[Thompsongunner]

Hello,
I recently picked up an old canvas water bag that has Gun#2 on the side of it. It has traces of OD green paint on the back side. I know the British Vickers guns a had a canvas water bag but was something like this ever used by our troops? I am thinking if it was it may have been an early stateside training item or a temporary item until the correct chests were issued? Thanks for any guesses or help with this. Thanks, Dan

 

[L999here]

..battle-field expediency...

Only those who have had time in a military unit...especially during actual combat...really understand this fact: whatever gets the job done and works. Water cooled guns used water. Water is scarce in combat. Therefore,you use anything and everything you can get your hands on to carry and store water. Canteens,canvas bags,canvas buckets,steel cans,etc. were used not only in combat but training also. Canvas buckets,water cans and the large canteens were issued to the 1917 Machine Gun Cart crew. About 4 1/2 gals. total. Add another gal or so if the canvas bucket was filled. The canvas bag shown could be Brit,but don't recognize it as a US issue item. Again,anything and everything was used by both sides and all partisipants. Its the same with every war since the first guy threw a stone or swung a stick. Ever hear of the word 'scrounger'..,.? Every unit had a least 1-guy who could find anything and these were the guys who were masters of 'battle-field expediency'.

 

[Thompsongunner]

Thanks for the reply Len. That pretty much sums up what I was thinking. The bag was made in california so I was thinking it was used out west somewhere for training. I believe you are right and some scrounger type had an idea of an easier way to carry more water for thr gun. Thanks, dan

 

[frazer42]

Don't rule out artillery baggage. 1903 field gun caissons carried water among other things. J

 

[rugman59]

My Dad and granddad used these out in the woods logging. They always had a couple hanging from the side view mirrors of the pick up truck. It could be 95* outside and yet that water was always cold.
Evaporative cooling works.

 

[fn111557]

Only those who have had time in a military unit...especially during actual combat...really understand this fact: whatever gets the job done and works. Water cooled guns used water. Water is scarce in combat. Therefore,you use anything and everything you can get your hands on to carry and store water. Canteens,canvas bags,canvas buckets,steel cans,etc. were used not only in combat but training also. Canvas buckets,water cans and the large canteens were issued to the 1917 Machine Gun Cart crew. About 4 1/2 gals. total. Add another gal or so if the canvas bucket was filled. The canvas bag shown could be Brit,but don't recognize it as a US issue item. Again,anything and everything was used by both sides and all partisipants. Its the same with every war since the first guy threw a stone or swung a stick. Ever hear of the word 'scrounger'..,.? Every unit had a least 1-guy who could find anything and these were the guys who were masters of 'battle-field expediency'.

As soon as I read that word, “SCROUNGER” this movie flashed in my mind. I had a division officer on my first ship that was very much like Tony Curtis. When we went to the shipyard for overhaul, he had us on some of the strangest “shopping runs” you could think of.
For a quick idea of what I am talking about, start at 12:00 min. into the film and watch awhile. For an enjoyable classic movie experience, watch from beginning to end. If you don’t know who Tony Curtis is, he is the officer that shows up in full white dress uniform (scrounger / idea man).

Operation Petticoat (1959)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWEZ9qKZcSM

 

[Thompsongunner]

As soon as I read that word, “SCROUNGER” this movie flashed in my mind. I had a division officer on my first ship that was very much like Tony Curtis. When we went to the shipyard for overhaul, he had us on some of the strangest “shopping runs” you could think of.
For a quick idea of what I am talking about, start at 12:00 min. into the film and watch awhile. For an enjoyable classic movie experience, watch from beginning to end. If you don’t know who Tony Curtis is, he is the officer that shows up in full white dress uniform (scrounger / idea man).

Operation Petticoat (1959)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWEZ9qKZcSM

I thought of the great escape...James Garners's character...Thats a focal plane shutter...let me know when you have it...

 

[Outdoordave]

This is the Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry MG section - just for reference. As for the date it's more than likely late 1914 - that's colonel Fauquar to the left and he was killed early on in the war. Also Maxims and not Vickers - the Canadians went into the war with more MGs per unit than the Brits - mostly Maxims and Colt Potato Diggers - supplied by the folks at home and private funds. I'm sure the yanks used the canvas bags as well - anything in a pinch.

 

[Colorado1919]

Didn't the British Commonwealth start WWI equipped with the 1903 Maxim made by Vickers. The Vickers improved Maxim wasn't put in to production until about 1914. The experts can correct me.

 

[Outdoordave]

Can't say for sure with the rest of the commonwealth but - yes - the Canadians - as stated above - used mostly Maxims and Diggers. The Canadian Motor Machine Gun Corps used the Digger almost exclusively.

 

[baker72]

Best water bag for keep your water nice and cool

 

[xdevildog]

Those bags look very similar, right down to the cap, to bags my parents used for drinking water when we traveled the back roads of Nevada. We had a '43 (I think) Ford coupe and they hung from chrome embellishments on the front bumper. Wonderful stuff when the temps were in the 90's and you were dry as dust.

 

[rugman59]

Best water bag for keep your water nice and cool

Just a fact!! My dad would take me to work with him once in a while in the forest when I was little. He was a lumberjack way back then. ALL the crews used the same type of canvas water bags. I remember that water was always cool even on 80* plus, days. Evaporation cools them off same as a heat exchanger in a fridge.
They always slung them over the side view mirrors.

 

[baker72]

Just a fact!! My dad would take me to work with him once in a while in the forest when I was little. He was a lumberjack way back then. ALL the crews used the same type of canvas water bags. I remember that water was always cool even on 80* plus, days. Evaporation cools them off same as a heat exchanger in a fridge.
They always slung them over the side view mirrors.

yep I was born in Australia, live and work there till I was 23, I did my app with the Sydney water board , I would go out in 100 temp and we would work on pipe lines from the dams. we had a few of these bags and would hang them off the bull bar/ roo bar, the bags leak so the canvas is always wet and it cools it way down. I can see Diggers using these for sure

Will