Captured German gear in Russian use

[Stive]

The Mauser of C96 is not a trophy. This gun judging by registration of a holster was involved even in the Civil war in Russia.

[Zip3120]

So reading such memoirs tells more than lots of pics where there's not really a context to be seen.

As I said finally this thread has taken the right path!

Yes I am 100% agree with Marcel. Surely there were a shortage in the supplies, it was a wide army, but many armies in WWII captured enemy equipment, mostly the German army.

We can make two different speeches, one to recognize the fact linked to the personal attitudes of single victorious soldiers who, at the end of a tough battle, like in a big supermarket, could get supplies of missing or deteriorated items, a second argument instead to hypothesize that the army leaders agreed that their soldiers would stock up on enemy uniforms, creating serious dangers for them.

It is all too obvious that this is wrong.

As for the German army, there was also a third speech. The authorities ordered to raid enemy deposits and codify the use of materials and equipment on a large scale.

[Zip3120]

I agree with Marco, it is an early Nagant pouch.

Here are some pics of my Stalingrad Russian mannequin. He is wearing a nice pair of those pouches. They are the early model but, as we can see with difficulty in the photo, they have been made during the war in 1941.
We can also see the very rare 1941 bandoleer with pockets for ammunition in clips.

Ciao
Marco

[Stickfigure21]

Loving this thread more and more gents! Very interesting! Now who will start the opposite thread? Germans using captured soviet gear

Keep up the good work!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Marcel Banziger]

Here are some pics of my Stalingrad Russian mannequin. He is wearing a nice pair of those pouches. They are the early model but, as we can see with difficulty in the photo, they have been made during the war in 1941.
We can also see the very rare 1941 bandoleer with pockets for ammunition in clips.

Ciao
Marco

Great mannequins...both of them

[NickG]

Good stuff. My original thought was a (WW1 style) Nagant pouch too...
but because it was black I leaned towards it being a German medical pouch.
So an army guy with a Russian Navy black Nagant pouch...Yes I agree! and yes Bolo Mauser pistols were used by white and Red forces right after WW1.

I have well over a dozen Russian uniforms, many made with US Lend Lease wool and one Gymnasterka with US made plastic buttons. Yes lots was supplied...lots of shortages...Even Moisin Nagant rifles were made in the US to supplement the Russian inventories. In the Stalingrad movie it was depicted the shortages of arms...replacements sent to the front without arms, getting KIA weapons etc...


German guns (and belts) were definitely sought after! They had better technology! K98 and MG34 depicted here! Not just a partisan thing! Uniform items not so much...Just war trophy poses for the most part, agreed.


Not sure what this rifle is but the scope is Russian!

[NickG]

Lets end this German gear thread with this very interesting picture...
which I lifted off Facebook..
(credit goes to Lars.VeryrichWW2 Photograph Experience as tagged)

Russians switching sides and being issued German gear to include stahlhelm + K98 pouches
(Hiwis? They were usually unarmed)

[Tim O'Keefe]

The Germans did use Allied helmets during the war as early as 1941 before Russia. Thousands were worn by the 15th Pz Div DAK. Easily confused with the SA helmets which look very similar....

[NickG]

The Germans did use Allied helmets during the war as early as 1941 before Russia. Thousands were worn by the 15th Pz Div DAK. Easily confused with the SA helmets which look very similar....

That is because these "Polo" helmets are in fact a South African contract and ordered by the SA government with J.de Mol, Breda in Holland. So made in Holland with S.A. specs! (a style of sun helmet the Dutch never used)
However these were never sent because the war broke out and ended up in German hands during the occupation of Holland in 1940 and pressed into their service...Issued to the DAK troops while in Germany for deployment in Africa
(and ironically to be used in a campaign opposing S.A. forces who were intended to get these in the first place...) So these were not theatre captured!
Another example is LW paratroopers who did use captured British sun helmets in Crete but we are drifting from the Russian topic now...

[NickG]

This one is for you Kammoman!
(credit goes to Cyrill.Mekhanitchev)


It shows Russian sailors deployed as ground troops during the Savastopol battle in 1942.
Like the Germans they understood the importance of camoflage and shown here is the use of Amoeba camo to make sailor hat covers (unofficial field made gear).
Not really relating to this thread but cool to share I think! (and what it looks like in color...on a German!!)

[HAF]

(Hiwis? They were usually unarmed)

pretty good chance Brandenburg recon unit .

[NickG]

pretty good chance Brandenburg recon unit .

I see so exchanging German gear for Russian gear...The other way around!!!
Good possibility! Brandenburgers (Commandos)

[Zip3120]

The Germans did use Allied helmets during the war as early as 1941 before Russia. Thousands were worn by the 15th Pz Div DAK. Easily confused with the SA helmets which look very similar....

Hi Tim
This time I am completely agree with Nick.
We already talked about Sa helmets on AK forum a few years ago, and I gave you exactly the same information.

We know that the Dutch company “JP.de Mol, Breda” was granted a pre-war contract to manufacture pith helmets for export to the South African military. These helmets were always intended for the South Africans and never for the Dutch Army!
That's why they has been made in Sa shape.
The germans captured these South African helmet, Dutch made, in 1940 end equipped their soldiers with them.

Another time this is a confirmation of how this practice was much more codified and made as rule by the Germans than by the Russians, who limited themselves only to the collection of some trophys or to reuse some equipment on the battlefield.
Ciao
Marco

[Tim O'Keefe]

Yes of course these are captured Dutch/SA helmets used by the Germans. It is implied that this practice was not done but the evidence is there. These were worn during the war not post war like so many photos here are showing...

[NickG]

Lets do a couple more