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Equipment

I realize that topic of Austro-Hungarian field gear is largely unknown in English speaking world. Therefore, I decided to provide some basic information for any potential recruits.

Helmets

The Austrian army began receiving the first shipments of German M16 (link with picture) helmets in November of 1916.When the war ended, 500.000 helmets from German factories were received. In 1917 production of the Austrian model (link with picture) was under way and by the end of the war the Austro-Hungarian army had over 500.000 domestically made M16 helmets. Additionally, over 140.000 Austrian made Berndorfer (link with picture) helmets supplemented the Austro-Hungarian army. Currently, those are highly collectible items, therefore harder to find and MUCH more expensive then common M.16 helmets. If you need tips on restoring your helmet, contact us we can give you some hints on restoring your helmet or just check out this guy, he does a very good job on restoring WWII and WWI helmets


Berndorfer helmet	Austrian M16 helmet

Bread bag

Austrian bread bag in size was similar to German WWI bread bag; however, there were few peculiarities that made those bread bags unique. First thing that strikes us right away is the permanently attached carrying sling. One side the sling is sewn to the bag and the other is being adjustable by means of roller buckle. On the top of the bag there are also two hooks for attaching the bag to the belt. I have never seen any pictures indicating that bread bag was attached only by hooks to the belt. Inside of the bread bag there were two compartments for personal belongings, food as well as pocket for canteen. Late war or 'ersatz' models did not have a second compartment or canteen pocket. Most of the bread bags should have some stamps inside. Bread bags were made of heavy canvas and all hardware was or rather should be painted black. Colors of the canvas varied, early war examples were made of brown canvas however as the war progressed color of the bread bag changed to khaki, field-gray and gray and any imaginable shades of those colors!

After WWI Austrians and Czechoslovaks continued to use this design the only changes were replacement of adjusting roller buckle on carrying strap with adjustable buckle. Post war models are also a slightly smaller in its size.

Belts

Austrians started the war with a brown (sometimes black) leather belt with Imperial or Hungarian crest (Bosnian troops had their own symbol) The construction of the belt was very similar to the German counterpart from that period. Near the end of 1915 belts with roller buckle became more common although, industrious soldiers and NCOs were privately purchasing buckles from private manufacturers and this type of belt and buckles was used till the end of the war.

Recently many good reproductions of belt buckles are coming out of Austria and Hungary. Unfortunately, some unscrupulous individuals are selling those as originals!

Second type of belt is a simple roller buckle belt. Those were used by mounted troops prior to WWI but as brass became scarce it was decided that roller buckle belts would replace brass buckles belts. Belts came in many different sizes and shapes so it is difficult to provide exact measurements or sizing. Here are examples of roller buckle belts.

As the war dragged on and leather became scarce even leather roller buckle belts were getting replaced with belts made of heavy canvas, those were however issued to non-combat units. I never encountered any pictures of front line troops with canvas made gear (but I may be wrong)

Ammo pouches

The most common type of ammo pouches were M.95 pouches that were introduced into the service along with M.95 rifle. Those pouches have only two compartments and held 40 rounds of ammunition. The angular shape of the pouches was due to Mannlicher type of ammo clips. Flaps closed both compartments and closing strap was sewn to the flap in a circular pattern. Sometimes closing straps were simply riveted to the flap by two rivets. On the back of the pouch were two straps, which allowed belt to be pulled trough, those straps were attached to small studs on the bottom of the ammo compartment. There was also a "D" ring attachment for backpack hooks. Pre war and early war pouches have an offset back late war or post war pouches have straight back. I also encountered some post war pouches with out any trace of "D' rings (?)

With leather becoming scarcer Austro-Hungarian army was forced to introduce many ersatz substitutes. One of such substitutes was an ammo pouch made of very thin metal with leather straps. There were at least two models, that I'm aware of, that were pressed into service.

There are some rumors that ammo pouches were even made of canvas but I have not seen any photographic evidence to confirm it. The ones that I have seen I suspect are of Bulgarian origin.

There were also model 88 pouches in use but by the end of the war M.95 pouches and its ersatz models were the most common ammo pouch in Austro-Hungarian army.

*Buyers beware! Occasionally, you will be offered "an original WWI Austrian ammo pouches" Be very careful, most of those 'genuine pouches' are WWII Bulgarian pouches which are similar but not identical to Austrian WWI pouches. Look at the pictures to see the difference. Bulgarian pouches can be acceptable only after being converted to WWI configuration other wise are unacceptable!

Canteen

Many people are wondering why Austrians issued such small canteens? Well, I don't know answer for this question but I know that because of its small size it wasn't uncommon for troops to carry two or even more canteens.

The most common canteen that you will find is enameled 0.5 l bottle. Almost all of them will be stamped with either 'Austria', 'Brun' or other name and date (anything between 1915-1918, I never seen canteen like that dated 1914!) I also encountered couple undated canteens. Czechoslovaks also manufactured this type of canteen after the end of WWI and the only difference is the year of production and makers name stamped on the body.

diffrent types of bayonets used by Austrians During the war troops were improvising with covers and carries for those canteens. There were many types of 'home made' covers made of wool, canvas, and linen for canteens, some were sew on permanently some were made with string for tightening covers grip on the body of the canteen. But most of the canteens were carried with out any covers. The only known prescribed model of carrier for canteen was issued only to mounted troops, it was a 'skeletal' type carrier made of leather . I have seen pictures of infantry officers carrying those carriers too. Most of the 'carriers' were however a simple string attached to two 'ears' on the canteen's top . I also encountered a 'home made' carries that join together two canteens. Those were most likely used by medics. All canteens were issued with a cork stoppers, sometimes replaced with a simple wooden plug, a cup was fastened to the canteen with a string. Most cups are missing from the canteens.

The other type of canteen is made of aluminum and is characterized by its 'pear' shape with groves going along its body . Those were most likely issued prior to WWI and its production was abandoned shortly after the war started (I did not encounter any canteens dated later then 1914) I believe this canteen was also used with some kind of carrier. I'm not aware of any covers as well as cups for this type of canteen.

All types of canteens were supposed to be carried in the bread bag in a special pocket, that should explain why there was so few issue carriers for canteens and most of the carries encountered today were 'home made'.

Mess Kits

Mess kits are one of the harder part of Austro-Hungarian gear to find. As far as I know there were two types of mess kits that were issued to the troops.

diffrent types of bayonets used by Austrians

First model is (I will call it 'bowl' type) in shape of bowl with two small handles on each side. All bowl type mess kits were issued with rounded plate/cover. Most mess kits that I have encountered were made of enameled steel therefore a lot of them will be found with holes rusted trough. There were also models made of tin plated steel issued before the war but those were obviously replaced by enameled steel as the war dragged on. Some mess kits were stamped with maker logo on enameled body. However, most mess kits I have seen were without any markings. This type of mess kit was sometimes issued with fabric made cover. After WWI Czechoslovaks continued production of this type of mess kits therefore sometimes post -WWI mess kits can be encountered.

Second model of mess kit, I will call it 'square type'. I use this term because I do not know if this particular type of mess kit was issued under any "Model" name. Anyway square mess kit has a carrying handle and usually on the handle manufacturers marks can be found for example 'Austria 1917' or name of the producer, Hungarian crest and date. I'm not aware of any markings stamped on the enameled body. What is very interesting and peculiar to this type of mess kit that on the sides of the kit there is a rail/connector for joining together several mess kits or for inserting a bayonet in it and using it as a handle when mess kit was too hot to keep it in the hand! This type of mess kit was also issued with plate cover with handle. This model is also sometimes encountered in tin plated steel.

Bayonets

Since we are using only M.95 rifles/carbines it is necessary to own a bayonet. The most common bayonet encountered in Austro-Hungarian army was M.95 bayonet. This bayonet was manufactured in three different versions:

"Infantry bayonet" is most commonly encountered, those are easy to find and still reasonably priced.
NCO type with bent quilion and ring attached to the pommel (accommodation for NCO/Officer knot) those are for NCOs only so if you do not have rank don't use it!:
"Carbine bayonet" with extra carbine "sight" on the muzzle ring (if you want to be 100% correct when you are using carbine for reenacting you should look for this type of bayonet) There was also NCO version with muzzle ring sight but those bayonets are very difficult to find.

Your other option is 'ersatz' bayonet. Reasonably priced reproductions are currently available. I have seen pictures of the troops armed with this ad hoc weapons dated as early as March 1915! Some source even claims that ersatz bayonets were issued to the troops as early as December of 1914!
If you would like to do a medic or pioneer impression you can also use a massive machete or so called 'trench sword' I have seen pictures of medic carrying those � I guess they were using those to chop off mutilated limbs!!!

*Please note that most of bayonets available on the market are Bulgarian reworks and its scabbards are blued, in order to return this scabbard to original condition you will have to repaint it either olive green or field gray.

Frogs

The bayonet frogs were made of brown leather. There were many variation in the construction of the frogs and as the war dragged on there were also ersatz frogs made of a single piece of leather with only cuts allowing for bayonet to be inserted into the slots as well as models made of heavy canvas or mixture of leather and canvas.

Shovels

Originally, Austrian shovels copied what is commonly known as Lineman shovels but by 1910 a new model was introduced that differed slightly from its predecessor. The top of the shovel was pointed not flat. At the beginning of the war both types of shovel were used but by the middle of the war old style shovels were completely replaced by the new model. Some shovels were made with saw tooth on one side. Some shovels were makers marked some were not. Austrian style shovels were used by Czechoslovaks, Poles, Hungarians and Austrians after WWI some of the shovels were even reissued to Wehrmaht and saw service in WWII! All shovels were issued with carriers; there were at least two models of carriers and one ersatz (metal, leather combination) Shovels were normally carried on the left hip usually strapped together 'in German manner' with bayonet. During long marches the shovels were attached to backpack/rucksack in many different manners.

Gas mask

Austrians began experimenting with gas masks as early as 1915. However none of the domestically made gas masks proved to be adequate, although few of them were very interesting in design Instead, military authorities relied on German models. Starting from 1915 Austro-Hungarian army received over 800.000 German made "Gummi' masks. While receiving shipments of German made gas masks, Austro-Hungarians tried to produce it's own improved version of German 'Gummi' mask, however, due to material shortages they tried to use rubberized silk, unfortunately, masks proved to be too fragile for front line use and saw only limited use. During 1917/18 Austro-Hungarians began receiving German leather masks. Over 140.000 were imported from Germany before the end of hostilities. Austro-Hungarians introduced it's own canisters for gas masks. Initially gas masks were carried in canvas carriers, however this type of carrier proved to be insufficient to protect mask from damages in the trenches, therefore tin cans were introduced. First model had a bottom slightly smaller then top there was also second model that was similar to German type can and this one was most likely used with German leather masks. Carrying straps were either canvas or paper cloth, I even run across leather ersatz type carrying straps. Spare filters were carried in small cloth bags attached to the belt. Our unit permits all types of German gas masks to be used. Recently good reproductions of German WWI leather gas masks became available for the reenacting community! Schipperfabrik

diffrent types of gas masks used by Austrians

Back Packs

Austro-Hungarian army entered war with Model. 1888 fur backpack. The pack was made of two separate packs, the main pack and smaller ammunition pack that was attached under the main pack. This type of pack was replaced by middle of the war with rucksacks, however I have seen pictures of the troops carrying those as late as 1917. Fining original backpack is close to impossible these days therefore I will skip further description here. By middle of the war a rucksack of mountain troops replaced almost completely pre war fur backpacks. The rucksack was made of heavy canvas. It was large pack with two external packets all closures were by means of small roller buckles. Since, rucksacks were made by many different manufacturers there might be slight differences in its construction. Just like in case of bread bags it was made in many different shades of khaki, field gray or gray. Most of the surviving examples are completely white due to color being wash off during the years of use and abuse.

Dog Tag

Austrians used a small brass or the ersatz metal ID lockets that were carried in the pocket of the pants. Inside of the locket there was a small piece of paper with individuals name, religion, place of birth and regiment number. Later version of the ID insert also indicated types and dates of vaccinations.

Other gear

Soldiers carried many things with them, here are some items that could be carried but are not required to own, for example:

Wire cutters, there were several models
Trench knives
Binoculars
Money
Cigars
Cigarette lighter
Spoon and fork
Pictures, letters
Etc.

There are probably many more items that you can carry around with you but before you do make sure that those are period items, if not sure ask!

Source of Pictures:
1) Le Armi E Gli Equipaggiamenti Dell'Esercito Austro-Ungarico dal 1914 al 1918 by Siro Offelli
2) Courtesy of Budapest Army Museum, curator Baczoni Tamas
3) Personal collection

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