Hi, What badge or hackle did the Cape Town Highlanders were in their bonnets when amalgamated with the 1st City Battalion? Also, did they wear any additional cloth insignia along with the 6th S.A Armoured Division flash on their uniform? Thanks for looking.
Hi Stewart, I must admit that I had not heard of the word hackle before & i had to reach for the dictionary. That also also goes for bonnet. Hackle, a bunch of feathers in a military headdress. I'm guessing the meaning of bonnet means a soft brimless hat like a beret? You learn something new everyday! Hope the following answers some of your questions? The Bi-metal headdress at the top of the file. The book was printed in 1970. It looks has if these chaps are wearing a hackle to the rear to me? Lt.- Col. A. S. Duncan, DSO, addressing C Company before the assault on Monte Sole, April 1945. I cant see any additional cloth insignia below the 6 South Armoured Division. I'm not saying that they did not have ,or did not wear one! Anybody? The insignia of the division was a green triangle with a yellow centre. Sources: THE CAPETOWN HIGHLANDERS 1885-1970 by Neil Opren 1970. Printed in South Africa by Cape & Transvaal Printers Limited Cape Town. 2: Formation Badges of World War 2-Cole. Lt.- Col Howard N. Cole, OBE,TD, FRHistS. Lets hope that Alex, comes back with some info that he has? Regards, Stu.
Hi Stu, Thanks for the info. In your last photo you can see them wearing the Bonnet, sometime called a Balmoral bonnet or Tam o' shanter {TOS} bonnet. I have seen this photo before and what I found of interest is that most of them seem to not be wearing cap badges, but do seem to have some sort of Hackle instead. The combined battalion had a unit history written and published at the end of the war and the illustration on the cove seems to also show that a hackle was worn in the bonnet. The use of a hackle instead of a badge sort of makes sense as the unit was made up of two seperate, well established regiments and therefore choosing whos badge to use would be difficult, unless half the regiment wore one badge and the other half the other. I was also unsure if the man on the right wearing the helmet had some sort of cloth bar below the Div badge? I have seen examples of slip on shoulder straps which have the 6th S.A Armoured Div flash with a red bar worn below it, red is often used to indicate infantry. It's all fascinating stuff and I was surprised that when searching online there was not very much written about this aspect of their history. Thanks once again, Stewart
I sent an email address of someone at the SA military history society, they should be able to help. I sent in PM so their address wasn’t in the open!
The First City/ Cape Town Highlanders wore a hackle instead of a cap badge. It was in the divisional colurs of gold over green. They were, seemingly, an unhappy union and this was one of the ways in which friction between the two parent regients was reduced.
Urrah, Thanks for the reply, I thought it looked like a hackle in their bonnets. On the cover of the regimental history they also seem to show a hackle in the bonnet, but because the cover is a hand drawn and coloured illustration, it was difficult to know how accurate it was. Many thanks, Stewart
Just another point to note - Their head-dress for other ranks was the Tam O'Shanter. Officers got Balmoral Bonnets, but other ranks did not. There are differences between the two so it isn't as pednatic as I'm making out!
I'm not one for being pedantic, but i would still say that it is yellow instead of gold! I picked-up a book the other day & it said ( yellow & not gold!) Not sure if you have mentioned your source that says its gold?. The book is called.. A Pilgrimage of Remembrance An anthology of the history of a Scots Guards Company in the Italian Campaign 44-45 by Michael Curtis. A quote from page 104: Comacchio- Argenta-The PO. Here 24 Guards Brigade joined 56 Division and changed their shoulder badges from yellow & green triangle of the South African Division to the Black Cat. Regards, Stu.
It's a distinction without a difference. They called it gold but its actually just yellow. The same as the divisional colours which were initially listed as gold over green. I suspect this was to make it sound more appealing. 'Gold over Emerald' sounds better than 'Canary yellow over grass green' I suppose. My originals? They're yellow.
PCL still not open? What kind of Library is that? Have they not got masks, & gloves? You would of thought that the barracks would of provided them with the relevant tackle? Strange indeed. Will post it on if needed? Regards, Stu.
