World War 1: British and French Army Uniform and Equipment 

The chauchat was a good gun and most of the jamming myth comes from a rechambered american version of the gun that could not shoot. Amercian journalists interviewed some american soldiers that received those rechambered version of the Chauchat, and that's how the myth was created in the US. Here in France, many texts state that this gun was reliable, crude yes, but it did the job. The french army was not stupid enough to produce 280 000 units of a gun that could not shoot. And it's pronounced "sho-sha" not "sho-sho"

As the owner of the items in this collection and videoed by Chris B. at a recent NJACC show I welcome constructive criticism, and additional info. I am not an expert nor do I clam to be. The items are displayed for all to enjoy. I have well over 3000 items in my 40 year collection from the Civil War thru WW2 including Ordnance { Hand Grenades } and long arms . Chris has had an opportunity to view and record a few . I do these presentation as a public service, and to share the collection. Enjoy.

"Ammunition shoes" No, Ammo boots...

The British webbing ensemble was really quite advanced for its time and very modular.

The General Service buttons bear the Royal coat of arms.

Amazing, we are actually watching gear that was made 100 years ago and in some cases, used in combat.

French where the first to use the helmet in 1915 not 1916

The French uniform looks so badass, especially the M15 Adrian helmet.

The buttons are British Army General Service Buttons. These were usually regiment specific early in the war, and late in the war regiment specific buttons gave way to the general service pattern on tunics and caps. Canada and Australia and NZ had their own general service buttons by 1916.

In French army the color of infantry is yellow, red for arty and white for cavalry.

What an absolute beauty of an uploading ! Many thanks, and much appreciation goes out to you both. As a self-confessed ' train-spitter ' when it comes to all things worn, carried, & fired by a typical poilu, this collection just left me speechless ! Bloody marvellous !

Nice kit however a few fairly notable things: 1. The buttons have the General Service (GS) insignia on them 2. The Queen Mary tin was issued in 1914 not 1916 3.Those 'crests' are cap badges, that's all they're called. 4. That 'overseas cap' isn't British. We wore F.S (Field Service) caps but only when in the RFC 5. It's called the Short MAGAZINE Lee Enfield not model. 6. That's not a British mug, they were white with a blue rim or cherry/brown. 7.Your entrenching tool (the one not fixed to the webset is in a WW2 carrier. I'm not trying to be rude just hiving some constructive criticism.

i really enjoy your videos man.. thank you for taking the time to do them

Seeing the ww1 french uniform surprised me, I didn’t expect it to be blue at all. Cool video 👍🏻

This video is amazing. I've been trying to do research on French soldiers and gear in WW1 and this pretty much told me everything I need to know (and I may even attempt to learn French)

The Helvetia carrier off the kit is a WW2 37 pattern

I never claimed to be an expert.. just sharing my collection...and it wasn't planned. Constructive criticism is always welcome BUT For those of you "experts" instead of knocking my efforts you could of just added in on the comments ... WWIIUK you can go pound salt.

Ammunition boots had rubber soles to prevent sparks near ammunition stores.

we in the States tend to pay little attention to our allies in WW1. the price France paid in lives was enormous and when we finally got there in strength in 1918, we used a lot of French equipment.

Very well done for the french uniform nearly everthing is there!I'm very very impressed: it's very uncommon to know that the short jacket was, in theory, not allowed in combats but every soldiers has to wear the huge greatcoat.A few correction and comments:The Adrian Helmet is the model 1915 (there is no model 1916).Each ammo pouch have 30 cartridges. 90 cartridges in total,The belt is "too new" : maybe a reproduction or made after 1945 !!!You could add that colonial troops (North African tirailleurs, Senegalese Tirailleurs, Foreign Legion) had the same clothing but in a yellowish kaki color called "mustard kaki".Thanks again.

Grenadier Guards- not Rifles. Ammunition Boot- not shoe. Short Magazine Lee Enfield- not short model. The British infantryman's kit- apart from the boots uses no leather- it is all webbing. The Germans used plenty of leather- even in WW2.

Honneur et patrie!

I have nothing against my American cousins, and have served with many of them, but this fella really should research more before talking about British kit

British Army boots (Boots, Ankle, General Service) were called Ammunition Boots or Ammo Boots because they were procured by the Master Gunner and the Board of Munitions (HQ of the Artillery) back in the 1880"s rather than by Horse Guards (HQ of the Army). They were first issued in 1887 and were phased out in the 1950's some of the guards regiments still use Ammo Boots for parades today

The Ammunition Boots were so called as they were distributed by the same supply organization responsible for supply of ammunition being the Master Gunner and the Munitions Board.

7:06 The French Uniforms.

That white metal (RTR) Royal Tank Reg cap badge in the black display box is WW2. The original WW1 Tank Corps badge was brass, old style tank at diffrent angle with a double scroll banner, top "Tank" bottom "Corps". The WW2 badge had a kings crown and a single scroll with "Fear Naught" on it.

Great information. Thanks for sharing. In Canada it is fairly common to find original world war equipment. Most antique stores will have something. Was thinking of starting a collection. These videos really help a lot.

Lee Enfield SMLE stands for Short Magazine Lee Enfield NOT Short Model Lee Enfield

The buttons on the British military M1902 tunic would be Regimental buttons. They would be the unique button design specific to that individual regiment.

the french ars gasmask was a fairly close copy of the german m18 gasmask including the canister. awesome collection!

Ammunition boots Capbadges Service caps, Brits never had oversea caps Royal tank regiment Not tank Corp Grenadier guards not grenadier rifles GS buttons not coat of arms SMLE short magazine lee Enfield And give the fucking tags back And what you forgot to mention different mills bombs had different fuses they were changed from 7 seconds to 4 I believe

awesome video, what a collection!

thank you for this. very interesting. the 'ammunition shoe' is known as BGS (boot general service) the ammo boot name is said to come from them being both made and procured (on contract when demand required) by the Munitions Board etc who were based at Woolwich. This probably just differenciated them from previous designs and the name stuck. Designed to be hard-wearing. If anyone is interested there is a fantastic artillery museum (and pub next to it) in Woolwich, in London by the Thames. Well worth a visit! (RIP drummer Rigby. Not forgotten.)

Excellent videos. I too have started uploading videos of my military helmet collection. I am looking to detail the more rare examples of helmets such as the Danish M1923 and Dutch M27.

I presume that soldiers were given a complete kit - were there spares depots near the front line where missing/damaged/lost items could be replaced? The logistics of manufacturing and supplying all of this equipment is pretty amazing!

Nice collection. You sometimes see French equipment at flea markets in villages. I sold my collection of equipment to pay for a divorce but I still have a large collection of battlefield finds such as grenades, bayonets etc. I have a lot of photos of all of the finds thst are still live and so cannot bring them back to England.

Ammunition boots, there were additional dress uniform shoes for some ranks in some regiments.

10:52 According to a post in Gunboards the the front pouches could hold four packages each and the rear one three. If anyone can verify that I will appreciate it.

I won't say anything about the British items, if the tunic, pants and cap are original, they're great. But about the French uniform, there's more to say. I don't like the brass buttons on the greatcoat, a genuine 1915 greatcoat should have white metal, blue-gray painted buttons, and the numbers of te collar patches look strange. The tunic is great, so do the breeches (by the way, the yellow piping is for all troops on foot, not only infantry. The artillery had red piping, black for engineers, dark/medium blue for cavalry and green for supply troops). But the overseas cap is of a non regulation type, late war or post-war made, as well as the képi, which seems to be an officer or NCO's model. Nothing to say about the puttees, but the boots aren't the model used during WW1. What you have here are model 1941 boots, but you are quite lucky as they are not so easy to find. The leather equipment is worse : the cartridge pouches are good 1916 model, but in a rather poor condition, and both the suspenders and leather belt are not from WW1. The suspenders are a 1892/14 model, unchanged from 1892 to the 1980's, save some minor details. The suspenders presented here are post-1960 made, so is the leather belt (because of its yellowish color protective varnish, typical of the 60's 70'S), a model 1945. The model used during WW1 is the 1903/14, identical but wider (50 mm, 45 mm from 1945 on). The spade is good, but its carrier is not French, and I have doubts about the helmet cover. There was indeed a cover, light khaki or light blue, but used only for a few months in 1916 because of the infection problems it caused in case of wounds, there wasn't any regulation white cover. The rest of the equipment is great, but the trench knife isn't personal, it's a regulation 1916 trench knife, often called "the avenger". And about the two water bottles, that's not a rumor, many French soldiers indeed carried two bottles, one filled with wine mixed with water. And many also carried a personal small bottle containing strong alcohol, sometimes a German type seized on an ennemy. You have too much tent pegs, each soldier only carried three. Hope it helps !

It’s short magazine lee enfield not short model lee enfield

Very nice !!!

grenadier guards not grenadier rifles senior regiment in the brigade of guards

I believe the crest on the buttons is the House of Windsor coat of arms but I can't say for sure

the reason why the boots are called ammunition shoes this is because they used to come to the trenches in the wooden boxes the same boxes as the ammunition and the men could get ever shoes or bullets

He got the badges wrong, the tank one was right, and the other one is fusilliers or grenadiers (British) also the uniform is 1908 pattern. The rest is pretty much all right.

Nice collection. Nice Ammo boots, but British boots were brown unfinished leather. They were not shiney.

During ww1 the British are not using ammo boots in the Frontlines in Europe and the ammo boots is used for homeguard

Thanks William .....

I may be wrong, but I haven't seen ammo boots in WWI. I've seen them in WWII, but not WWI

The british cap looked more like the SD cap not the trench cap

The boots are wrong. The ones shown are ww2 era. The correct style should be something like the William lennon B5. I have pairs of both.

The reason the gas mask is in a tin is because a tin is easy to disinfect if contaminated, a canvas or material bag absorbs gas so would need to be got rid of if it came in to contact with gas

Ammo boots where Brown without a toe cap and did change to the black boot on the table. Overseas cap?

Where is this gun show? I heard him mention a surplus store over in PA, and I live in Jersey but it’s close by for me

This is a good collection but a lot of the information given is tenuous. For example, British tunic buttons have regimental badges on them. A soldier of the Grenadier Guards would wear different buttons to a soldier from the South Lancashire Regiment or Durham Light Infantry. I also believe there was a cheaper war time boot produced and issued rather than the ammo boot. To say “this is what the British wore” is a correct but also a little misleading. This is indeed what most infantry would wear, but other types of unit would dress differently. Cavalry for instance would wear a leather bandolier that slung over the shoulder, and would have worn breeches rather than straight leg trousers. Great collection, but I think it needs some more thorough research if you’re going to tell people about it.

How the hell do you not include australia as one of the main forces have you not heard about the ANZACS

HI You may want to re-think the Black Ammo Boots

Great gear and info, regards.

The French had two different pattern helmets during WW1,there was one in 1915 and one later in the war...

Did Canada use more or less the same thing as the British did? Like Equipment and uniform wise.

Is that victory medal repro? The ones I’ve found and actually own have all had some sort of damage to them and they have a petunia, they are not clean, and you cannot find them clean. At least from my experience

“The British adopted the overseas cap” um, no we didn’t... ammunition shoes?! Really? And they’re ww2 boots as well! The buttons are general service buttons, the cap is a SD (service dress) cap with the stiff inside rim taken out. Second World War trenching tool head carrier come on...

Somewhere probably in Connecticut a teenager girl is going through her grandparents basement. " Hey Grandma can I give this stuff away to Good Will?

SHORT MAGAZINE LEE ENFIELD!!!! Not shot model Lee Enfield

The cap is called a forage cap not a trench cap

‘Service Toonicks’.

They were actually ammunition boots .

British soldiers used the B5 boot. Not those, they look like ammo boots.

"Ammunition" boots in the British army are called that not because there's a connection to the modern meaning of the word (i.e. bullets and shells etc.) but from the older usage which meant military weapons, equipment, and stores of any kind.

Thats a 1922 pattern service dress tunic dude!!!

7:07 to skip to french

Witch country in your opinion had the best rifles

It's Short Magazined Lee Enfield Rifle.

Tank regiment not tank Corps, but an understandable nistake

They didn’t wear ammo boots they wore b5 brown boots

is the helmet original

He forgOT THE GAS MASKS!!!!! *sezures uncontrollably*

Awesome. But label your videos please 123

Boots are wrong

They don't make like that today

The tin was given out during the Christmas truce of 1914 not 1916. At least know what your talking about.

That's a 1922 pattern tunic not a 1902.

he never explained the story behind the 'ammunition boots'

British stuff realy is not hard to find in the uk

The lebel was not the most obsolete The reichsrevolver was the most obsolete weapon of wwI

Gor blimey

god as a german schütze i hate showshow

he knows nothing. there allot of miss information

I'd have to say this so called collector, slash expert hasn't a clue of what he's talking about, boy its sad 😢 😞

5:47 - women-hahaha

This lad made so many mistakes 😂 ammunition boots 🤣 ammo boots is correct

The only piece of equipment the French soldiers need to be issued is a white flag😆

man that guy doing the talking knows very little lol

16:51 I didn't know that the French actually celebrated LGBT/Rainbow-community back in 1910s

It is truly painful listening to this guy

Those poor British soldiers. That helmet is pathetic.