A pair of well used, Indian made, battle dress trousers. They are a good size and dated 1944. As can be seen, the manufacture is not quite to the same standard as British and Commonwealth produced battledress and the material is very scratchy!
A pair of well used, Indian made, battle dress trousers. They are a good size and dated 1944. As can be seen, the manufacture is not quite to the same standard as British and Commonwealth produced battledress and the material is very scratchy!
Grimebox great stuff thanks for showing
As I had some bits out today I thought I’d photograph my Jungle / Far Eastern knives together. From left to right (knives out of scabbards):
Wooden handled FS knife in field made scabbard
Indian made Jack knife
‘41 dated kukrii
‘41 dated kukri
‘43 dated kukri
Bone handled period kukri
Indian pattern / jungle pattern SMLE bayonet
Last edited by Grimebox; 09-25-2021 at 07:10 PM.
Some better images of the slouch hat shown in post #71
I acquired this book last year - EASTERN FLEET “E” BULLETIN.
It dates from early 1945, although there is material in there from late 1944. It details escape and evasion equipment, survival (especially in Malaya and Sumatra), escape from P.o.W camps and interrogation from the Japanese. It would particularly appear to relate to the Fleet Air Arm
I have shown some more images on my thread showing escape and evasion items - Escape and Evasion / Survival aids - Silk maps and Escape Compasses + more! - starting at post #381
Of interest to this thread is the chapter on the Jungle suit for flying. It states that FAA were going to be issued with the Beadon flying suit, however, due to difficulties in manufacture they were issued a “Tropical green battledress”. What is interesting is the comment “similar to that worn by our armies in Burma” - does this suggest that the FAA / RN had their battledress made for them? (A point of note is that the “black” RN battledress was referred to as “Working dress”, never battledress). It is also interesting to note the comment “it may also be necessary to fit extra patch pockets. These, however, are matters which the individual should arrange for himself with the camp tailor”. I have always thought of the Navy as quite a stickler for the rules, however, this clearly states otherwise. In the image shown we can see that the trousers have extra buttons on the pockets.
The mention of the “stiletto” knife is also interesting and I can only assume that they are referring to a Fairbairn Sykes.
A final point is regarding the boots that the model is wearing. The book makes reference to the canvas jungle boots (which are quite rare) as becoming available but we’re not available for the photo. The boots that the model is wearing have toecaps, however it was my understanding that Royal Navy “deck boots” didn’t have a toe cap.
My interpretation of a FAA airman in jungle suit C.1945
He wears an Indian manufactured battledress blouse and trousers, Indian manufactured webbing belt and British jungle boots (I have got black RN deck boots but forgot to put them on). He carries a wooden handle FS knife in field made scabbard and a blood chit and is shown in mosquito head net and gloves
Closer images of the Indian produced, 1943 dated, mosquito head net. This has wooden hoops to keep the net off of the face and is a head net as opposed to a helmet net
Indian manufactured large pack dated 1942
Any photos of soldiers in the Royal Nepalese Army ( Imphal- Kohima) wearing this uniform ?
Indian and Gurkha soldiers inspect captured Japanese ordnance during the Imphal-Kohima battle, 1944
In this image it looks like they are wearing the lighter weight “jungle greens” rather than wool BD
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