M5 Assault Gas Mask
The M5 gas mask or assault gas mask as they have become known were widely used during the Normandy invasion.
Development of a screw canister gas mask was done by CWS during 1943 with differing variations. The basic design took an M3 gas mask and modified it to have a 60mm threaded connector on the left cheek. They experimental version E6 turned into the M5 and E3 filter eventually turned into the M11 canister in mid-1944. It is commonly believed that most M5’s used in Normandy would have been fitted with an E3 type canister rather than an M11.
The mask was housed in the waterproof M7 bag, which could be worn on the chest, the hip or the thigh. It is common to come across U or UL type bags, it was thought at one stage that a left and right handed mask would be issued but this idea was dropped for a universal version. All WW2 pattern bags have the popper fasteners rather than the post WW2 bags which moved onto lift the dot.
Around 500K of M5’s where issued during 1944, production was stopped due to issues in production and reliability in the field. But this pattern of mask was to become the standard configuration ever since.