72 pattern webbing
The 1972 Pattern Webbing was a webbing intended to replace the 58 pattern webbing, but never got beyond user trials. It was made from PU coated nylon to counter the Soviet NBC capability, and was designed to be used anywhere from Europe, to Jungle or Desert environments and adjustable to be worn on short duration jungle patrols to general infantry use. Having never got beyond British Army User Trials, the 72 pattern webbing rarely turns up on the collectors market.
Components
The two front pouches are manufactured from two layers of PU nylon material for rigidity and abrasion resistance. The single L1A1 SLR grab pouches,are located inboard of the main pouches, mounted on a double thickness backing section of material with a sniped lower edge. A broad nylon strap with two eyelets and a plastic quick release buckle on a tape tab is stitched to this material, beneath the single SLR pouch which have a cover flap with two press studs. The main Pouch lid is fastened with a two-prong quick release clip. On the trailing face of the large pouches is a pair of horizontal tape straps with green plastic quick release buckles, to which extra kit could be attached and straps to accept a bayonet in the same fashion as on ’58 Pattern, were stitched to the left pouch.
The ’72 Pattern webbing large pouches are held together at the front by an adjustable waist strap with a black coated quick release buckle, which lacks the use of a webbing belt making it closer to that of a tactical vest. On the trailing edge, however, the large pouches are fastened back to the rear pack by two nylon tape straps with green plastic adjustable buckles.
The ’72 Pattern back pack, or haversack has around the top of the sack are eyelets and a paracord drawstring, with a finger and thumb operation cord lock. The lid of the pack fastens with two straps and adjustable green buckles, On the underside of the pack lid are two straps with similar green buckles to allow a rolled poncho or waterproofs to be stowed for relatively fast access. Two horizontal nylon straps with adjuster buckles ran around the outer face and these could be used to draw in the pack when empty or not being used to its full capacity, The pack lid straps ran all the way from the rear face, under the bottom through two tape loops, and up the front. The pack has a padded back for comfort.
On the underside of the haversack is a long narrow carrier for often accessed kit. The two previously mentioned eyelets beneath the single pouches were ideal for carrying a sheath on the thigh. The eyelets on the other side could have been used to carry a water bottle pouch.
The yoke arrangement for the ’72 Pattern Webbing is quite similar to ’58 Pattern, though the strap adjustment and attachment was much simpler. The haversack is attached to the rear of the yoke, which had a similar pick & shovel attachment arrangement to ’58 webbing between the shoulder blades, by way of two doubled ¾ inch wide nylon straps. These straps passed through plastic D-rings on the top rear edge of the sack and were adjustable at the yoke end by way of the same type of green buckle used on the packs. The front straps connecting the yoke to the large front pouches is equally narrow, but they were single rather than doubled, and adjustment was by means of green metal alloy double buckles. The front and back strap arrangements allowed the webbing to be easily drawn in or let out to adjust the load. A pair of straps was often also fastened to D-rings threaded onto the rear yoke straps, to allow a sleeping bag or rolled poncho to be carried above the pack.
One interesting aspect of the ’72 Pattern arrangement is the way that the haversack could be repositioned to sit lower on the back, to allow a radio pack or small bergen to be worn above it. This was effected by connecting the lower knapsack straps to the previously mentioned buckles on the sniped fabric panel beneath the single small pouches, and adjusting the upper side straps accordingly.
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