Osprey [MAA] 112.British.Battledress.1937-61（英文版军事-英国战军服）

OSPREY· ME -AT-ARMS SERIES ·112 ~ritish~(Jttledress 1937-61 Text by BRIANJEWELL Colourplates by MIKE CHAPPELL Publi hed in Ig81 by Osprey Publishing Ltd :-'lember company o[ the George Philip Group 12-'4 Long Acre, London \\'C2E gLP © Copyright Ig81 Osprey Publi hing Ltd Thi book i copyrighted under the Berne Convention. All right re erved. Apart [rom any [air dealing [or the purpose of pri\'ate study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, I956, no part of this publication may be reproduced. tored in a retrieyal y tern, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permi ion of the copyright owner. Enquiries hould be addre ed to the Publi her. Filmset in Great Britain Printed in Singapore through Graphic Con ultant International Pte Ltd Author and publi her wi h to acknowledge their gratitude to all who helped with advice and information during the preparation of this book, notably: Dr R. A. Blea e and taff Quality A uranee Directorate, YfOD; Maj. D. 1. A. Yfack, Regimental HQ, The Royal Highland Fusiliers; Lt. Col. George Forty; Lt. Col. R. K. Yfay, Regimental :-'1useum, The Border Regt. & The King' Own Border Regt.; Yfaj. D. J. Yfaehray, Regimental HQ, QARAl'iC; Maj. R. R. M. Parker, Corp HQ, WRAC; Lt. Col. A. C. M. Urwick, DL, The Light Infantry Office orner et ; and taff of the Chemical Defence Establi hment: the :\ational Army Yfu eum; the RAC Tank Mu eum, Bovington; the Royal Yfarines Yfu eum; the Airborne Forces Museum; the Imperial War :-'1u eum: the Dept. of:\ational Defence, Canada: and Defence HQ, outh Africa. Introduction At the end of the 1930S more than a few British .-\.rmy Drill Sergeants must have suffered night- mares after the announcement of a new uniform or the British soldier. Traditional methods are cred to such men, and their professional world 'as already shaken by a flood of civilians in iform and by Mr Hoare Belisha's new barracks. . ·ow they had to accommodate their professional ndards to a uniform which resembled a mechanic's overalls, with a huge pocket on the ont of the left thigh just where there ought to be a razor-edged crease, and without even any buttons hich would take a shine. BritishBattledress /937-6/ I t is sadly true that many who wore battledress showed a striking resemblance to an animated sack of potatoes. Those of us with long backs found it impossible to keep the two parts of the uniform together whenever we had to bend over, this manoeuvre being attended by a pinging of bu ttons and a rapid cooling of the area above the kidneys. But with all its faults, battledress served its purpose well. It clothed the servicemen ofmany nations, at war and at peace, for more than 25 years, and did so with reasonable warmth and convenience. Its influence was to be seen in the civilian world as well, in examples as diverse as Churchill's famous 'siren suit', and the Field Jacket of the American GI. Even now, more than 40 years after battledress was created, its ghost lives on in our midst in the denim jackets of the Inside and outside of the '1940 pattern' austerity BD blouse, in this case an exa!Dple !Dade by Rego Clothiers Ltd. in 1942. 3 fashionable young, many of whom mu t be un- aware of the nature of the beast they have inherited. TheArrivalofBattledress In the 1930S the War Office grew increasingly aware of the need for a new and more rational combat dress, and by 1937 the design for what would become known a 'battledress' had been evolved. Research has failed to reveal a 1937 specification for it, the first to come to light being Provisional Specification o. E/ I037 of 28 Octo- ber 1938. As this has no suffix to the number and makes no mention of superseding a previous specification it may perhaps be assumed to be the first relating to the new uniform. Furthermore, Army Council Instructions were strangely silent on the subject; it seem that it was not until 1940 that ACI 306 specifically mentioned it. Anns inspection by a lieutenant and a sergeant of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry near Lille during the 'Phoney War', 1939-40. The subaltern wears the SD cap, and brass shoulder strap ranking and regiInental 'collar dogs' on his '1937 pattern' BD; the sergeant has regiInental-pattern dark- green-on-yellow chevrons, and brass shoulder titles. (Imperial War MuseuIn) 4 Although known to have been tested with some selected Regular Army units in Ig37, battledress first became a general i sue to the newly con- scripted militia in 1938 and, judging from the early specifications, the new uniform seems to have suffered from teething troubles. The above-mentioned specification of 28 Octo- ber 1938 states that the outside breast pocket flaps shall be in line with the second buttonhole from the top. This was probably found to interfere with the wearing of the 1937 webbing equipment and braces as, in the subsequent Specification o. E/1037A of May 1939, the pockets are moved up half an inch. On 29July 1939 E/I037B hints at a disastrous spate ofsplit trousers by the inclusion of a clause specifying that 'seat seams shall be sewn by hand with double o. 35 thread, or by the triple lockstitch machine 6 to 7 stitches to the inch'. Another amendment of 30 December 1939 significantly underlines the increased production requirements after the outbreak of war: E/1037C allows buttons to be sewn on either by hand or by machine, whereas previously the three buttons at the back of the trouser waist, intended for the attachment of the blouse, had to be hand sewn for greater strength. Of course, browsing among such specifications fails to give a very clear idea of the appearance of early battledress, useful though it is for dating detail variations. For the more general view we may turn to a publication named Uniforms for the Services which, although undated, shows the details appropriate to battledress prior to May 1939. Selected quotes from this document are as follows: 'Blouse-This is cut on very easy fitting lines. The back is cut with a raised centre back seam and the seam is raised well up on top of the shoulder. There are no sideseams. The front fastens to the neck, which is finished with a Panteen collar. The left forepart terminates directly down the centre of the front, and the fastening consists of five brass four-holed buttons concealed in a fly. There are two hooks and eyes for fastening the front of the collar on the stand. Shoulder straps of the usual width carry, in the case of officers, embroidered badges of rank. The waist section is gathered into a 2in. wide belt. Extending from the latter on the left side is a gin. strap, which fastens with a buckle \ ~00.." --• -- . ~ ':t.I~ 14 I1I J)'l.l.1 - - e side waist to provide for adjustment. Patch -ets are placed on each breast, the average of these being 6in. by 7in. with ad-in. box- in centre. The flaps covering these pockets - made 3in. in depth at centre, tapering to 2in. - ~de. The pocket is closed by means ofa hole and - on a concealed inner flap taking the button- . The sleeve is cut moderately full and ed with a 3in. wide band into which the r part is tucked. There is a vent in the hind- with a button and hole in fly. The Trousers-These are cut moderately wide - e legs with plain bottoms. A strap is inserted e legseam (tin. up) at the bottom; this is . wide and reaches the front crease where it is ched to a button when the trousers are worn - out leggings. Before the leggings are put on trap is drawn over the front of the leg to en on a button placed at the sideseam for the arpose. On the left leg a deep patch pocket with ap is placed. The position of the top of this et is about gin. from the waist and rtin. away --om the fly. The width is 7in. and depth r rin., - d a flap similar to that used on the outside -east pocket is attached with a buttonhole in the . g. The flap is placed rin. above the patch of pocket. On the right leg is placed a patch ket of smaller dimensions. This has a flat pleat Cutting-out and Duking-up diagralDs for the '37 BD, frOID UnifoT7ns afthe Services. 5 '1940 pattern' BD blouse staInped September 1944. It bears the shoulder patches ofBritish Troops in France, 1944-45-a red shield with a blue cross; below this the red/green Pioneer Corps arm-of-service strip; and lieutenant's pips on a red backing on the shoulder straps. (Martin Windrow) in the centre. The position of this pocket is 6in. from the top and I in. from the fly. The size is 4tin. wide and 6in. long. [The left and right thigh pockets will hereafter be called 'map' and 'field dres ing pockets' respectively.] Ordinary side pockets are inserted and there is a hip pocket with a flap at the back. This has a buttonhole in the lining to conceal the button. The brace buttons are placed inside the tops for concealment.' Elsewhere in this numbingly tedious but useful article, which goes on to describe the method of construction, there is a further reference to the blou e sleeves: 'The original pattern had pleats at the base of the sleeve. The recent models, however, appear to be made up quite plain.' In fact, pleats did appear in many examples oflater-period 1937 pattern battledress, and even in some of the 'austerity' 1940 pattern. They were always pro- vided on Canadian- and Australian-made BD, which persisted in being of a fuller cut than BD made in the United Kingdom. There are a few points ofdetail which should be added to the description given in the article quoted 6 abO\'e: All buttons were pres ed bras with four hole except tho e on the houlder straps and the field dres ing pocket. which were plastic, usually four-hole type but sometime metal-shanked. The collar, inside edges of the front of the blouse, two deep inside pockets, blouse belt lining and trouser pockets were all made of what was called 'Drill ~o. 2 Drab' -a light sandy-yellow drill material. Four belt loop, long enough to accommodate the 1937 pattern webbing belt, were provided on the trouser, buttoned at the upper ends (the loops revived on the 1949 pattern BD were buttoned at the lower end, and only three were provided). The author recalls having a battledress with anti-gas treatment issued from the store 0 Fulwood Barrack, Preston in May 1943. It smelt terrible, and the accepted practice was to walk about in the rain in the hope of washing the impregnation out of the cloth! The impregnation gave the cloth a slightly lighter or greyer shade than those not so treated; but after prolonged wetting it was not unknown for it to turn a biliou green colour, 0 on balance it was probably les distressing to put up with the smell. This anti-ga treatment started early in the war, and continued until September 1945, some 13,000,000 suits 0 BD being so treated. For the interest of the technically minded, th Chemical Defence Establishment states that there were two methods of impregnating cloth to give protection again t vesicant vapour. The first, using activated charcoal, was thoroughly investigated, but clothing with this treatment did not becom tandard issue. The second method depended on chemical reaction between the impregnant an the gas vapour whereby the latter becam innocuous. For clothing intended for temperat climates the impregnant was 2 4, dichlorophenyl benzoyl chloroinide (AV) ; tropical issue clothin was treated with 2 2'44'66' N, occachlorodi phenylurea (CC2). A word mu t be said here about the 'poo relation' of the battledress, the 'Overalls, Denim' in which soldiers spent more hours, weeks, an even years than they did in the serge BD. Denims made from a drab earth-brown jean material were based closely on the 1937 pattern BD; the) had the same number and type ofoutside pockets which even retained their pleats, but the button ~e ofthe removable plastic type with a revolving ml shank, kept in place by a split-pin at the of the cloth. This was so that buttons could ~emoved each time the denims were sent for bing, which was supposed to happen each , irrespective of need, when circumstances ,·ed. With this constant cleaning the life of was short, and one was lucky to avoid ing holes and terminally frayed collars. rally, one never got back from the cleaners arne suit which one had given up the week • re; so the soldier's traditional battle to find a .. orm which was nei'ther too large nor too small repeated at short intervals for months on end. ·ms were an abomination, but surprisingly an soldiers were reluctant to give them up; they ere often worn in battle, being much lighter than tledress for summer use. One problem with denims was the sizing. They e designed to be worn over the BD to protect it en engaged in dirty chores. They were hardly 'er worn in this way (except for warmth in . er); and generations of soldiers were baffled find that the label sizes bore no relationship to _ize of the wearer. '1946 pattern' BD blouse, with tab collar; and (right) '1947 pattern', with open, 'shirt-type' collar. Made by John HaIDDlond & Co. (1923) Ltd., and GIC, respectively. Evolution in Design Contrary to popular belief the year 1940 did not see the disappearance of concealed buttons and pocket pleats from Army wartime battledress, although BD suits without such embellishments are referred to as '1940 pattern'. What happened in fact wa that some economies were made in the cut of the cloth, resulting in a less full-fitting blouse and trousers, and in orne minor features of construction. On 6 June 1940 Specification ~o. U/617 superseded No. E/1037C. In this latest specifica- tion the pattern number allocated for the blouse was 114656 (replacing 110 12) and for the trousers, 11457 (replacing 11326). The new pattern resembled the 1937 pattern but was of a slimmer cu t; the one difference specified was the use on the field dressing pocket of 'Buttons, Vegetable lory, Drab with revolving shanks; or 7 Canadian soldier photographed during an inspection by the Princess Royal at Aldershot, 1940. The only insignia is the straight national title above the chevron of rank. Note non- infantry web equipment, with 'cartridge carriers'. (Martin Windrow) 8 as issued.' This was the first time that revolving- shank buttons were actually specified for BD, although earlier examples existed. The next change came on 4 June 1941 when Specification /61 7C redesignated the trouser pattern as 117'21, the only difference influencing appearance being the omission of the line, 'There shall be a stay inside the hem at bottom for the buttons.' It seems that the straps for gathering the trouser bottoms into the gaiters had been declared unnecessary. The first major step along the path of austerity came on 5 June 194'2 when Specification o. U /61 7G replaced the earlier patterns for blouse and trousers respectively with new patterns numbered 1'2083 and 1'2084, Pocket pleats now disappeared, along with belt loops. The blouse was to be attached to the trousers by two buttons instead of three, and these were no longer hidden by a fly; indeed, only the fly in the crutch of the trousers was retained, all other buttons becoming visible. Apart from those on the shoulder straps and field dressing pocket, which had revolving shanks, all buttons were to be 'Buttons, Trousers, plastic, 4-hole CA5377'. Specification U/I076 of 15 July 194'2 extended the use of these latter to the shoulder straps and field dressing pocket also. On '2 January 1943, U/I076B mentions only one inside breast pocket for the blouse: this and an earlier specification of 1'2 ovember 194'2 made some changes to lining materials, but this will be described below in the section on cloth. 0 further specifications appear to have been issued until the introduction of the 1946 pattern blouse. There seems to have been no regularity in the design of the BD blouse buckle, and specifications are vague. The first mention is in E/I037 of '28 October 1938: on the copy examined the word 'brass' had been crossed out from the original wording 'Buckles, prongless, brass'. The next mention, in May 1939, is simply of 'Buckles, prongless'; by 6 June 1940 the words 'or as issued' had been added. Two buckle types have been found on all examples examined during research for this book. One is pressed metal with a slide having a toothed bar to grip the drill-lined belt tab, the other a thick plated wire buckle with a slide but no serrations. Buckles were presumably made available to making-up contractors in Inside and outside views of the '1949 pattern' BD blouse, with two interior pockets, an open notched collar, and pleated pockets. Trials of BD wi th Regular Army units. First available specification. BD issued to conscripted mili tia in this year. Blouse pockets raised. Revolving-shank button for field dressing pocket. Straps and buttons no longer fitted to trouser legs. Introduction of austerity pattern known as '1940 pattern'. All buttons exposed apart from trou er fly. Trouser given added back curtain for extra warmth. Shoulder strap buttons to 1939, May 1940,6 June 1938, 28 Oct. \t\ ith permlSSlOn to open the neck of the BD blouse came a mass of unofficial mutilation in the form of faced lapels, like those ordered by officers from their tailors for some years past. The Other Ranks were req uired to retain the means of closing the collar when on duty, however. To re-cap the wartime modifications to British Army battledres 1937 1941,4June 1942, sJune ·-ches, depending on what was being manu- red at the time. n the last month of 1944 an Army Regulation - :mitted Other Ranks to wear collars and ties - BD when off duty. The prohibition of collars _- ties prior to this date-officially, at least-had - a long time been a bone of contention among .: .•. h soldiers, who res~nted the denial of a right ·-'0 ed by members ofother services. The civilian -. niform who made up the vast majority of the :3 :0 h Army in wartime saw no good reason why should be forced to present an old·fashioned d unstylish appearance when walking out; the thor well remembers a 'current affairs' talk - .d in Bradford City's football stadium in tober 1943-, which degenerated into a heated ussion of this point. Were British Tommies n idered unequal to the 'civilized' task of otting a tie? The hard-pressed officer giving the was reduced to claiming that the Army had ~ways worn button-up collars as protection _ ainst sword thrusts. He had no ati factory wer when asked ifofficers who had worn open- ollar tunics since early in the century, had ord-resistant throats.... 9 have revolving hank. 1942,ISJuly All buttons to be 4-hole plastic. 1943,2 January One inside breast pocket only. Post-War Evolution V\ hen the Second World War ended battledress had only been in sen'ice for eight years, and in fact had the greater part of its service still to come. It was not until the late 1960s that issue ceased, although for some years beforehand the use of BD was limited to various orders ofworking dress, and varied widely from unit to unit. The last specifica- tion which has come to light during the author's research for this book which cover the use of BD is UK/ISC/C 4044, dated 27 April 1967. The 1946 pattern BD blou e was clearly the result of an attempt by authority to control the unofficial modifications which thousands of individual soldiers had been ordering from local tailors, in defiance of repeated Part I nit Orders to the effect that uniforms mu t not be defaced. From the first appearance of collars and ties among the soldiery there had been a chaotic series of modifications aimed at defeating the tendency of the drill lining material, now visible at the collar of the blouse, to become filthy after a week or two of wear. Some scrubbed it regularly, Battledress was hardly ever issued in lDatching suits. These two Marines wear blouses and trousers of different dates; and note RM b