Belgian or french bag ???

Hello

This is a gas mask bag, i think it is french made but other people tell me it is belgian. Does anyone know?





AST 3 - 50






comparison with the Belgian ABL bag

My gut feeling is no, it is not French.
I have not seen that branding on any Lift The Dot fastner used on Belgian equipment. I have never seen curved edges on any flaps on any pouches or bags. I have only seen plain LTD, Fix LTD, usually black, but on my case here, Silver, and also "Knip Hier" on entrenching tool pouches.

I am not prepared to say it is French because I have nothing to compare it against but I will venture that it is not Belgian.

(Your Belgian bag is of course not being used as a Gas mask case, but the crossed retort symbols on the front show it is a Chemical Warfar  indtification refill kit bag, but I am sure you know that ).

I suppose there is the possibilty exists, since the Belgian M51 was a French gas mask, that initially the French supplied them complete with a bag (which is what you have), and then as time went by, the Belgians placed contracts for their own version of the Bag, and started to buy just the mask from the French?

This could possibly explain why Belgian tongue and loop fasteners are found on the vast majority of Belgian M51 bags.  Initially the Belgians copied a French supplied type fairly closel, using a "Lift The Dot" type of fastener, and later moved to a tongue and loop to standardise the Gas mask bag with the closures used elsewhere on Belgian 37 Pattern inspired ammunition pouches etc?

My sole LTD gas mask bag is undated so I cannot offer any evidence that the LTD bag were made before the Tongue and Loop bags, though.

Your LTD Belgian bag also seems to be undated/ unstamped.

A very interesting bag - I think it is quite possible that it was made in France for a Belgian contract. The weave of the canvas seems more typical of French production than Belgian production.