How to Pack and Wear a WWI French Knapsack

Bonjour! In this video, i will discuss how to assemble, pack, and put on a WWI era French knapsack, or havresac. This is the video I wish had existed when I was trying to put my knapsack together for the first time.
My havresac, as well as several uniform items and pieces of equipment, was purchased from Frogsacks. You can find them here (not sponsored): frogsacks.com/
My reenacting unit, the 113e Regiment d'Infanterie Territoriale:
113rit.com/
I mentioned the packing guide made by the 151e RIL. You can find it here: www.151ril.com/content/gear/un... Lots of interesting information to be found here.
Thank you for watching. This video took me a very long time to make, over a month of writing, dubbing, filming and editing. I hope you enjoy, and that maybe this will be helpful to someone out there assembling their own French havresac for the first time. Special thanks goes to my friend John A. in California. Au revoir!

[@Noah-sk5nx]

You should keep doing French videos because there are not a lot of French reenactors on KZbin

[@couchcamperTM]

because they run too fast xD

[@garge7676]

I /believe/ if you search up the terms in French, you'll find a lot of French Reenactors. That being said, it's obviously in French so.. Not sure if it'll be too much help.

[@joshuabale4923]

​@couchcamper Ahh yes France which had the third highest combat death rate in ww1 are the cowards on behind russia and germany.

[@scoutgaming9728]

@@couchcamperTM wrong world war dummy

[@couchcamperTM]

@@dahut6417 my Grandfather, if he had ever been there, would have called it Indochina and would have kicked some British butts, but he was busy defending the Reich in those days. Yes, I am that old. And not American.

[@michaelmerther2300]

Thank you for this video! It’s so hard to find information on French WW1 equipment. Life saver

[@LALopezWei]

Finally got the straps for my pack and came back to this video. Thanks so much for making this!

[@casqueadrian]

We call it "As de carreau" like the angled ace of cards. During the war it was made with cow fur . Merci beaucoup pour cette vidéo cher ami 🇨🇵

[@b1laxson]

Nifty and a unit less known to me. A humble suggestion being to have a "lay out" at the beginning or end where all the items are laid out on a floor or table. As they are discussed in the video it need only be a brief amount of show time. Users can pause the video to look it over. This greatly enhances an understanding of just how much is fit in a pack.

[@Derp12348]

Bien vu l’artiste !

[@clouetjp769]

Merci Chuck, votre interet pour l'histoire me réconcilie un peut avec l'Amérique qui dans l'histoire militaire à un facheuse tendance au "French Baching" et oublie que la France est la nation qui au monde à le plus de victoires militaire ! Merci Chuck.

[@henrysteel2145]

Great video! Very in depth. Need more stuff like this

[@davidfunkhouser516]

It would be great to see more French uniform and equipment videos. Love this one.

[@West_Coast_Mainline]

The style os unreal, i love it

[@scottericamiller2004]

Man that’s an awesome Frogsacks pack! Everyone should go buy one!

[@timtruong9745]

This is awesome thank you!! I just put in an order to get one made because of this video!!

[@ommsterlitz1805]

Very good video merci pour tout 👍👍🫡

[@michealohaodha9351]

Excellent tutorial! Merci bien

[@eanjames6446]

Very cool and informative. Merci!

[@therealsauronviii]

Yes... Finally, thank you for saving me SO much work

[@christianbriancon108]

Bravo mon pote

[@Irishpewtuber]

Thank you. That was very helpful.

[@toweroftrollgaming]

I'm new thanks for the video It helped me out greatly

[@casqueadrian]

The gamelle have to be attached 'nearly' back to allow to shoot lying down .

[@luckyFrenchy]

As a Reenactor in the Maginot Line i know that the « As de carreau » Knapsack is horrible to wear (it hurt)

[@johns.matty.632]

Merci pour Le video, mom ami. Je suis un Poilu aussi.

[@tybushnell9819]

Great video. What rifle is that in the background?

[@tobiasrieper7994]

yo can pack lot of croissants in there, nice video, love ww1 stuff

[@HootOwl513]

Your Trench Cooker [10:27] looks suspiciously like a Trangia burner, but with blacked-out brass and a tri-color ribbon around the can to hide it. I am fascinated by the gamelle. Any videos of cooking with it? I bought a huge kidney-shaped mess set. Said to be French issue from 1950s. Billy section holds a deep gallon. [Whole stolen Chicken-sized]. Lid doubles as a 3 egg fry pan. [Or full length bacon strips] . A tube end protrudes from one side. One could fashion a panhandle from a whittled branch. I would like to see if a closed Opinel handle fits the tube.

[@Kaadilac]

Been wanting to get into some french ww1 reenacting but I dont know of any groups I'm Cali

[@toweroftrollgaming]

that I men doing it for the first time I just joined 171 infantry

[@johns.matty.632]

Could you tell me the name of the French song about the Poilu you used for the third or so background songs for your video please?

[@diehard2705]

What's the song you used at 6:00?

[@jackd.gibeau5013]

Is there a good place to get French uniforms for not too much money?

[@Noah-sk5nx]

Where would you recommend getting your greatcoat from? Is SOF a good retailer?

[@Chuck13a]

If you are looking to buy a uniform for reenacting I would recommend that you first join a unit and then discuss with your leadership the best sources for uniforms. Otherwise I have had decent experiences with SOF as a company, though I cannot attest to the accuracy of their French uniforms.

[@BED620]

What is the name of the song playing while you are putting the straps on the knapsack?

[@couchcamperTM]

Allez les Poilus, "Forward/Go soldiers".

[@Configuramous]

Where did you get your Id booklet? Or did you find files or print it out? Either way it’d be a great help. It’s one of the main items that I can’t find.

[@Chuck13a]

Mine was made by Steve Fisher; I tried looking it up but couldn't find the link to his French reproductions, so I'm not sure if he is making them anymore.

[@Configuramous]

@@Chuck13a damn, thanks though. May have to make my own with photoshop or something like that

[@Chuck13a]

@@Configuramous Actually, I remembered that it wasn't Steve Fisher, it was Randall Chapman (which is why I couldn't find a link, sorry): randallgchapman.net

[@Configuramous]

@@Chuck13a oh cool thanks man, you’re a lifesaver. You’ve gotta do some more poilu videos. Not nearly enough of them in English.

[@patrickclune3600]

Don’t forget the white flags, one for each pocket just in case you lose a few as your running away from the gun fire.

[@x-a-]

Wow... Bush administration propaganda really destroyed minds.... still stuck in 2003 ?

[@cat_city2009]

All those straps and laces, what a nightmare.

[@patrickmullane30]

Six feet under 😂