"Locally made leather ammo pouches..."

[Legion Etrangere]

marsouin,

What would have locally made leather ammo pouches looked like? Do you have a picture? I am assuming they would have looked something like the TAP pouches? Snap closures? Brown/dark brown leather?

My assumption these pouches would not have lasted long in the intense jungle heat and humidity...

[marsouin]

Well some were made of leather,other of canvas....Actually it was with what was available at the moment....
Here are some exemples:

Here are some leather ones:




Of course climate took its toll on such kind of equipment....That allowed the troppers to make several visits to their local workshop in order to get new stuff...

[marsouin]

the post aboce was about USM1 carbine pouches,here are some for SMG.Mainly leather but canvas as well...



On the above pic,the bottom row,middle one is for french MAS-38 and is for strapping on the buttstock.
The item on the pic below were used by the 3e BCCP:genuine german MP-40 pouches and local copies....

Leather equipment for MAS-36 riflemen was old stock from 1st world war!!!!.....

[soldatsoucy1]

Very excellent information on the variability of these leather ammo pouches Marsouin!!! And many thanks for sharing and posting the photographs. Over here its very difficult to get some information and one picture can answer a ton of questions.

Im amazed constantly about how much "in country" manufacture developed during the FICW and US Vietnam war. One interesting side note of all of this in country manufacture are the little cottage industries that developed to meet the needs and desires of the French and Vietnamese forces and later US and Vietnamese forces.

This would certainly be worth an investigation someday if I ever have the time to poke around into indigenous manufacture of such equipment.

[cookie]

One particular area of 'in-country' manufacturing, often in little workshops, was the application of airborne 'A' frames and chin harnesses for M1 helmets.