British, Canadian, Indian & South African P37 Webbing Anklets

[karkee]

Anklets, Web

Webbing anklets were introduced with Battle Dress in the late 1930's, replacing the long wool puttees and Service Dress of the Great War. They were made in four sizes (1-4) and manufactured locally in each of the Dominions. It should be noted that short wool puttees were used concurrently with the webbing anklet during the Second World War. The examples shown below represent the earliest patterns along with a timeline of subsequent modifications.



GREAT BRITAIN, 1939

This is the original pattern made by Barrow, Hepburn & Gale, Limited of London in 1939. The British made many modifications to the anklet during its service life, which are as follows:

1940 The brass ends on the fastening straps deleted

1942 Leather crescents added for reinforcement

1942 Leather fastening straps replace web

1943 Economy sheradised steel buckles replace brass





DOMINION OF CANADA, 1941

Canadian anklets often have a rounded appearance, like this example made by Zephyr Loom & Textile, Limited of Guelph, Ontario. Modifications to the Canadian anklet include...

1942 Leather crescents added for reinforcement

1942-43 Cloth Rim added to the edge of the anklet

1943 Brown phosphate-finished metal known as "battle brass" replaces the brass on buckles and the ends on fastening straps

1944 Phenolic resin replaces battle brass on the ends of fastening straps





GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, 1941

Indian anklets were notorious for wearing out quickly due to the poorer quality of the webbing. This pair is poorly stamped, but the 1941 date is just visible along with an Indian acceptance stamp. Indian anklets underwent few modifications during their service life.

1942 The brass ends on the fastening straps deleted

1942 Cloth crescents added for reinforcement





UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA, 1941

South African anklets are considerably taller than other variants and feature alloy fittings in place of brass. This example was made by Daniel Isaac Fram & Company, Limited of Johannesburg and like most South African webbing, it shows staining from the glue used in the lamination process.

1942-43 Cloth Rim added to the edge of the anklet

1942-43 The alloy ends on the fastening straps deleted

[Warspite]

Thanks again for another great post Karkee, for those interested, this is my example of the modified anklets with the leather reinforcement and straps:



Further pictures can be found here:

https://hatchfive.wordpress.com/2014...ttern-anklets/

These were also made in blue grey for the RAF post war:

[karkee]

Thanks again for another great post Karkee, for those interested, this is my example of the modified anklets with the leather reinforcement and straps:

Hey Warspite,

Notice how your anklets have the 'W/|\D' stamp (like on clothing) rather than the simple broad arrow used on webbing? I've seen this on other examples of British anklets, and my guess is that they were considered more uniform than accoutrement...

[Warspite]

Very interesting, I must confess I hadn't noticed it before. It would by interesting to see whereabouts the British Army placed them in its store codes- with accoutrements or with clothing

[karkee]

I hadn't thought of that, it would be interesting to see where they were located in the store codes. Here is another pair that have the W/|\D clothing stamp...

[AIF]

Hey mate, Hope you don't mind I have added some Australian made anklets to the thread, 1944 dated not sure on the maker is a little hard to make out.

[karkee]

Thanks for posting those AIF! I didn't have a pair to post myself, or I would have included them. I can't make out the maker either...it almost looks like HTS or something (not a firm I recognize). Perhaps it's F.J.S.?



From what I've seen Australia started producing anklets in 42 or 43 with small brown leather tabs, which changed to black after the war. Earlier in the war, I think the Aussies used puttees and those wool three button anklets.

[AIF]

Yeah that could be it, although that isn't a maker I have seen before I will pull them out and have a look when I get home and see if I can make it out, I took these pics a while ago... 1942 is the earliest Aussie made set I have seen, the earlier ones also used a lot more leather reinforcing on the bottom. Before that, like you said we used 3 three button woollen anklets, short puttees and British made anklets.

[reneblacky]

G'day Guys

Thought I'd throw in a Aussie Woolen pair, not 37 per say

[karkee]

Thanks René! That's a great looking set!

It looks like your set has metal buttons, are they marked Defence Department? I have seen similar wool anklets with plastic buttons, I wonder if those are later production...