Thin Barracks Shoes and Great Hobnailed Hulks

[world war I nerd]

Photo No. 85: These photos, also from the Library of Congress, shows the outside (top) and the inside (bottom) of above 1912 Russet Leather Shoes. Note the two different textures of leather, the seam which is present only on the inside of the shoe that secures the internal heel counter, the pull tab, and the fact that the shoes only have six rows of lacing eyelets.

 

The initial specifications for the Russet Leather Shoe called for either 6 or 7 rows of lacing eyelets, larger shoe sizes required the extra row of eyelets. At some point between 1912, when the shoe was adopted, and 1917, the number of rows of lacing eyelets was increased from either 6 or 7, to 8 or 9.