Here are some photos of how US M1956 Load Bearing Equipment and M1967 Modernized Load Carrying Equipment are mounted to the belt.
First thing though, is that over the course of the war, the ammunition pouch evolved. From left to right you will see the 1st Pattern Universal Small Arms Ammo Pouch which had a plastic stiffener to keep it’s shape and this pouch could be see throughout the war. Next is the 2d Pattern Universal Small Arms Pouch with was the most common type encountered. In the middle is a pouch that was designed specifically for the XM16E1 and M16A1 rifle’s 20 round magazines. These could be seen issued in limited numbers starting in late 1967. The first nylon ammunition pouch is next which was first issued in 1968 in limited numbers. The last pouch is for 30 round M16 magazines and was not available until 1970, and even then, they were hard to come by. All of them have a stabilizing strap that attached to the suspenders.
Here is an example of a set of M1956 LBE from both the front and back so you can see how the pouches are attached and how they “ride” in respect to the belt. Note how high the tops of the ammo pouches are compared to the belt and that they are not even with the top of the belt.
Here are some photos of the M1967 Modernized Load Carrying Equipment which was developed in nylon to help reduce the amount of weight that equipment absorbed as water weight when the older canvas equipment got wet. Something to keep in mind if depicting items of this equipment system is that it was rare for a Soldier to get issued a complete set of this gear. Most of the time a Soldier may receive a few nylon items that would be mixed with canvas items. Before depicting a Soldier wearing any of this equipment, it would help to know what unit is being depicted and if that unit was issued this type of equipment. Different units had different priorities in the supply chain, so just because the items may be available in the system, a unit may not be authorized the item or the unit may be required to exhaust their supply of canvas equipment before they can start issuing the nylon equipment.
Something that may be helpful to modelers who have never handled grenades, especially with the M1956 and M1967 equipment, is the method of how the grenades are secured to the sides of the pouches. Over the years I have seen many modelers of all scales just glue grenades onto figures without regard to how those grenades are attached. So now, for those who did not know, this is how it is done. The spoon of the grenade is placed into the webbing on the side of the pouch. The strap is wrapped around the grenade in a manner that secures the pull pin and the fuse. Some people would place a piece of tape to secure the pin, but the overall method would still be the same.
And here is an example of how the holster is attached.
I hope these photos will be helpful for those who were unsure as to how US equipment is attached to the belt.
Cheers,
James