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Wanting to ID this Australian-Made SMG Mag Pouch, OSS?


ordnance
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I watched an Australian made Thompson mag pouch sell on eBay today for the handsome sum of $481.  Definitely a scarce pouch and I always like to see unusual British and Australian made pieces issued to U.S. troops.  Here are a couple images from the auction.....

 

 

 

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It prompted me to dig out a similar example to compare and several differences were noted.  Mine is unmarked except for the Carr Australia lift-the-dot fasteners.  The most noticeable difference is my pouch is shorter between the fastener studs and the bottom edge.  A 20-rd Thompson magazine will fit but the flap will not close.  In my photo below, the center cell has a Thompson magazine in it and the flap is 3/4" to 1" short of closing.  I also will not work with a Reising or Owen magazine, both of which are much too long.

 

What does fit is a U.D. M/42 25-rd magazine and one is in the cell second from the left. It closes perfectly on these magazines.  The normal magazine pouches for the M/42 Marlin were the 4 cell pouch that looked like a 5 cell 20-rd Thompson pouch with one cell missing and an open pouch wide enough inside to accept the U.D double mags.  These pouches seem to turn up most often in European collections in areas where they were supplied to OSS and Partisan fighters.

 

A couple friends and I discussed it today and we tried to figure out what other SMGs this pouch could have been used with in WWII.  Our only conclusion was the U.D. M/42.  We know that several thousand Marlin guns were shipped to Southeast Asia via the OSS with many going to Detachment 101 in Burma.  I don't recall seeing a single photo of a U.D. M/42 in the far East with any mag pouch visible but they must have had something.  Perhaps some of these contracted with the Australians? Any input is welcomed.

 

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Steve Brannan

I have an Australian marked M1 Carbine magazine holder with US stamped on the front. Haven’t seen many of them.


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Perhaps apples and oranges but I thought it was interesting....these shots are from a series taken of OSS OG Adrian kitting up prior to their jump in to France. OG Adrian carried UD M/42s and the mag pouches are visible in a few of the shots. 

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Screen Shot 2021-06-07 at 6.42.20 PM.png

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easterneagle87

Kadet, is the first picture posted, is it a gal? Something about the hair. Awesome if so.   

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46 minutes ago, punched primer said:

Hello, the pouch in question fits Thompson 20 round mags perfectly.  

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I'm sure it does as it certainly was made for the U.S. Army to carry Thompson mags.  But the question is.....what was my shorter magazine pouch designed to hold when 20-rd Thompson mags do not fit?

 

Interesting in the second OSS photo that one guy seems to be using a standard 5 cell Thompson mag pouch while others are using the 4 cell pouch normally issued with the UD M/42.  But I'm sure they had more options to use whatever they wanted and what was available, like most special operations troops.

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On 6/7/2021 at 7:08 PM, easterneagle87 said:

Kadet, is the first picture posted, is it a gal? Something about the hair. Awesome if so.   

It is a man...

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On 6/7/2021 at 6:48 PM, Kadet said:

This is one of my favorite pics. Some amazing uniform and equipment detail...

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Andy, does the gentleman seated on the right side of the photograph have an a Owen SMG strapped under his harness? Just looking at the foregrip and wondering what type of weapon that is?

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