Haversack

The W.E. Patt. '13 Haversack has a wedge-section, identical to the later Patt. ’14 Haversack  type, approximately 12-inches square and 2-inches deep at the base. It has a web loop on the flap and a 1-inch vertical buckled chape in the center rear, to allow the Waterbottle carrier to be mounted on it. Instead of the angled 2-inch tabs at the top rear, as found on Patt. '08 Haversacks,  the Patt. '13 one has only 1-inch rear tabs, stitched behind an extra web band across the top of the rear face. Close examination shows the adjacent stitching to be discontinuous, allowing the 1 inch tabs to be tucked in tidily, when not in use. It would appear that Mills did not know when to leave well alone! The ’08 style 2-inch tabs would have sufficed. This example is maker marked "M.E. Co." and dated 1913. From the Ed Storey Collection. Photographs © Ed Storey 2008.

 

 

These detail photos show the 1-inch Brace tabs on the Patt. '13 Haversack connected to the Braces, as they would be when the Haversack was carried on the back in Fighting Order. The connections to the Braces were completed by hooking the 1-inch Brace buckles on the Haversack into the outer sides of the 2-inch buckles, as shown near left. It looks awkward, and in fact there doesn't seem to be another example in any Mills webbing pattern where this kind of connection is to be made. Photographs © Ed Storey 2008 (far left) and 2011 (near left).

 

 

 

These pictures show an interesting detail on the rear of the Haversack. The two 1-inch angled straps, when not used, don't just hang free, as they do in other patterns. Here, two gaps have been left in the upper row of stitching at the top rear, so that the loose straps can be tucked neatly away. M.E. Co. were proud of this unique detail - they make a special point of mentioning it in the Fitting Instructions. It seems that the War Office must have felt the same way about it that we at KW do, though, that it's a pointless complication, because this feature seems never to have been repeated.

 

 

 

 

Pack

The W.E. Patt. '13 Pack is almost identical to the Patt. '08 Pack. The only difference between the two is that, in Patt. '13, the two small loops at the bottom rear of the Pack are replaced with short buckled straps. The buckles on these straps attach to the diagonal straps at the rear of the Cartridge carriers, and the free ends buckle to the Supporting straps (identical to the Patt. '08 ones), which are then crossed over the face of the Pack to attach in the same way as Patt. '08 Supporting straps. This example is maker marked "M.E. Co." and dated 1913. From the Karkee Web Collection.

 

 

 

This detail shows the bottom of the Pack, W.E., Patt. '13. Note the short buckled straps that replace the web loops of the Pack, W.E. Patt. '08.