1932-34 Experimental serge uniform. (And maybe other oddities to be added when spotted).

The two big patch pockets below the belt line, and the bottom edge of the full-length jacket, is reminiscent of the pre-"Emergency" uniforms of the Irish Army, the more desirable one made of what was known in Ireland as "bulls' wool". Similarly the Irish Army...sourcing most of their equipment in the UK at the time ...went at its creation in the 1920s to "deeper" ammunition clip pouches just like that, although in two staggeed rows of two per side rather than a set of three per side like that.

I don't go for the open neck style though...let along that hat!!!...unless they were trying to produce a "unified" uniform for service in all parts of the Empire?

And surely the MkIV SMLE is anachronistic to "1932-34"?

 

It certainly has a 'jungle' look, doesn't it ? The womens' cloche hats are smarter than that scruffy shapeless thing. Can you imagine a sergeant-major's response to a parade dressed in that ? Entrenching tool location seems sensible but it looks too short for anything other than building sandcastles. It shows how they were thinking though.

 

I love that book....It's proper geek o'clock stuff inside

 

I don't know, Rich - at least it was a full shovel, rather than the half-shovel, half-mattock two-piece thing they ended up with. The "entrenching tool" might indeed have broken ground better and faster...it's a glorified pick...but the shovel is going to shift it faster

I wonder what was supposed to be in the "half pack" underneath the main backpack? The back pack itself seems bigger....longer....than what they ended up with...

 

The main pack is still the '08 pack, isn't it ? The Australian article mentions doing away with the waterbottle. Did they have some square shaped liquid container in that odd small pack, or just the groundsheet ? Certainly all the gear tied on to 1937 webbing makes it look quite cluttered but of course this has none of the anti-gas stuff.

Slightly better known but still odd to see - Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps in a June 1940 dated photo (with hessian helmet covers)....and wearing the 1939 pattern leather equipment, looking very new.





A funny old salute there....

 

The webbing is, or is close to, the Braithwaite Pattern:
Have a look at KarkeeWeb as I'm struggling to paste the link on me phone.

 

1st Durham Light(er) Infantry


Kyle

 

God, those hats get worse every time I see them! It's like the W.I. on manouvers..."Miss Marple's Irregulars".

The longer jacket with its big patch pockets was obviously doomed when the Army decided to go to the two large front ammo pouches that would hold a Bren mag. Those would have made the patch pockets impossible to use!

 

Adam,

I think Cruise had been watching too many Roman Gladiator films
Regards
Tom

 

Put-tee's

 

As soon as I saw that uniform I thought, 'oh, that's got a rather Australian look to it.' Sure enough...anyway, it's not as ugly as battledress. Few things are, come to think of it.

As for the hat, I don't mind it much. The US Army for years had a similar fatigue thingy called the "fisherman's hat." You often see pictures of troops in the Pacific wearing it, sometimes in combat. At least it gave some protection to the face and eyes, unlike the fore-and-aft sidecap the British army had in WWII.

 

Owen, the issue may not be that clear cut...

As looking at what I can find around the net, they didn't necessarily use the pair of large pouches. Look at the guy in the second row at the left side end at the foot of the pic, behind the guy with the cigarette...



...looks like he's wearing WWI-type rifle clip pouches rather than the big bren mag ones! Here's another....



...Bob Menzies the Australian PM addressing Australian troops in North Africa 1941. Small clip pouches again!

 

...and where you DO see them in field use...



...it seems to be common to wear them so far round they're nearly under the armpit...or quite high on the belt.

But pics of the small pouches seem to be far more common...

 

Whether BD is 'ugly' is in the eye of the beholder....but unlike most cotton combat gear, it could be made smart enough to look impressive when being drilled in. This tropical outfit with 'bush' hat would never have been smart enough for home duties nor warm enough for all year round use in Northern Europe.

The Field Service cap was being replaced by the General Service cap by 1943. Although it gave little sun protection, it could be opened and buttoned under the chin for cold weather use. I really don't understand how it stayed in place the rest of the time though.