Quote:
Originally Posted by Skoshi Tiger
I think you'll find that it is evolved from actual combat clothing. From the late 18th Century through World War 1 they were used throughout British Empire. There were minor changes to colars, cuffs, lapels and pockets but the basic design was used right up to modern times, though as you say it has become more cerimonial now. The basic pattern was used by many different nations, just altered to suit the style/culture of the nation in question.
The Jackets are tailored around the chest/torso so you don't catch or snag on anything and the waist flares to give your lower body freedom. When used in conjunction with the webbing it was designed to ensure lower body freedom.
(From an Aussie POV) Just like you told us, if you saw a digger landing on the beach of Gallipoli and a modern day staff officer in dress uniform, you would recognise it as the same uniform.
I think during WWII uniforms became more practical in that they were generally chosen (or modified) to suit the conditions that the soldiers were operating in or the task that they were performing. WWII changed warfare a lot, and traditions usually came out second best)
Now this is a general question (I don't know the answer). Before someone told us that the country name was only used by the dominion forces when they went over seas. What did the RAF servicemen wear on their shoulders when they went to Russia?
Cheers
|
Cheers, thanks for the information. I couldn't for the life of me imagine myself crawling on the ground with a G3 in hand, standing guard for 5-8 hours per day (too hot for the Greek summer and too cold for the humid winters we have) or doing maintenance on the Rheinmetall twins we used with that uniform and polished shoes in place of the camo fatigues and standard boots, but then again i was a conscript serving on a ground posting.
On the other hand, i guess that the blue battledress was initially used by flight crew before becoming widespread in other specialists and that makes more sense. There's not too much crawling on the ground inside an airplane and from a couple period films i've seen, it seems that they used to wear the shipskin overalls and boots over whatever other uniform they were using to deal with the cold anyway, so the battledress was somewhat suitable as an inner layer because it wraps around the body and is not loose like the fatigues. Makes more sense that way
The similarity is astonishing though, even the buckle on the belt of the jacket is identical and i think the side hats are almost exact copies as well.