NEW ARMY DRESS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 April 1938, Page 8

NEW ARMY DRESS

CHANGES IN GREAT BRITAIN TRAINING SEASON TESTS Further tests of active service clothing and personal equipment of the soldier are to be made in the field during the coming training season in England. Types of the proposed new clothing were shown at the Central Recruiting Office, Whitehall.

Designed primarily to lighten the weight now carried by the infantry soldier, to make him as comfortable as possible when marching and in action and to give greater freedom of movement generally, this new clothing is also held to meet certain factors due to mechanisation.

The adoption of new weapons' such as the Breu light machine-gun and the anti-tank rifle, the reorganisation of infantry into rifle and machine-gun battalions, and the evolution of new patterns of equipment, have had their effect on the soldiers’ fighting dress. BLOUSES WITH COLLARS The clothing to be tested this year is of the “overall” type. The main features are the “deerstalker” pattern cap of the size of the steel helmet and the field service cap.

The tunic is replaced by a blouse similar to that worn by the Royal Tank Corps. The collar of the blouse can be worn open or closed. Some of the blouses will have zip fasteners instead of buttons.

The trousers are of the ski-ing pattern, in that they are loose-fitting and buckled at the ankles. They do not appear to be particularly suitable for early morning parades in long, wet grass. #

Gaiters are also introduced. They take the place of puttees and are of the pattern worn in the Royal Navy and formerly by rifle regiments. It is thought that gaiters will be suitable for men who have to fight on foot. The trial will cover all arms except horsed units. A DISASTROUS FIELD DAY The field service cap looks smarter and more soldier-like than the “deerstalker.” For many years it was the training and manoeuvres cap of the infantry regiments of the line. It was condemned, in 1900, after a disastrous field day at Aidershot, when thousands of troops were affected by heat stroke. The field service cap was blamed. Mr Brodrick, now the Earl of Midleton. the then Secretary for War, brought in a cap that covered the head completely. It was called the "Brodrick cap,” and was of a German pattern. It was the most unpopular cap the Army ever had so that it did not remain in the service long, although it has since been made known that it was the choice of King Edward VII.