An Australian or British soldier’s standard piece of fighting equipment was his Lee-Enfield rifle with attached bayonet. Most of these weapons were manufactured in Britain, although a small arms factory in Lithgow, New South Wales, also supplied Australian troops embarking for France with the same rifle.
Apart from his Lee-Enfield slung over his shoulder, all the kit a soldier needed for the battlefield was fitted into pouches or hooks on a complex webbing harness that he buckled over his jacket. An entrenching tool, consisting of a wooden handle and detachable iron head (pick-shaped at one end and shovel-shaped at the other), hung from his belt. Field compass, map case, dixie can, mess utensils, water bottle, pocket watch and field dressing were either slotted into pouches or tied to the harness, and were all standard British Army issue. Box respirator gas masks, which had superseded the more primitive cloth-hood type by mid-1916, were stored in a small haversack hung round the neck at chest level.
This basic survival kit was supplemented in various ways. A family farewell gift often consisted of a practical item like a mesh-covered wristwatch or a brand new pistol. A grisly repertoire of weapons for hand-to-hand fighting - knives, daggers and trench clubs - was either purchased from locals or other Allied soldiers, or confiscated from enemy prisoners. Luger pistols were popular with the officers.
Organisations such as the YMCA, the ACF and the Red Cross sent the troops ‘comfort packages’. They included writing wallets with paper and pencils; toiletries such as soap, razor blades, combs and shiny, unbreakable metal mirrors; sewing kits, called ‘Hussifs’; and enameled tins containing candles and matches.
© Time-Life Australia Pty Ltd 1998
(from the series Australians at War)