What Soldiers Carried, from 1066 to 2014

[CWL]

Fascinating pictorial in the UK Telegraph showing what an average (Brit) soldier carried over the past ~1000 years during important battles/wars, from the Battle Hastings 1066, the Crusades, Agincourt, War of the Roses, Waterloo, WWI, WWII to modern day Afghanistan.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/...iers-kit-from-1066-to-2014.html?frame=2994181

 

[On An Island]

Excellent article CWL. Thanks for posting that.

Interesting that the first firearm shown was from 1588.

 

[Legionnaire]

Very cool; thanks! Have some family members who will appreciate the link, too.

 

[P.B.Walsh]

Its amazing how things have, and have not changed over nearly a millenia.

 

[Cee Zee]

It isn't all that amazing that the stuff that would kill a man 1000 years ago will still do so. Lots of weapons from that time don't require elaborate manufacturing and guns weren't even part of their dreams at that point. How far back do we need to go in banning weapons to keep man from killing man? Some people can kill with their hands fairly easily. Will the next arms control law include actual arms? It's pretty easy to choke someone to death with your arm if you know the right way to do it.

Keep in mind that the weapons from circa 1000 were examples of high technology compared to the stuff used in the wars since the dawn of history (where we have an idea what was used) to pre-history where all sorts of things were used. Cain killed Abel with eithe a rock or a club the way I understand things. Samson killed 1000 men with the jawbone of a donkey. Are going to ban entire donkeys or just their jawbones?

You can't stop men from killing. That's just true. The leadership of the gun grabbers have to know that. I have tools in my garage that will maim or kill you in a split second and you can get any of those things in a hardware store. An ax, a machete, a hammer... I have a briar ax that could carve you up like a Thanksgiving turkey in a matter of seconds. It's a long wooden handle with a 16" hunk of flat metal with a curved sort of hook design and the entire length of that metal is razor sharp on both sides. It's also fairly heavy. It might take your leg off at the knee with one stroke and be ready for hundreds more strikes before the edge started to suffer extensively.

The gun grabber leadership wants us unable to fight back against a tyrancial government. That's all they really care about. You can kill with all those tools I mentioned but you have to be up close to do it. Not so with a gun which is why all armies use them and why the grabbers don't want us to have them.

Here's what my briar ax looks like. It's 53" long and the blade is 7" at the widest point. Trust me this thing could be a devastating weapon. I found this photo here:

http://www.engineersupply.com/surveyors-brush-axe-ditch-bank-blade-813008.aspx

 

[bannockburn]

Very neat article.I enjoy looking at pictorial slices of history like that. Thanks for sharing.

 

[CWL]

Here's what my briar ax looks like. It's 53" long and the blade is 7" at the widest point. Trust me this thing could be a devastating weapon. I found this photo here:

http://www.engineersupply.com/surveyors-brush-axe-ditch-bank-blade-813008.aspx

Interesting you should bring up your "briar ax" as this was a classic English weapon derived from agricultural use and carried from Medieval times up through the Renaissance into war. Called the "Bill" (billhook), it was feared along with the famous longbow, in fact, English armies were grouped into units of "Bill and Bowmen".


(BTW, this is not the same weapon as the halberd.)

 

[barnbwt]

I knew it; WWII was the start of "soldiers carrying too dang much" syndrome . Also worth noting that in the olden days soldiers had wives and kids following along behind them to carry all their stuff

What's with the SA80 and Hi Power in the 2014 load-out? I thought they'd phased those out already

TCB

 

[Sam Cade]

By way of comparison with the dedicated martial item, this is a current production Spear and Jackson long hafted billhook.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

I can't believe they skipped the first World War. The kits for trench warfare were quite different than those of a paratrooper.

 

[CWL]

?

Picture #1 of this series shows kit for WWI. In fact, this pictorial was commissioned because of the 100th anniversary of WWI.

Note the spike mace issued for trench warfare to the left of the picture.

 

[BigG]

They always give you more than you want to carry.

 

[Kaeto]

They did skip the Zulu war era.

 

[Cee Zee]

Interesting you should bring up your "briar ax" as this was a classic English weapon derived from agricultural use and carried from Medieval times up through the Renaissance into war.

Yeah I knew about this being used as a battle weapon from way back. It was used by farmers who were recruited to go on the Crusades. I understand that's where it first got noticed as a very effective weapon. It was used against armored calvary later on because it could deliver a very hard blow and the point being on the side it was able to penetrate armor sometimes. It had the point on one side and the curved blade on the other which was a lot like the scimitars used by the Arabs. It can be a devastating weapon. I've never used it as such of course but I've seen it slice off branches 2" thick. Mine is so sharp I have to be very careful how I use it. In fact I have pretty much stopped using it to clear brush because it is so dangerous. It's like having a 16", double sided razor blade only heavier and stronger and having a point on the side to get the most out of a swinging blow. You can yank it back when the point is on the other side of something you want to cut and do a lot of damage too. The whole power of you pulling it is put into it slicing whatever is in the way. I wouldn't want to face someone with a weapon like that. Heck it's hard to even sharpen the blade because one slip and you can slice your hand wide open. It really is a bad little sucker.

I've used it to clear briar patches but I've found safer methods since then. The thing scares me to be honest.

 

[NoVA Shooter]

What I've always found very interesting is the lack of a helmet for nearly 400 years. It seems that head protection was discounted in the age of gunpowder up until the first half of the 20th century.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

I guess I must have started on #2 because I did not see that panel on my first time through.

 

[SleazyRider]

Very compelling subject, CWL, so thanks for posting!

Does anybody know if a similar pictorial exists for American soldiers' equipment, especially Civil War era?

 

[AethelstanAegen]

What I've always found very interesting is the lack of a helmet for nearly 400 years. It seems that head protection was discounted in the age of gunpowder up until the first half of the 20th century.

That's mostly because artillery utilized solid shot for much of that period. Helmets begin to appear in World War I as troops were predominantly in trenches and needed some protection against shrapnel from exploding artillery shells. Helmets in WW1 and WW2 were not designed to effectively stop direct rifle rounds but rather shell fragments.

 

[barnbwt]

"Helmets in WW1 and WW2 were not designed to effectively stop direct rifle rounds but rather shell fragments."
I always assumed those buckets were mostly there to use as a bowl, and something to hang onto.




TCB

 

[AethelstanAegen]

I always assumed those buckets were mostly there to use as a bowl, and something to hang onto.

Haha. That too.

 

[Tommygunn]

"Helmets in WW1 and WW2 were not designed to effectively stop direct rifle rounds but rather shell fragments."
I always assumed those buckets were mostly there to use as a bowl, and something to hang onto.




TCB

Ha ha ... nothing like watching Lt. Hanley chewing out Kirby to bring back old memories .....

 

[Vern Humphrey]

What I've always found very interesting is the lack of a helmet for nearly 400 years. It seems that head protection was discounted in the age of gunpowder up until the first half of the 20th century.

British officers often wore "secrets." These were cruciform sheets of iron beaten to conform to the head shape and worn inside the tricorn hat. I saw a large collection of them at the Tower of London a couple of decades back.

 

[rdhood]

Note that the battle axes disappear for good once the firearms arrive. Also note the kit containing arrows also deletes the axe. I am guessing that once warfare could be carried on beyond arms length, battle axes became much less useful and much too heavy to continue to carry for its relative usefulness.

Long blades of all types persist, but long blades starting disappearing in the early 1800s. Bayonets hung around for a long time. Were swords typically issued to infantry through the 1800s? It doesn't look like it from this bunch of kits.

 

[Slamfire]

What I've always found very interesting is the lack of a helmet for nearly 400 years. It seems that head protection was discounted in the age of gunpowder up until the first half of the 20th century.

That's mostly because artillery utilized solid shot for much of that period. Helmets begin to appear in World War I as troops were predominantly in trenches and needed some protection against shrapnel from exploding artillery shells. Helmets in WW1 and WW2 were not designed to effectively stop direct rifle rounds but rather shell fragments.

If you look at British WW1 pictures, you will see Tommies wearing only Campaign style hats. These are early images, 1914, Mons, etc.

I bought a number of “modern” steel Swedish helmets in the 80’s. I assume they were post WW2 but not by much. They cost $6.00 apiece. A friend and myself went to a farm, put them up around 365 paces, and shot through both sides of the helmets with 6.5 X 55 and 303 Brit ball ammunition.

I have one East German Helmet, must be from the 80’s or 90’s, the sucker is very heavy, so I guess, they were trying to improve ballistic protection.

Will the current polymer fiber US Helmet stop a rifle bullet? At what ranges?

 

[Cee Zee]

Note that the battle axes disappear for good once the firearms arrive.

Very true. But my reason for bringing up the briar ax as a potential weapon was because the gun grabbers want to take away all of our guns. If they do that then the briar ax becomes the assault weapon or some other similar farm implement. Chain saws work pretty well for such things. My point is that they can't make people not be violent. All they can do is make the weak prey for the strong. Even a chainsaw can be overcome by someone who knows how to get around them so they aren't doing anyone any favors by disarming them. People still die at the hands of other people. Heck it's easy as heck to build a substantial bomb from household items if you know how. I won't talk about that here but I know it can be done. Then there's chemical warfare. Chlorien gas is incredibly easy to generate for example. Put enough of it together in an enclosed space with humans inside and you have a mass killing. Killing has been practiced since the dawn of time. Gun laws won't stop it.