WS18 battery

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by Carl Ellingstad

Hello Chris!

Out from eye measurement the pictured strap seems to be a little bit to short for that. I will check the length later and post it.
And battery securing straps I fought was coded with ZA 3240?

Best regards
Carl

The early WS18 webbing had 'ZN' series stores codes. Later on they renumbered it into the 'ZA' series and reused some of it on the WS22 and WS62, etc.

The early carrying harness used standard infantry webbing cross straps, modified by the addition of a short 1"strap and buckle to attach the strap to the hoop on the set case, and hooks on the strap ends to fasten to the brackets that the waistbelt attached to. The waistbelt was a standard Pattern 08 belt with metal plates rivetted on.

The later carrying harness used the 'L' shaped pack straps with 1" hooks added, and a cut-down waistbelt fastened at the front with a 1" strap that was much more usable. (So much so that if you're too fat to wear the set, you can extend the waist strap with one of the 1" utility straps to make it a comfortable fit.)

The odd (and confusing) thing is that they initially kept the same ZN stores codes for both types of harness - I have the cross strap and the later 'L' strap both marked ZN.2107 (I think).

The WS22 got both types of harness, depending on date, and the WS62 Mk.1 used the later waistbelt and further modified 'L' straps (with a lozenge-shaped wide part and the hoop-attachment part of the strap reduced to 1").
The Mk.II and later WS62 had changes to the set case (replacement of the welded-on frame for waistbelt attachment by some thick wire loops and the belt replaced by a sponge-rubber filled leather cushion as a back pad.

As for the straps originally under discussion, I think I have the original box with the stores label on it: "ZN.2141 Straps, Securing, Battery WS18. Qty.6".

Chris. (Still collecting the webbing that goes with the sets.)