Help to identify a button on a 1940 BD

[John Brandon]

Cheers Ade.....I should know better
I will

[Patgore]

I'm with Ade on this. Leave it.

It appears that titles were removed, possibnly for some tactically valid reason.

I'm not sure if anyone addressed this but as enemy ORBAT (order of battle) is of great interest to intelligence officers, armies go to a lot of trouble to hide the identity of regiments and divisions. So a lot of regimental items, like flashes, were supposed to be removed from the uniforms of troops going into action.

That's why prisoners are obliged to give ONLY name, rank and serial number.

However, esprit de corps was often strong, and the 5th Loamshire Regiment probably thought their name would scare the Germans shitless, and so disobeyed the order. Practice varied considerably.

In a similar vein, when in contact with the enemy, troops would make a point of saluting unpopular officers just to mark them targets for enemy snipers. Officers in WW2 often removed rank badges to reduce this possibility, and in well-disciplined units, saluting and bowing and scaping were taboo.

[John Brandon]

Thanks Pat & Ade (sounds like a double act)
I'm learning...........fast!