The pack
was introduced in the 1960’s - 1970’s to the German Gebirgsjäger, which roughly
translate to mountain troops, like the American 10th Mountain
division or the Italian “Alpini” who actually saw action against the German and
Austro-Hungarian Gebirgsjägers during World War 1.
Back
when it was first introduced it had leather straps with metal buckles and was
made out of some kind of cottonish material.
The one
that you will most frequently find in shops today, is the new model made out of
Heavy Canvas, canvas straps and plastic buckles.
What about it The Pack itself?
The pack
in itself is a very simple design, its basically just a string-closed canvas
bag with canvas straps and some side pockets sewn on to it.
The lit
of the pack is large, and will let you keep a sleepingmat, sleeping bag or
maybe a tent underneath it, and the length of straps and the way the buckles
are designed makes it easy to tighten.
The main
compartment is very roomy and seems like it’s a bottomless pit, you always seem
to be able to throw more stuff into it.
The
carrying system is fairly simple. It’s Just two shoulder straps with some kind
of patting on them and an extremely uncomfortable hip-belt. The hip-belt is not only uncomfortable it’s
also very short, so if you have a little extra above the belt, it can be a pain
to even getting it buckled.
The pack
can be very uncomfortable to wear, when full, because of the lack of back-support.
But it seems that the Germans actually designed it this way. If you open up
into the main compartment:
You will
notice a small pocket running along the back, closeable with Velcro straps.
This pocket is meant to contain the Bundeswehr sleeping mat, but really any
type of foam Material will do. I use the old back-support from a busted Fjällräven
Kånken I had laying around.
If you
add the foam back-support you instantly increase the comfyness of the pack
tenfold. If you are packing large and you don’t have the back-support, then
you, my friend, are going to have a bad time.
What else?
Well,
the pack is very simple so you don’t get many features, it only has 3
compartments, one big and two small side pockets on either side of the pack,
but I’ll get back to those.
One of
the things I really like about the pack is that the bottom of it is covered in
leather:
This
means that even though it’s a wet night in the Forrest, you don’t care because
if you set it down on the ground that leather is going to keep your stuff dry.
There is
also room behind the side pockets. This space was probably originally meant for
skies, but it’s a handy place to keep your trench tool or axe:
The
webbing that holds the buckles is not sewn on completely
This
gives you are sort of primitive Molle System, which gives you the option of
pimping your Rucksack to the max with Carbines, Rope, skulls and all sorts of
awesome things!!
Anything negative?
Well,
yeah, back to the side-pockets. I don’t know what the designers where thinking.
They actually made a half decent back but then someone somewhere thought that
these pockets were a good idea. I’ve been bitching about them without telling
you what’s actually wrong long enough, so here goes. The trouble with the
pockets are that they are to SMALL! It’s almost impossible to get anything into
them(keep in mind I don’t know what idea the German army had with these
pockets, but I am guessing that they had developed some sort of magic water
bottle that fits into these pockets.)
I can’t
get my 1 liter Nalgene into them because it’s too wide, and my thermos, while
being thin enough, is too tall.
I will
grant you that this might seem like a small issue, but it is amazingly
irritating when nothing you own fits into the pockets… except my ridicules
spork.
And oh
yeah, one more thing. If you are planning to use this pack in the summer, then
don’t, because the way the shoulder straps have been fastened to the pack is by
sewing a giant piece of heavy canvas onto the upper back:
This is
so uncomfortable even if you are wearing a thick shirt. It’s clearly meant to
be worn on top of several layers of clothing.
Price and where do I get one?
I bought
mine many years ago for about 100 Danish Kroner(13 Euro, 18$ and 12 £) but today they go for about 20
Euro’s online(26$ and 17£)
But if
your local surplus store doesn’t have one of these lying around then you should
tell them to close shop. This is the most widely used (and bought) surplus
backpack of all time so they are not hard to find. That’s why I also think that
20 Euro’s is too high a price.
BEWARE
OF CHEAP CHINESE COPIES! THEY SUCK!
What’s the verdict?
While
being an amazing pack that can handle a beating like a boss, its side pockets
makes it irritating to get packed, because you always wonder if your water
bottle is going to fit.
This is
meant for autumn and winter, but if you accept it as a seasonal pack then you
will be really happy with it. I give it
3 cartoon bananas out of 6.
Thanks for reading
Chris
Chris
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