5 MORE Pieces of Gear HATED by US WWII Soldiers

During WWII when so many new items were being pushed into the hands of soldiers, there were bound to be some stinkers.

Here’s a list of five more items that were hated by the soldiers who had to use them during the war:

1. Assault Vest

Back then, vests weren’t common until 1944, when the Army issued large numbers of new assault vests in preparation for the D-day invasion.

These vests were meant to give soldiers more room to carry all the different things they would need for an amphibious invasion. Most soldiers hated these vests and they had good reasons why.

First, they had so many pockets and a lot of room to put stuff in that they grew heavy and bulky. The jackets were also notorious for being extremely hot.

The canvas on these jackets wraps around from your shoulders to your thighs. So, if you’re moving around with this vest on, it would be really warm during the day.

The length was also an issue since it almost goes all the way down to your things and those really big pockets at the bottom.

2. M1928 Haversack

This was the standard pack used by enlisted men in the US Army for most of WWII, making up the majority of packs by the Army in almost every theater of operations.

While it was a great design on paper, in reality, the design sucks. Instead of a normal bag where one can put objects inside, it was a flat piece of canvas that soldiers had to lay on the ground, meticulously wrap their items in, and strap closed.

3. Airborne Leg Bag

This was infamous because of its use by US paratroopers on D-Day. Paratroopers would jump on the plane with this heavy bag on their legs and lower the bag on the ground before landing.

It was infamous not so much for the design, but rather because the paratroopers weren’t given proper instruction on how to deploy these bags on the parachute jump.

The jolt from the parachute opening was enough to rip the bag off a paratrooper’s leg and sever the rope that was meant to be used to lower it to the ground. This made soldiers lose all the important equipment they placed in this bag including their weapons.

4. CC2

CC2 is the name of a chemical used to treat soldiers’ uniforms making them resistant to chemical weapons. This stuff was nasty.

While it did a great job sealing off the uniforms, it also left them with an uncomfortable waxy feeling that got rid of the fabric’s breathability. It seals all the heat and makes you sweat like crazy!

5. M1 Helmet

Overall, this helmet was well-liked, although it had one feature that soldiers hated – the chin strap. Many WWII soldiers were convinced that their M1 helmet could actually kill them if they buckled the chin strap under their chin.

The main explanation for this is that if there was a nearby explosion, the concave shape of the helmet would capture the blast and be shot upward causing the chin strap to break your neck or even rip your head off.

However, this could be a total myth since any blast close to you to shoot your helmet off with enough force to break your neck would certainly kill you anyway.