Canadian 1915 Pattern Yoke

Just as the 1915 Pattern belt began as an Oliver Pattern alteration so too did the yoke.

I began by looking at all the photos I could find and kept seeing the distinctive wave of the yoke around the shoulders. This wave actually catches the shoulder bones nicely when all is balanced. What was also clear in the photos was that there was no back-leading strap. Apparently it had been cut off. Since I had two Oliver Pattern yokes from What Price Glory, and I was doing research for them, I boldly followed the natural curve of the straps and sliced the rear straps off. The result was perfect.

It was at this point that I began to see everything from the perspective of the altered Oliver Pattern. I imagined the word coming down from the British that the Oliver Pattern was unacceptable, and the desperate attempt on the part of Canadians to make some sense of all this rejected equipment. 

When I looked at the pictures of the front hook the details were indistinct. These were the best images I could get.

When I thought of the solution as an adaptation I could see that the remaining  3/4" strap could snake through a standard buckle, a leather keeper,  a snap hook, and then go through the same keeper and buckle again. The result would be this:

I made a sketch of what I thought might be the nature of the snap hook and sent it to Ashok: 

He at once sent me a photo of hooks What Price Glory is using as reproductions on American Great War gear. I believe this is exactly right and makes sense given the ease with which Canadian military producers could purchase such hooks directly from The U.S.

The same hook seems to be apparent on the MacAdam shovel strap.

This solution to a front snap system is perfect in its simplicity. With this in mind I considered the rear buckling. The official directions for the wearing of the 1915 Pattern state that the rear straps buckle to a "billet". The only photo I could find was this:

My solution was to make a small strap and buckle which I put tight around the belt. The back straps of the converted Oliver yoke simply pass through the same buckles and the reworking is accomplished. In short, the conversion to the 1915 Pattern requires for each side only one slice, one keeper, one hook, and one short strap with a buckle and keeper. Situation saved.

These photos show my solution to buckles and straps. The hooks are bought off the shelf à la 2014, probable made in The U.S. .....or more likely these days, China.

I feel very confident in this solution to the yoke and straps, but if anyone knows better I'd love to be informed. 

There is one last yoke issue for which I'm less sure, and that is the nature of the buckling points on the shoulder of the yoke.The photographic evidence is bad. This photo below shows a poor detail. Other view points from the same series were similarly indistinct.

This is my reluctant solution based on all the perspectives I could gather:

This is the buckle to which the back pack will attach. It is the same as the buckle sewn onto the converted haversack. While I am confident in the placement of the buckle the exact nature of the leather work is unclear to me, and the placement of the rivet even more so. Again, I would welcome any information that could clarify this. Of note is that the "D" patch on the grainy photo is shown without the brass loop.

I will look at the large back pack in the next posting.