British Denison smocks

[ARTE ET MARTE]

Hi,
Recon 3690 has this totally wrong and will confuse members.
The Denisons issued were, as I classify them:

A. 1st Pattern, one piece front and back, knitted wool cuffs, 2 varients with the camo pattern, "painted" and printed. Issued 1942.
B. 2nd Pattern, 2 piece front and back, no knitted cuff, printed pattern. Issued 1944.
D. 3rd Pattern, 2 piece front and back, knitted cuff. Short zip. ( the first illustrated is this pattern, most are dated 1956 and made by George Davies and Co Manchester)
E. 1959 Pattern, Full length zip, knitted cuffs, 3 or 4 distinct Camo patterns. ( The second 2 shown are 59 patterns )
F. DPM pattern Camo smock.

thanks, Liam.

[ARTE ET MARTE]

Hi,
Its 7 days since my post and no responce from Recon 3690 or anyone else, so I guess my info is correct, not his, I did make a mistake that no one has corrected me on, the 3rd pattern was made by G. DAVIS & Co of Manchester ( not Davies ), the moral is if you are going to post with an "expert" opinion please research and get your facts right!!
I stated that 2nd patterns could be identified by a 2 piece front and back, there were however exeptions to this, "Frankenstein" of Manchester made 2nd patterns with 1 piece front and back panels, still quiet out there ??

[ARTE ET MARTE]

I was going to post some pictures but this forum makes it too difficult as there is no link attachment.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Liam, no need to post a link as you can upload pics direct. Please see here:

New picture posting feature - How to guide !

I do not disagree with your comments.

Cheers, Ade.

[ARTE ET MARTE]

Hi,
Pictures show a 3rd Pattern Denison, it looks very similar at first glance to a 1st pattern but has a 2 piece front and back panel, 1st patterns always had a 1 piece front and back, so if the Denisons label is faded and it has a 2 piece front panel it is a 3rd pattern like the smock at the start of this thread.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Liam, thanks for the pics!

Cheers, Ade.

[ARTE ET MARTE]

Hi Ade,
Thanks for that, I will post some pics of the various patterns which hopefully will help new members.

[Recon 3690]

Liam all I can say is do more research, this item of kit was highly modified at the unit and personal level through out the war, a practice that continues to this day on all manner of kit in armies of many nations. There are examples of these modified para smocks posted on this forum. As there was no official designation other than Smock Denison Airborne Troops. I have used the collectors term pattern and my own use of Mark numbers to identify the main differences. As to item F here is a pic of a P'68 DPM Smock Para [NSN 8415-99-132-4915]

[jimpy]

Just to add my two pennorth, I always thought that on the original Dennison smock, the cuffs were actually closed with a BUTTON and TAB, the knit cuffs being added either individually or at unit level from sock tops. (Its evident from quite a few wartime photos and I've also read this in a few books)

Regards etc

Ian d

AKA: Jimpy

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Ian, no, the first smocks had knit cuffs. The button and tab version came in 1943. But by 1946 the knit cuff came back into use.

Cheers, Ade.