be with me next week so they will make it to the next airsoft tacticool blaaaaaaaaaaart-fest which UKARA nonsense forces me to attend.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gas-Mask-Brit ... 19d6deff8f

This mask will do, right?
Also - is it true that soldiers would toss their masks into the nearest ditch as soon as they entered a combat zone?

Yes it looks fine and no they didnt.

A company (at least) of the 39th (US) buried theirs shortly after arriving in North Africa. The commander's memoir states that they saw the Germans didn't have any gas masks, and thus concluded that they didn't use gas.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gas-Mask-British-WWII-complete-With-olive-infantry-bag-Great-Collectors-item-/110979121039?pt=UK_Collectables_Militaria_LE&hash=item19d6deff8f

This mask will do, right?

Since it's dutch you may have to add in some wire loops to the back in order to get it mounted sideways on your belt. I've seen a lot with the cloth strips to take the wire loops, but no wire loops.

If the bag does come with no belt attachment hooks I have a spare bag I can sell you.
Masks seem to generate many stories. As Craig says you will read of units dumping them en masse as they can see no use for them. You will get other units reporting using them to deal with the worst effects of being in smoke screens for many hours or trying to deal with the smell of decaying bodies around them.
Until late 1944 I think you could be charged by Military or Civilian Police if you were out on leave and not carrying your gas mask and this is certainly part of the collective memory of the war.

Equally it seems odd to notice the germans didnt have them as unless they were actually checking everyones kit it would be hard to tell. The german mask canister was fairly popular for carrying other items in as it was robust and relatively watertight. You often here of german soldiers using the cannister to keep food and drink in.

Unless the account means that they realised the masks were not i the cases after checking casualties?

As I understand it the Germans conducted fairly frequent gas mask drills so just ditching the masks wasn't an option. But a lot of soldiers did keep personal belongings and similar stuff in the gas mask canisters. My guess is they kept the masks with their main pack, on the transports or in the barracks and would retrieve them only for a drill.

It's a book Rich has, not myself, but I believe 'on the dead ones' (or captured/wounded) is where you check.

A nice pic of a soldier's kit:

Here's the pertinent section...

After the middle of March 1943, our regiment moved through Gafsa to the oasis at El Guettar. I still carried all the gear issued to me. A Brit gave me good advice when he first saw my gas mask. “Let me tell you something about gas masks, Charlie,” he said. “The first dead Germans you come across, see if they have gas masks. If they do, keep yours. If they don’t, get rid of it.”

Since I hadn’t seen any dead Germans, I still had my mask with me the night we dug in at El Guettar.
...
Before noon, I came upon my first dead German. He had been there a few days, killed by a bullet to the chest. Fly-covered, swollen and black-faced, he exuded a putrid, sweetish stench, but he didn’t have a gas mask. It was time to get rid of ours.

I had my platoon bury their masks so no one would find them. Abandoned equipment violated Army regulations, but if lost due to enemy action, it was expendable. I looked at my trench knife with its ridiculous brass knuckle handle and remembered the kid at Camp Robinson who had taken me down with it still in my hand. Time to get rid of it, too.

Barry Basden; Charles Scheffel (2007-01-08). Crack! and Thump: With a Combat Infantry Officer in World War II (p. 46). Camroc Press LLC. Kindle Edition.

Yeah i'd be loathe to take someones 'for profit' memoires as an example of common practice.

Otherwise we'd all 'milligan' it and just wear boots for desert games

Don't try and tell me you haven't considered it, Gadge.

Yeah i'd be loathe to take someones 'for profit' memoires as an example of common practice.

Daft argument there Gadge, if not disrespectful.

If the bag does come with no belt attachment hooks I have a spare bag I can sell you.

Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll try to make this one work (you guys were right, no wire attachments).

Is this how it's supposed to look?

I don't have the small rings on the sides and I don't have the wire hooks

That looks great! Even has the bit of string!

Edit: Ah... that's not yours...

You'll at least want to add the wire hooks so you can mount it on your belt as was the common way of doing it.

The stamp on the bag says 1944 but those small rings are not there. A different pattern?

Can I buy the belt hooks anywhere or do I need to make my own?

It's just cos it's Belgian. I assume they removed the wires...

Even if you could buy them I think you'd have problems fitting them without unbending them or unstitching the loops!

I suggest you gets some appropriate gauge wire (steel is fine) and use a couple of pairs of pliers to bend it to shape... Do the second bend after it's in the bag.

I did the same with one and used it for a while until I managed to source a bag that was complete.

Yeah i'd be loathe to take someones 'for profit' memoires as an example of common practice.

Daft argument there Gadge, if not disrespectful.

Of course its not dave, dont talk tosh

I suggest you gets some appropriate gauge wire (steel is fine) and use a couple of pairs of pliers to bend it to shape

Do you remember what wire you used? What gauge?