Help with Rhodesian webbing please - British & Commonwealth Military Badge Forum

Anthony03 · #1 20-05-15, 12:35 PM

Greetings all
I have recently won a quantity of Rhodesian mixed items on a lot at an auction in Cape Town. Could anyone identify the chest webbing and finally the web belt which has some ominous stains. Many thanks - Alf

Loski · #2 20-05-15, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anthony03

Greetings all
I have recently won a quantity of Rhodesian mixed items on a lot at an auction in Cape Town. Could anyone identify the chest webbing and finally the web belt which has some ominous stains. Many thanks - Alf

The Chest webbing looks like the ones made by Feredays or North during the bush war, but there were others making them aswell. I don’t think the belt is Rhodesian but I think it is a Portuguese from their bush war in Mozambique. Here is a link to a tread on The New Rhodesian Forum relating to Chest webbing http://www.newrhodesian.ca/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=388 There is quite a bit of info there.

Anthony03 · #3 20-05-15, 02:26 PM

Many thanks - I have applied to join that group. I will check out the Portuguese side of thing re the belt. Cheers Alf

Loski · #4 20-05-15, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anthony03

Many thanks - I have applied to join that group. I will check out the Portuguese side of thing re the belt. Cheers Alf

No probs I hope i was of help.

Rhodie R1 · #5 27-06-15, 10:26 PM

Anthony,
The chest webbing pictured was made by Peter North. The telltale identification points are: Tight woven, light weight canvas web for the majority of the piece. Blue/grey cotton twill fabric on the rear of the webbing. Steel wire loop and staple type pouch closures. This piece was for sale last week on BoB by Alf Boyley, I was the loosing bidder.
Fereday chest webbing would have 1/2" snap closure, be made from courser canvas, and the rear of the webbing would be the same material as the front canvas. If the Fereday label which was sewn to the center rear of the chest webbing is missing, you usually still have the stitching that held it on. The Fereday labels were made from woven rayon and frayed quickly and disintegrated.
The belt is odd, it is very similar to Brit Patt'44 with eyelets around the bottom. But the yoke attachment points on the rear are wrong, and it isn't a three piece belt. The hardware is Brit pattern for sure. It is NOT Portuguese, which looks more like a US Army belt but with British type buckles.
Mike