JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
I found this in The War of the Nations, a Pictorial Portfolio of World War I, published by the New York Times (originally in 1919). I'm not too much of a fan of big picture books of big events, but this one is really very provocative and useful in spite of the heritage of such publications. This image of what the U.S. foot soldier carried off to war is vexing, mainly because it shows both a lot and a little--first it looks as though there are too many straps and bits that would get in the way, too much motion of too many things; and then it looks like what they carried was hardly anything at all, compared to the modern soldier. Either way, it looks like a tough go.
See also the following posts for what soldiers carried into battle:
- "What They Wore, 1941" http://longstreet.typepad.com/thesciencebookstore/2015/05/what-they-wore-the-us-soldier-may-1941.html
- "Things They Took to War, 1915" http://longstreet.typepad.com/thesciencebookstore/2010/01/things-they-took-to-war-1915-officialissue-pocket-contents.html
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