Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Interwar => Topic started by: dice shaker on 28 June 2017, 08:05:52 PM
-
Good evening,
did some British soldiers have green uniforms in France? Or someone painted old photos in the wrong colours? Are they perhaps ANZAC or Canadians?
Best regards Sebastian
-
The only green, as opposed to khaki-green, British field uniforms I'm aware of in this period are the army uniforms dyed police dark green worn by B Special constables in Northern Ireland during 'the Troubles'.
-
What year are we talking about? BEF or After Normandy?
-
Leigh Metford - don't forget also the cotton battledress issued in Italy that was of similar design but a greener shade of khaki than the standard woolen one. I'm not sure whether any of these made their way to Normandy?
EC
-
Canadian battle dress was a more green shade than British khaki
-
The British Army Denim Battledress was of a distinctly green shade. Worn by Home Guard and also by the army etc as a light working dress in barracks and also as a light version of battledress.
(http://www.sofmilitary.co.uk/products/67SKE7RA_Thumbnail.jpg)
-
Also jungle green BD from mid-war on. Though probably not much chance of bumping into anyone wearing that in the jungles of northern France. :)
-
As this is in the Interwar section I must ask are you asking about WWI or WWII uniforms?
-
As above, denims were green, but only introduced at the same time as Battle Dress in the late 1930s. WW1 era Service Dress had more of a green tint to it, but all khaki uniforms can look greenish in certain light conditions, particularly in woodland. Even postwar Strichtarn has the magical ability to change colour to match its surroundings.
Something to do with earth tones and the human eye.
-
Going back to WW1 then the US army uniform looked a bit like the British one and was definitely greenish in colour.
(http://www.sofmilitary.co.uk/media/163854/img_3533_copy_770x561.jpg)
-
Something to do with earth tones and the human eye.
... and probably because the serge was made using brown and green fibres in proportion. The battledress made to order in the U.S. from 1940 tended to be 'greener' as it had more green fibres in the mix.
A search for "Battledress 1940 pattern" will give you a range of shades for genuine items in different light (although be wary of photos of reproduction items), although the 1938 pattern ones (pleated breast pockets is the most obvious giveaway) tend to be 'browner' in the main. That the RAF and RN referred to the Army as 'brown jobs' (when feeling generous), would imply that the predominate colour was more brown than green in the main.
-
It would be helpful if the OP could come up with a specific year (or decade), or ideally pictures of the uniforms in question, particularly whether they are SD or BD.
As noted above, original British Battle Dress is generally brownish (well, mine certainly is), although my 41 dated greatcoat is distinctly green.
-
Hello,
this are the pictures, I mean. France, 1917. Sorry for using Interwar.
Yours, Sebastian
-
That colour is the effect of someone 'colourising' or tinting a black and white photo. They haven't managed it especially well, hence the green hue.
-
Had a horrible idea this might be the case lol
-
Definitely colourised!
-
The distinction between colour photographs and coloured photographs is only subtle if you don't look at them. ;)
-
The flood of WW2-related information surprised me. I would have thought the original post's presence on the 'Interwar' board and use of the term ANZAC therein would have been sufficient clues to the poster's intended meaning. None of these posts changes my answer. The B Specials uniform was a pure green (albeit a dark shade thereof). The military uniforms referenced ranged from khaki-brown to khaki green, even the greenest of which contained a proportion of brown.
-
Well, some of the chaps were still wearing Service Dress in 1940, so it could easily have spilled over into early WW2.
-
A new 'smarter' Service Dress uniform came into use in 1924, although I'm not aware of any change in the colour and indeed old type uniform carried on being used alongside it for some time after its introduction for 'mucky work'.