Canadian 1916 Pattern Large Pack

When What Price Glory was producing the reproductions of the 1916 Pattern equipment they were able to measure directly from artifacts. One major exception was the Large Pack. Photographs were readily available, but as I became involved in the search we realized that the one detail consistently not recorded was the nature of the lower straps that connected the pack to the belt.

I called my contact at the Canadian War Museum and within minutes she sent photos to confirm that they had what I was after. So of course I had to visit and take full measurements and my own photos. The help of the museum has been generous. Many thanks.

Back in Kingston I took an Israeli backpack from an army surplus store and set to work. I cut off the straps and made mock-up leather replacements. I sewed and riveted, re-created the lower strap system, and wrote all proper measures on the pack. This then became the model from which Ashok could work his magic and make a reproduction. Here are two photos of the model:

This, I think, was my most clear model in the last year and a half. My stiff paper models and partial cloth sections don't relay information as well as things you can touch. It is the touch which is so important, and it is by this that a reproduction can succeed or fail. I was also very lucky that the Israeli army still used WWI style packs in the 70s.

The back outward-facing side of the 1916 pack looks fairly similar to other packs of the times. At first glance the use of leather criss-crossing straps is the only apparent departure from a British P'08 Large Pack. Then other details emerge.

What is curious is the way in which these straps are sewn onto the broader straps which lead from the pack, pass over the shoulders, and go down the front to their attachment points. But before we get there we must also see the pack face that goes against the wearer's back. Broad leather straps are sewn and riveted in a cross quite low down on the pack. The breadth of the straps narrows so that they can pass into the 3/4" buckles on the front of the yoke straps. This allows for easy re-tensioning of the pack by the wearer. 

However, if it weren't for the narrow criss-crossed straps on the other face the body of the pack would collapse on itself and fall away from the shoulders. The ends of these straps must be tightened at buckles fastened on the underside of the pack.

This picture, above, shows the collapse of the pack when the narrow straps are released. The first picture below shows this effect when the pack is on the back.

As you can see in the next photo the crossed straps, when tightened, save the situation.

Suddenly the system begins to have an awkward complexity. The backpack cannot be opened without releasing the narrow straps which brace the pack upright. If the shoulder straps had been sewn and riveted higher then access would have been easy without disturbing the forced equilibrium.

But perhaps I'm missing something here. A soldier on a march is not on a picnic with idle stops to rummage for personal possessions. This is a serious matter of covering miles, and that does not require easy access to packs. What is important is that with the pack full, or partially full, the straps are effective in binding the contents close and tight. Still, at what point does a design committee determine that a certain system is good and worth reproducing 10,000 times or more?

Having secured the pack at the top it is now necessary to ensure the bottom is held firmly. This is accomplished with a loop reminiscent of the 1915 system as I perceived it. This knowledge was the reason for my trip to Ottawa.

The loop is sewn and riveted with an extra strap and buckle leading off to secure the crossed backward facing straps. The belt-looping portion is held by a stud through one of three holes. Might the strap have gone through the brass rectangular loop seen to the left in this picture? How complex can this be?

Complex as it seems there is a net benefit to all this. Unlike any other system used by the Canadians or the British a soldier could take his own pack off without assistance and without removing any other belts or strapping. The shoulder strap has a completely accessible buckle, and with some contortions the stud-fastened lower straps could be undone. I suggest this was the intention of the designers.

A last detail shown here is of the small straps used to close the pack internally. The buckles would have been the "open gate" variety adopted by the British in their Mills equipment and as such are used in the current reproductions.

This is my last blog posting about Canadian Leather Webbing. I will do one more posting next on my own leather satchels. For those of you who have discovered the site at this end please note that to reach other postings you may have to click on the last listing in the "previous postings" box to get the rest of the list. From then on you can pick the postings one by one. It seems that's how the system works.

Best Wishes, Tim 

After note, November15 2015:  as it turns out I can't stop writing... There are some more Oliver Pattern entries to come too. Also I am putting in this link to What Price Glory for those interested in purchasing their remarkable equipment.

         http://onlinemilitaria.net/shopaff.asp?affid=1497