https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1985/IDC.htm https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1985/... According to that, in the 1

https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1985/IDC.htm https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1985/... According to that, in the 1920s the British Army "discovered that armies in the past had on the average issued the soldier between fifty-five and sixty pounds". Investigations by the British, Germans, Russians, and US into how much infantry should carry throughout the 1900s all end up around the same number of 30% of the soldier's body weight (48lbs) being the ideal load, and that the maximum load a soldier should carry shouldn't exceed 45% of their body weight (72lbs, and will degrade their combat effectiveness for the next few days no matter how physically conditioned the soldier is).