French Army Leather lined bags

I've got one here. It's a magazine pouch. Originally bought it for my VC loadout (the frogs left a lot of kit in South East Asia )

It's very heavy duty, but not really that WW2ish,

It looks similar to the french 1935 sidepack http://www.schipperfabrik.com/store/ind ... cts_id=624 same sort of materials and construction.

W S Surplus has a lot of these French bags (of all different sizes/uses) of such materials and construction. They are very heavy duty and boxy, the canvas is really rather deep green and the leather is fresh/raw. W S Surplus sells them far cheaper than those on eBay too (£5/£6 for the ammo bags, £7/£8 for the larger gas-mask bags, etc...).

It`s reasonably close to the French M35 gas mask bag for the ANP31 gas mask. The main difference is that the M35 had two extra little pockets, one on either side of the main compartment. It could also pass as an Italian gas mask bag as that didn`t have the little side pockets although on the Italian bag the strap is fabric rather than leather I think. I`d post a pic but my scanner just decided to go tits up.

EDIT: got the scanner working.

I have one from the same seller on it's way to me:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... SA:GB:1123

I bought it to use as a "man bag" because it looked quite cool and because it sort of looks like it could have been made anytime in the 20th C so could be useful for resistance/civilian impressions.

cheers for the info. I might get one as a gen purpose bag after all

It looks similar to the french 1935 sidepack http://www.schipperfabrik.com/store/ind ... cts_id=624 same sort of materials and construction.

I do like those, but they are smidgen to small for an A4 binder.

It looks similar to the french 1935 sidepack http://www.schipperfabrik.com/store/ind ... cts_id=624 same sort of materials and construction.

I do like those, but they are smidgen to small for an A4 binder.

You get to be Dean Corso with that though .

I do also like these bags, if we list our likings.

I got mine and the leather geussts on the sides and bottom are very stiff, so much that it barely expands. You can squeeze a thin A4 pad in if you try, definitely not an A4 ring binder.

A much better buy from the same seller was:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Genuine-Army-Gas- ... 5d2cde96ba

It seems to be of scandianvian origin, (gas mask instructions inside), is nearly new and fits A4 stuff in vertically. Just the ticket.

I have 2 of each. There is a smaller one divided in the middle with a large drainage hole in the bottom and a larger one, usually undivided inside.

These were used for carrying the ammo and magazines for the FM 24/29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM_24/29_light_machine_gun

The small one is supposed to carry 6 loaded magazines (or 3 and loading tools), and is just big enough for M14 magazines.

Not sure if they are pre or post war. What sources I have found suggest that the smaller one, or something similar may have been pre war issue to the gunner and his loader so your usual webbing guides might not cover it if they only show the standard Riflemans kit (that said, I have never seen photo evidence to support this suggestion). For Algeria and Indochina war however, plenty of evidence (and so VC/North Vietnamese Army). The larger bag however, is post war, and was used to carry additional ammo.

For expanding it back into shape use a telephone book, a big chunky Yello pages does nicely. I have also used Carrs leather oil to soften the leather.

A much better buy from the same seller was:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Genuine-Army-Gas- ... 5d2cde96ba

It seems to be of scandianvian origin, (gas mask instructions inside), is nearly new and fits A4 stuff in vertically. Just the ticket.

I got one of these - very happy with it