Fitting Instructions: Canadian 1916 Dismounted

After struggling with the Oliver Pattern the 1916 pattern is such a relief of good sense that it hardly seems necessary to give fitting instructions.... but here goes.

As with all the other gear the belt must be fitted first, snug around the waist at the belly button. The yoke system is much saner and a more comfortable fit than the other Canadian systems.  It needs to be attached so that the strap lengths allow the yoke to curve around the shoulders beneath the collar. This will take a bit of trial and error. 

The front straps can be attached to the belt without the ammunition pouches, but ultimately the ammo pouches will be fitted on and the straps passed through the rectangular loops on the pouches themselves. I find it's best not to pass the strap through the pouch loops and the belt loops as the pouch will tend to flop forward.

Once the yoke and belt are set up the other gear can be added. The water canteen hangs snapped on the right, the bayonet frog will be threaded on the left, and the haversack can be buckled over it. 

The large pack is a bit more of a contraption with its crossing backs straps to cinch everything in place. First it must be buckled on over the shoulders. 

Then the bottom loops with the studs secure it to the belt. 

Finally the crossing straps are tightened and buckled to the bottom straps. 

This whole system makes sense as a means of putting on or taking off the large pack without assistance. With supple arms and minor contortions even the lower straps can be worked. Similarly the canteen is more readily removed for a drink. Much more thought has gone into the 1916 equipment with regard to ease of wearing and adjusting. 

The ammo pouches are flawed, however, because the belt loops are held by studs that work loose in their holes and the effort to open and close the pouch flap with the buckled extensions is laborious. It seems, again, that the Victorian origins are too dominant and what may look smart doesn't quite cut it.

Fitting Instructions: Canadian1915 Pattern

The Canadian 1915 pattern equipment is the old Oliver Pattern reworked and improved. Gone are the 1" backward leading front straps, and the forward leading rear straps stay where they belong...in the back. It is a simpler system and can be put on like a vest, just as the P'08.

As with all this webbing the first thing to do is to tighten the belt to a snug fit around the waist at the belly button. Then the yoke can be attached. And again, as with the other systems, the adjustment of the yoke is a matter of trial and error until the yoke fits so as to support the belt and its eventual loads. Since the yoke curves around the back care must be taken that it will not be so placed as to droop backwards nor cut forwards into the neck. The sweet point is that it curve to the line of the collar edge.

Fastening to the front initially is an easy matter of snapping the hooks into the rings on the belt. The rear attachment is achieved by first putting the "billets" onto the belt. These are short buckled straps that go around the belt and attach to themselves. The one on the right passes through the strap riveted to the belt. The one on the left may end up passing behind the belt's adjustment buckle. The two rear 3/4" belts coming off the back of the yoke attach to these sharing the buckles on the billets.

Once adjustment is completed the next task is to slide on the other components of the gear in their correct order and orientation.

If the blanket straps are to be worn they go on first left and right, their buckles upward and the rough flesh side of the leather facing out.

The other items are as follow: on the left side the Ross scabbard and then the ammunition pouch. On the right side the MacAdam shovel strap and then the ammunition pouch. The shovel strap can be put on afterwards too. I have it placed backwards here thus proving that it can be confusing. Everything is most easily assembled lying on its face or back.

Last of all comes the haversack. This gets strapped on straddling the bayonet, its 2" straps on either side. There's just room enough.

The large pack can be put on afterwards, buckled at the top, and with its small bottom buckles below looping around the belt. The last details of the belt attachment I don't know of for sure but this all makes sense as far as I can determine from old photos. The next photo is from an original fitting instruction book and the one following it is my own. The bayonet is incorrectly placed outside the haversack in the old photo, a point acknowledged in their text as being done to illustrate the bayonet in subsequent photos.

The carrying of a blanket and ground sheet, or a great coat, makes use of the remaining straps. These buckle the roll tightly to the belt

The following old photo shows the roll from the other side. Notice the haversack hung in this arrangement from the shoulder buckles. Also the handle of the MacAdam shovel shows itself, the strap looped through the sighting hole.

As for the water canteen it seems variously worn on its strap under the webbing or over it. I don't know what was done with the mess tin.

The following photos show the 1915 webbing in use. Note the placement of the components. Also note the excruciating undercutting of the ribs of the poor soldier in the last photo. He seems to be without ammunition pouches, and so without the counterweight of bullets the belt is pulled up by the yoke. The countryside is Ontario and he need not fear the war yet. When he makes it to the Western Front he will not be wearing this equipment.

These soldiers above are wearing modified Oliver Pattern ammunition pouches.

This equipment is all being reproduced by What Price Glory and should be available for sale soon.

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