Quote Originally Posted by Fuchs View Post
German tradition is to separate Rucksack and a small combat pouch (rear, on the belt). The Rucksack is almost never worn, though (exception: mountain troops). It's hard to impossible to find exercise or wartime photos where infantrymen carry Rucksacks. Platoon trailers and later squad vehicles carried the stuff.

Very early 1870-1914), soldiers were often portrayed or photographed with moderate march packs on their back, but that weighed less than a Rucksack.
Yes that is very much like the Brit system I grew up with. The "big pack" had spare clothing etc and was always in a vehicle in B Echelon for access when out of "the line". Then we had a '44 Pattern pack which was small on the back and was good for bedding and a few days rations and water but never taken into battle under conventional circumstances. Then there was the basic (hip) webbing which was all that was worn for combat.

Unconventional war/counter insurgency changed all that. If you were to search a river-line (for example) for sign of the enemy and it would take 8 days then you had to carry food for 8 days and spare this and spare that but water was obtained locally. The patrol was essentially a fighting patrol so when you bumped into them you needed to be able to fight immediately and could do so only if you dumped your pack/Bergen. Very seldom if ever established a patrol base camp and patrolled out from there.