Hi all, I recently spotted two photos of soldiers being instructed on the gun of the Archer (at Kinmel Camp) on eBay and snapped them up, so they're in the post to me right now. I would guess that these photos are probably post-war[1], and I would guess from the shape of the badges on their berets that they are Royal Artillery personnel. But the instructor is wearing a darker beret - I assume navy blue? - and I wonder why that would be? Anything to do with National Service? One of the men with seemingly lighter berets seems to have three stripes. What colours would these be? Here is a portion of the image as it was posted on eBay: [1] You can't really see it in the photo, but the S-number of the vehicle is visible and I think is a late number in the production order. Also it *has* an S-number, so the photo predates the changeover to civilian IDs. Further, I'm doubtful that anyone was being trained on Archers during the war. And finally, whatever the slatted construction is on the left (I'm still unclear on its purpose), I think it only appears on postwar Archers.
Chris. This has to do with who it is that a gunner - officer or OR, is attached to. A gunner attached to a Commando unit would wear the Commando green beret. The gunner attached to a Parachute unit would wear the red beret. In my Regt we wore a khaki beret and any attached personnel - chefs, medics, clerks, doctors, chaplains, kept their own cap badge but placed it on a khaki beret. Regards Frank
