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Battle Dress
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Battle Dress was the specific title of a military uniform adopted by the British Army in the late 1930s and worn until the 1960s. Several other nations also introduced variants of Battle Dress during the Second World War, including Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States of America (the E.T.O. uniform) and after the Second World War, including Belgium, Norway and The Netherlands.
Battle Dress, was the combat uniform worn by British, many Commonwealth and Empire forces and many Free European Forces through the Second World War, mostly but not exclusively in temperate climates. In some armies it continued in use into the 1970s. During the Second World War and thereafter this uniform was also used for formal parades (incuding mounting the Queen's Guard at Buckingham Palace) until the re-introduction of separate parade uniforms. The Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) was the combat uniform of United States forces through the late 20th Century.
IntroductionFrom the early 1930s, the British War Office began research on a replacement for the Service Dress that had been a combined field and dress uniform since the early 1900s. Initially conducted on a small scale over several years, some of the ideas tested included deerstalker hats and safari jackets. After extensive field trials of other uniforms, Battle Dress was adopted just prior to the Second World War. The uniform was designed with the needs of mechanized infantry in mind, and was inspired by contemporary ‘ski suits’ that were less restrictive to the wearer, and more suited to vehicular movement than Service Dress. Battle Dress was issued widely beginning in 1939 in the British Army (as well as the Canadian Army, who produced their own copy of Battle Dress after the outbreak of war), though shortages meant that some units of the British Expeditionary Force went to France in Service Dress.
VariantsThe so called P40 or Pattern 1940 Battle Dress (also known as "austerity pattern") was introduced in 1942; it deleted the fly front, and the front buttons, as well as the pocket buttons, were now exposed.
Officers were permitted to tailor the collar of their blouses so as to wear a collared shirt and tie.
Canadian Battle Dress never had an austerity pattern introduced, though the collar closure did change from a set of hooks and eyes to a flap and button in about 1943. The Canadian version was also a much greener shade of khaki than the standard version.
The United States produced Battle Dress uniforms for use by the Commonwealth, these uniforms were known as "War Aid" Battle Dress. The US also produced a version called the Ike jacket or Eisenhower jacket which subsequently replaced the OG Army service uniform for troops stationed outside the Continental United States for the duration of the war. Troops of the First Marine Division returning from Guadalcanal were posted to Australia where they were issued Australian battledress that the Marines called the Vandegrift Jacket.
Battle Dress trousers with additional pockets sewn to them were known as Parachutist's Trousers and were issued to men in parachute and glider units.
A version of Battle Dress intended for working clothing was produced from denim with several manufacturer's variants.
Battle Dress in shades of postman blue and navy blue were also produced for the Royal Air Force (and Commonwealth flying services) and Royal Navy/Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (and Commonwealth naval services). The Civil Defence Corps were issued dark blue battledress with the same colour issed to post war prisoners in the United Kingdom.
German U-Boat crews were also commonly issued with British Army battledress (with German insignia added). Large stockpiles had been captured by the Germans after the fall of France in 1940.
Germany also produced a new uniform in 1944 to replaced its existing uniforms, it largely resembled the Battle dress.
Post WarAfter the Second World War, individual Commonwealth nations developed their Battle Dress uniform into both a parade and a field uniform.
- British Pattern 1949: Several changes to Battle Dress were adopted by the British Army after the Second World War, with broad lapels added to the Battle Dress Blouse, giving it an open-collar design similar to Canadian 1949 Pattern. Enlisted men, as well as officers, now wore it with a collared shirt and tie. The cargo pocket on the trousers was moved completely to the side. Buttons on the pockets remained exposed, though a fly front was restored to 1949 Pattern BD.
- Canadian Pattern 1949: Canada only produced one more version of Battle Dress after the war; Pattern 1949 had broad lapels added to the Battle Dress Blouse, giving it an open-collar design. The First Field Dressing was also removed from the trousers after the war. Battle Dress continued to be worn as a field uniform during the Korean War and up to the introduction of the Combat Uniform. It was retained for dress wear up until Unification of the Armed Forces, and into the 1970s by some Reserve units. Cadets at the Royal Military College of Canada continued to wear a Navy-blue variant of the Battle Dress Blouse until May of 2006.
LegacyBattle Dress inspired the military combat uniforms of other nations such as the United States, which copied the Battle Dress Blouse directly with the M1944 "Ike" Jacket (also known as the E.T.O. (European Theatre of Operations) Jacket, though a similar pattern was produced in Australia for US personnel in the Far East), Germany (whose copy of Battle Dress was called the Felduniform 44) and France (Modèle 1945, 1946 and 1949 patterns).
Waist-length denim jackets (known popularly as "jean jackets" in the United States) were inspired by the Battle Dress; another example of military clothing inspiring popular fashion.
See also
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